This is more than likely an inspector's mark signifying that the work is finished or ready to forward to the next stage of production, as Austin suggests. These marks changed over time according to who the subcontractor was in-house at Parker Bros. That is, the barrel shop, for instance, was a separate entity within the factory with its own manager, foreman, workers, assemblers, and inspectors. These "subs" changed over time, and with them, the inspector's marks used. The shop would not have wasted time grinding off one inspector's mark as "approved" or "finished" to inprint their own on a piece of work: what was done was done and ready for the next step in the production of the gun. This is a very common practice in European gunmaking, and of course most of Parker Bros. workers came from Europe and Great Britain. A good example is the enigmatic symbol of the italic, lower-case f seen on many early Parkers. Bob Runge, whose grandfather ran Parker Bros. barrel shop before the turn of the century, told me that he was certain that this symbol stood for the German word "fertig", meaning finished. It works for me!
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