Friends,

Thank you for submitting your RIC carbines’ data to me. I have, however, been running into some confusion on the issue if the “sun” stamp I mentioned. I may not have explained myself properly. Please take a look at the three pics below, which represent the overwhelming majority of butt stamps found on RICCs.

The photo 1 shows a standard Birmingham conversion stamp. The thing under the roundel is, contrary to popular belief, a retro-added digit 1 (one) stamp, impressed at the time of conversion. It is not a letter I (eye) mark-of-arm stamp. The old mark- and class-of-arm stamps are obliterated under the large Birmingham roundel. Sometimes you can still see them, though on this example you cannot.

Photo 2 shows a Birmingham conversion stamp WITH the sun stamp. It is right next to the digit 1. This butt appears on a former LEC Mk I*, but what appears to be “I*” is in fact a digit 1 with the “sun” next to it. We know this because under this Birmingham roundel we can see the old mark- and class-of-arm stamps: an “I” and a “1”, partially hidden by the roundel. While this butt is on an RICC that was converted from LEC Mk I*, the butt is not original to it. We know this because (a) there is no asterisk next to the former “I” stamp under the roundel and (b) because there is a class-of-arm “1” below the “I” (both partly hidden by the roundel). Enfield discontinued the use of class-of-arm stamps at the same time as the introduction of the LEC Mk I* (so, while LEC Mk I carbines have a “1” under the “I”, LEC Mk I* carbines do not). Please note that this carbine’s “sun” stamp, like all the sun stamps, has a little circle in the middle, and then compare that to the asterisk in photo 3.

Photo 3 shows a butt from an Enfield-, not Birmingham-, converted carbine. Enfield did not impress conversion data on the butts of the carbines it converted to RICC. It just left the info that had been stamped when the carbines were first made as cavalry carbines some years earlier. This butt is on a carbine that used to be an LEC Mk I*. Note two things: First, the asterisk is just than an asterisk, not a sun. There is no circle in the middle, just the lines. So this mark is genuinely an “I” (eye) and an asterisk, not a “1” and a sun. Second, note that there is no class-of-arm 1 stamp below the I. This is because the carbine used to be an Mk I* LEC, and Enfield stopped used class-of-arms stamps at the turnover from Mk I to Mk I*.

Hope this clarifies matters,

Coggo