Strange Stock Mark

I posted this a year or 2 back, w/o any definitive answer. In 2005 I received a Greek return SG HRA 5651XXX. The rifle was very nice except for the stock, which was a little rough. But on closer inspection it has a very (very) faint SA-GAW; also the small ord wheel on the bottom of the wrist and serifed P proof. Was pretty excited because this was my first m1 to come with a WWII cartouche, albeit not correct for the rifle. Now for the weird part, there is another stamp on the rifle that I have never heard a mention of. It is on the left side of the stock just above the butt plate...a very small oval (approx 3/8") with poss. 2 words in it. Naturally there is a ding on one of them. Anyone seen this before or, as has been suggested, that it may be something an individual punched on to ID the rifle? TIA- Mike
I apologize for the quality of photos

Nothing that I've seen before. Is it possible to get a real good, in focus close up of the words? If your camera does not do this maybe someone you know might have one that can get a good close up? If its razor sharp you can then blow it up and see what it says.

I'll see what I can do about getting a better photo

Thanks- Mike

Well, here is the best I can do...macro enabled using tripod and then zooming in using Photoshop. I can make out "MA", I think, in the bottom line, nothing in the upper one with the ding. Oh well, a mystery to me, unless anyone out there can make something else out. One error in initial post, this stamp is on the right side of the stock, opposite side from where cartouches are found. Thanks for looking- Mike

Still hard to see what it says. I'd bet it's something a Greek troopie carved on.

It looks like a stamp to me. Try adjusting the lighting and angel of the camera to the stock.

Thanks for the suggestion Bill. I'll give it a try.

Mike

I agree with Bill,need to get it brighter. Sometimes when I'm real close and the camera blocks the light I'll grab one of those plastic bore lights and put it right at the edge of the lens shining onto the marking and adjust it as needed to get the best picture. It looks as though your close enough but its too dark to make out clearly. Running a dim light "across" the stamping might also make it stand out more too.
Interesting mark,would be neat to find out what it is.

How about trying the old detective movie trick of using a pencil and paper to do a rubbing of it?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by The Lemming

Thanks for the suggestion Bill. I'll give it a try.

Mike

---

Now if anyone could resist that face, they have no heart:D

I thought it was a cat until I clicked it. Very cute! Okay John, I melted a little bit but don't tell anybody!

Well, here are a couple using M!Riflenut's suggestion of using a borelight at different angles to try and bring a little more detail out. Don't think I was too successful; I think I'm seeing "MAK..." and Maybe "MAKE..." or could be imagining it. I'm using a old Sony Mavica...may try to borrow a newer and higher end camera and try some more.
John and Bill, glad you appreciated the photo of my Newfoundland "Ashes" when she was a pup. She is now almost 5 and approx. 120 lbs and still has the most "human" eyes of any dog I've ever seen.

-Mike

On the top it looks like "UE****" and on the bottom "MAKE NJ". Very interesting. Better camera, set on Macro, with adjusted lighting.

Can see the MAKE on the bottom but can't make out the rest. Try blkbeard's suggestion of doing a paper rub on it,use different things like a soft pencil,chalk,crayon etc.

Tried Blkbeard's suggestion of making a rubbing. Couldn't get anything to show, just a smudge. It's so darn small and faint to begin with. Anyway, altho' it is still a mystery, my thanks to Blkbeard, Bill H., John S. and M1Riflenut for comments and suggestions....have more info and techniques now that I certainly wouldn't have discovered on my own.
Attached photo is of our Golden Retreiver in bed with his "woobie"...he was put there by our 11 year-old (at the time) niece. No way he would stand for this if we tried to make him do it.

I apologize for interfering in your discussion, but I love to search for the roots to words and I think I may have come to something that will tell you the origins of the mark.

I took the first of the inscription on this stock and came up with the word "maken" as a possible root word. When I put that into a search engine for European roots, since we knew the rifle came back from Europe bearing this mark, I came up with a Dutch term meaning "to mend" or "to repair."

It follows by logical extension that this stock may have been "repaired" or "mended" at some point in a Dutch or German facility, as the two languages share a common base for words in some instances. The location or repair facility's name in the top of the escutcheon is apparently long ago lost, but with a word like "repair" on this older stock, it seems pretty safe to assume that this item in some incarnation was "repaired" or "mended" in the Low Countries. These were good allies in the Cold War and would certainly have taken on repair of the many Garands left in their charge for their own defense.

Perhaps someone here knows of such a facility from their own time in that part of the world as a member of the services stationed in those parts or if, in fact, such repairs were commonly made.

As an aside from my own experience, I have seen the same oval cartouche on rebuilt Mausers surplussed into the US market in the early 1960's, although I never gave another thought to such a mark until I saw this one again the other day. It has been on my mind since I saw it and was unsure until I came across the word for "repair" or "mend" in searching tonight.

The aforementioned rifles were rebuilt in West Germany at the war's end or more likely in the 1950's as possible items to re-equip the new West German army.

I offer this as purest conjecture and for discussion as a possible answer for a long-asked question on this matter. We might also make inquiries on the Mouser boards for any similar marks they may be aware of in their rifles from the post-war era.:wave:

Mack-
Thanks for your input; not interfering at all. Have posted to the Mauser forum here and also on SurplusRifle site under German rifles to see if anything can be learned there. As Alice said, "Curiouser and curiouser".

-Mike

Lemming...

Bob Seijas at Garanditis posted a suggestion at:

http://www.bulletinboards.com/TreeMs...Calling=No&x=x

HTH

Ben Hartley

Thanks Ben (and Mr Seijas). Another new technique to store in the organic hard-drive, I love this. Plus, a reason to go to my favorite gun store; need to pick up some sight black (and anything else I find I can't live w/o)!! It may be a day or 2 and will post any results.