What year did USMC start stippled butt plates?

[Jeff L]

What year did the Marines start stippling butt plates?

Who was the first?

Please show a pic of yours!

thanks

-Jeff L

Information

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[Jim Tarleton]

There is absolutely no way to determine when some Marine stippled his buttplate. I suspect it began on the firing ranges, and accomplished by some semblence of an armorer, or the Privates would have stippled in their girlfriends names, or nude women, or both.

I don't have one, but the ones I have seen in pictures are very similar to each other. Where is yours?

Jim

[RBruce]

I took this off of a Rock Island '03 that I bought about eight or nine years ago. I thought someone has screwed up a good smooth buttplate. However, due to recent acquired knowledge from this forum, I reattached it. I'm glad I didn't dispose of it. According to the seller, it was a Marine target rifle - I bought the story. It did have the Marine Corps front and rear sights. The reference material I had at that time didn't say much if anything about USMC '03s. I've been told that it most likely was a refit, not a USMC rifle. But, it looks neat anyway.

[RBruce]

Here's another funny story of coincidence or irony. I bought my first 1903 back in about 1994 at a local gun show. As it turned out, it was a Mark I. I had no idea then what a Mark I was. I did buy a couple of reference books, Harrison and later Canfield's first edition of his 1903 book. Based on those books, I deternined that the Mark I that I bought had the wrong stock - no relief for the ejection port. At a subsequent gun show, I found a cheap, worn out 1903 with a Mark I stock. I bought it, went home, swapped stocks then returned to the gun show and sold the worn out '03. Over the next couple of years, I checked all of the vendors with '03 parts, and eventually came up with a complete set of Mark I parts, cutoff, spindle and sear. One of the gentlemen I bought parts from was around 80 years old (I'm getting to the coincidence/irony). At one gun show he happened to mention that he was getting out of the business/hobby and mentioned that his parts collection was for sale. Unfortunately, he had reduced the inventory significantly. I met him at his house the week after the show, and we arrived at a mutually acceptable price. In the inventory, he didn't have it all at the shows. were two stippled buttplates among the other 03 and 03A3 buttplates.

[Jim Tarleton]

I like a good story.

Jim

[Jeff L]

Jim, I don't have one. I have an extra smooth plate and could probably make one. I'm sure that would cause a stir. I was thinking about them when I saw a rifle in an auction with one. Thanks for the replies. I was hoping to see more photos. Keep 'em comin'.

thanks

-Jeff L

[mark1]

This is my RIA 368xxx 03 with a stippled buttplate.

[bodydenny]

This buttplate is on a 295,XXX ( I think) RIA with an 8/41 Sedgely USMC barrel,HH. It looks to me like more of a flat edge than punch effect.

[Lancebear]

Hey Jeff,

You asked the right question. Guess the USMC assembled this rifle and stippled the buttplate between 1940 and '42.

Liberty or stippled buttplates!

Lancebear

[Parashooter]

Methinks this business of attributing all hand-punched buttplates to Marines may be a bit over-enthusiastic. I learned about stippling '03 buttplates from my old brownshoe (Army) coach when I was a very young PFC on the Fort Dix rifle team in the spring of 1964. One day in the pits he picked up an AP core and showed my how they used them to punch up buttplates back when he was a 'cruit like me. There wasn't a Marine in sight!

Let's be realistic, anyone with a hammer and a pointed bit of hard steel or carbide can stipple the heck out of an '03 plate in a couple of minutes - and I can assure you the practice wasn't confined to Leathernecks.