New SMLE owner with another question

[labrat1469]

Yep another newbie with more stupid questions. I know my rifle is a 1935 Ishapore No 1 Mk III. My question have to do with the brass ID disk in the stock. Can someone please tranlate or decipher this?


F.A
2.41
B
304
Then below that crossed out
831 or something like that.

Once I find out what unit it was issued to I can find out where this rifle has been. So far I gathered that it was issued February of 1941 but that is all. any help will be greatly appreciated

Information

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[smellie]

F.A....... Field Artillery, 304th Battery?

Ferozepore Auxiliaries?

Sorry I can't say, friend.

Send BUFFDOG a PM and ask: he has my book of Indian markings.

But that's okay, because I have THREE books of his that I haven't given back!

Wondering if it MIGHT be a refurb date?
.

[Peter Laidler]

If they are Briitish markings then Brian Dick at BDLLtd has a little book for sale that lists them taken directly from the 1903 to 1942 Equipment regulations

[labrat1469]

I research the 304th FA and it was an American unit in World War I. There was also a 304th FA Field Ambalance but that was Canadian and also in ww1. The only 304th I found in the Britsh Order of Battle was the 304th Anti Aircraft. But that one is a R.A or T.A... off to search some more

[labrat1469]

We were close... Ferozipur Arsenal. I saw some pics of other marking and it's pretty close to what I have on my SMLE brass ID disk. Now to figure out what the rest of the disk says

[RJW NZ]

Try going to enfield resource.com and look under markings, you might find some leads there. cheers, good question

[Peter Laidler]

I would dispute that the FA indicates F-Arsenal because the butt marking disc was for unit markinfgs and not an Arsenal marking. If it went through an Arsenal FTR then it'd be marked on the butt where it'd remain marked until the next time. Whereas the disc was made to be changed whenever need be.

I'm no expert at these things (or ANY things now that I think of it) but all the arsenals did was to receive kit in from the BOD's - that's the Base Ordnance Depots, - rebuild them to new spec and they then sent them back to the BOD's for re-issue. That's how it worked here at Fazakerley and Enfield and as India followed us pretty closely, I woulkd assume that's how they did it too. But marking discs are for unit marking according to the last Equipment Regulation on the subject

[jrhead75]

There actually is pretty good evidence around that the Indian Army did stamp issuing arsenal initials on the disks, similar to how they stamped them on the butts of rifles in the pre-Lee era. Several Gurkha marked rifles for example have shown up with both unit marks and an arsenal mark (usually R.P. for Rawal Pindi). F.A is very likely Firozpur/pore Arsenal, F.W for Ft William shows up from time to time, and A.A is another (likely Allahabad Arsenal). Martini rifles that went through Indian arsenals usually have the full name of the arsenal stamped as a roundel, along with a stores or issue date.

I've been starting a collection of pictures on my home machine, and I'll see if I can dig them up.

[jrhead75]

Here are a few...An East Indian Railway Rifles disk with an 'AA', a Sappers & Miners outfit with a 'K.A' ...likely Karachi but I wouldn't swear to that, and a 1/6 Gurkha rifle with an 'R.P'.

Attachment 27194Attachment 27195Attachment 27196

[Peter Laidler]

I see what you're getting at JR but surely Rawlpindi marked as RP would be the equivalent of DW for Delaware or WT for Washington when it's all one word ..... no?

Off at a tangent, I seem to remember reading that when the Indian Army changed Corps/Regiments to reflect the British order of battle, such as Ordnance Corps, Service Corps, Royal Indian Engineers etc etc, only the Bengal Sappers and Miners retained their old traditional Sappers and Miners title instead of changing to Royal Indian Engineers