new member with unusual marked No 4

Hi everyone - new member here. I seem to have developed a love for No 4s after buying one in January. I just picked up two barreled receivers that are in pretty rough shape with the intention of cleaning them up and getting them back into shooting condition.

One of the barreled receivers has a mark on it I've never seen and didn't see mentioned anywhere here. The receiver is a 1944 Maltby, B0 series. The symbol is an empty triangle on top of the receiver. At first glance I thought it was the Iraqi marking, but there is no evidence of anything having been in the triangle. Any ideas?

Welcome to the forum, hang on a minute they'll be along to tell you what that one is.

Iraq ownership. I think I see the mark inside the triangle.

On the other hand, I don't think that it's Iraqi after having seen more than a few! I think that the triangle has been pretty roughly stamped with 3 individual chisel blows. It could be some other middle eastern Arab nation whereby the arrow indicates the direction in which to point the rifle

Possibly Greek ownership

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Lance

Possibly Greek ownership

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I agree

Maby it is a arrowhead to show stupid soldiers in what direktion they should point the rifle 😜

jsne

The Greeks certainly had their share of them, as illustrated during the '74 war when men in civilian clothing were fighting in the streets along side soldiers. Picture a man in a navy blue three piece suit and tie fighting with a Sten gun...a sports jacket and a #4 rifle... Yes, Greek ownership.

I had 200 or so Greek owned Long Branch No.4 and C No.4 rifles and none sported any kind of ownership mark. I was told they were Greek reserve issue rifles. Some did have stickers on the sides of the buttstocks with the names and addresses of the troops to whom they were issued. I had a waitress at a trusty Greek restaurant in Columbia, SC translate a couple for me at the time.

Thanks everyone. If only it could talk...

My bigger problem now is the headspace. If i'm calculating things correctly, I need a bolt head that's about .640" just to pass the field gauge. The spare bolt I bought came with a "0" sized head that also had a 19T stamp on it. I was under the impression that was just for 7.62 rifles, but it looks like it has a 303 extractor. That aside, the "0" size measures right around .631 and needs a .010 shim to pass the field test.