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Italian — star in a circle over PS

Italian proof marks and date codes · Modern Italian arms.
What it looks like
A star inside a circle, with the letters PS beneath or beside it.
Where it is on the gun
Barrel and frame, with the other proof marks.
Date range
Modern Italian arms.

What it tells you

What this mark authorises you to say

The pressure proof mark. Italian proof law requires the definitive proof to be stamped with this device, and on an Italian gun it is the mark that certifies the arm was tested at the Gardone Val Trompia proof house before sale — which every Italian firearm, and every foreign firearm from a country without a proof house recognised by Italy, must be.

What it does not tell you

What this mark does NOT say

Unlike Spanish and British practice, Italian proof marks do not give the test pressure in kilograms or bars, so a reader coming from those traditions looks for a number and finds none. The star over PS is not a value or a grade.

Sources for this page

Every claim above is attributed. The class of source is shown with each one, because a national proof house and an anonymous forum table are not the same evidence — and on proof marks the difference matters.

Reading marks to identify and date a gun

Proof marks name the test and the era. The serial number, where a maker published a browsable chart, can name the year. The lookup cites the threshold behind every result.

Open the serial number lookup

Other italian proof marks and date codes

Mark descriptions observed and verified 2026-10-14. Proof marks are stamped by hand on guns up to a century old; a photographed stamp and a description in a book are not the same evidence. If a mark on your gun does not match anything here, that is a real answer — see the notes on unidentified marks.