P J markings on carbine parts
I have encountered handguards, recoil plates, and stock marked with rather large capital letters "P J". I had previously understood that these were wartime or post-war replacement parts, but others have challenged that assertion, some saying that the "P" was for Packard, who indeed made parts for Inland, and that the "J" on the stock sling well and handguard bottom signified Jamestown Lounge. Does anyone know the true story?
Mr. Ricca.... Could you clarify?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
raycer911
I have encountered handguards, recoil plates, and stock marked with rather large capital letters "P J". I had previously understood that these were wartime or post-war replacement parts, but others have challenged that assertion, some saying that the "P" was for Packard, who indeed made parts for Inland, and that the "J" on the stock sling well and handguard bottom signified Jamestown Lounge. Does anyone know the true story?
Raycer911,
Keep in mind that the letter identification codes assigned for part makers sometimes used the same letter. This made for some confusion at times and still does to this day.
For instance R would relate to a part for Rock Ola.
But the letter R could also stand for Reece Buttonhole.
Another example would be W for Winchester and the W that stands for the White sewing machine hammers. I also think that Wadsworth Watch case used a W, but I don't recall their making of any hammers. Just another example of a shared leter code.
The J marked stocks were made by Jewell Bros. Manufacturing of Connecticut. These were War time replacement stocks made from 8-44 to 4-45.
J marked stocks were not made by Jamestown Lounge.
PJ marked stocks and Hand guards are thought to be WWII replacements, maker unknown to me. I have no knowledge of Packard making any type of carbine stocks or hand guards, they were metal workers.
However one known contract for the Jewell Bros. was for WWII replacement stock assemblies which probably included hand guards along with recoil plates.
PJ marked recoil plates, were WWII replacements made from 8-43 to 2-44.
I believe the PJ Recoil plates could possibly have been made by Packard and supplied to Jewell, thus the PJ marking.
I have no proof but the milling on the PJ's looks very similar to the PI Recoil plates we've all seen, but I could be wrong and these could have actually been made by Jewell.
Contract information borrowed from Mr. Riccas page of myths.
Here's a copy of a contract The Jewell Bros. Co, had that Mr. Ricca listed in his Page Of Myths.....
http://www.billricca.com/contracts/jewel_bros.jpg
Mr. Ricca's page of Myths.....
Bill Ricca's Page of Myths
Hopefully Mr. Ricca will chime in and patch up any errors I may have listed.
Also while thinking about it, a Thank You to Bill for his years of dedicated service researching this information for fellow collectors.
HTH,
Charlie-painter777
P.S. Sorry Bruce... Missed your reply by not refreshing the page while researching these questions.