Anyone in forum land have an idea what 'SP/R' in a yellow square and '5/7' in a red square mean?
Thank you in advance for any leads on this.
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Anyone in forum land have an idea what 'SP/R' in a yellow square and '5/7' in a red square mean?
Thank you in advance for any leads on this.
I was always of the belief SP/R was Support Company Rifle and 5/7 was indication 5th rifle of 7????????
I've also seen B on a lot of cases and I believe this indicates the contents is a B type weapon.
Our rifles were B class stores... The rest of your explanation sounds plausible too.Quote:
Originally Posted by chosenman
I've seen Unit Identification Number lists for the L42 which at the end of each entry have B Type entered.
I'll take a guess that 5/7 is the unit ident number. Ours was 49/8, the 49 was 49 Brigade, presumably the 8 was unique to the btn.
I've been meaning to do this for years and after seeing Gundoc's results I thought I'd get my finger out. The markings on the lid were splodged out in the typical fashion, first in thick white paint then again in black.
I know the rifle to be a former 3rd battalion Royal Green Jackets rifle as the UIN number is present on the chest, however imagine my surprise when all was revealed.
https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...3rzxeteo-1.jpg
https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...uf7ritxn-1.jpg
The EX PJW refers to a well known exercise called Pond Jump West which was carried out in Wainwright, Canada. I can only conclude the second battalion who at the time were just down the road from the third battalion in Warminster were preparing their L42's for the exercise on the range and suffered a break down and borrowed a rifle from the third battalion. The very nature of the markings make this in my view plausible as it wasn't at all common to mark the name of an exercise on a transit chest.
Definitely not the UIN, The L42 UIN all begin and end with the letter A and have a four digit number 3 RGJ's for example is A0603AQuote:
Originally Posted by Mk VII
The UIN relates generally to the unit - as in Unit Identity Number as in A01234-A as CM says above but not to the L42. I have never heard of a rifle as being a B item because many stores items are classed as B items in accordance to their Stores Identifiers. Small arms were generally known as WOCS and later as SSR and always marked on the big green air movement labels as a big star indicating a 'STARRED ITEM' which any ex crunchie will have nightmares about loosing! I can't think of an answer to the 5/7 unless there was a 5th Brigade somewhere......... I can't recall one!
On mine, it has the markings for the Gurkhas, but the SP/R block is painted over the top line, hiding which brigade/company she came from, so I have been wavering between leaving it or stripping it off.
So if I decipher the markings on mine correctly it's "Support Company, 1st Battalion, Duke of Wellington"s Regiment".
Presumably the UIN "A0582A" backs this up. Can anyone confirm the unit from the UIN?
Thanks.
Attachment 80029
Was this the one on Guntrader Kev ?
The UIN's are restricted info but in your case the UIN against the Duke of Boots (as they were commonly known.....) is bleedin obvious I'd say!
Been there, done them.Quote:
Originally Posted by chosenman
Haha! Oh what joy for dismounted troops!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Peter Laidler
It is (or was) a 5 Airborne Brigade unit. I can't remember who 5/7 was (pretty sure it was a Para bn), but my own unit was 5/14 at that time.
I'm of the mind that 5/7 is some kind of embark code. Both Chosenman's and mine have the marking and are both from 10th GR SP Coy. In searching through the archives of this site, I also came across a photo of a chest reading 22SAS that also bears the 5/7 marking.Quote:
Originally Posted by Thunderbox
While we're on this thread and box markings.......... Is there a chemist out there who can tell the flock of a sure-fire way of carefully removing one layer of paint to uncover what's written underneath, then the next layer and the next and so on. The only known method for the blanket stacker/storemen types I even encountered was one of those harsh belt sanders, an even harsher wire brush or just daub another artistic layer of paint over what is already there.
Any chemists..........?
Quote:
Originally Posted by gundoc2112
Yes, they were mainly used as movement manifest codes (part of the chalk codes). All vehicles, boxed stores and large equipments carried the mark. 5 Airborne Brigade applied these marks even to personal kit, because of the particular need to sort out stuff on a parachute DZ - e.g. my own Bergans from that era carry my regimental DZ flash, plus the 5/14 chalk code (both permanently painted).
However, I'm pretty sure they were uniquely allocated to specific units, rather than any sort of formation-level organisation that might account for shared usage. I.e. if 5/7 has clearly been linked to 10th GR, then that must have been its 5 AB Bde code (Edit: both 10 GR and 7 GR both formed part of 5 AB Bde OOB at some point). I'm not sure why a 22 SAS item should carry another unit's code in this case, unless they are simply from different issue dates and not removed, or if 10 GR was acting as "parent unit" for the purpose of shipping stores for a major overseas exercise or similar. Unlikely for the SAS to be parented, but it did often happen with other "atts and dets" - non-formation units coming under administration for the exercise or operational deployment.
Chosenman looks like RobD might have a rifle of the same regiment and his shows the uin as well
https://www.milsurps.com/showthread.php?t=31327
Dan, my rifle used to belong to RobD. Same rifle, been meaning to uncover the markings for years. Been busy doing some research and found several former snipers of the period (mid to late eighties) and I think I've found the guy the rifle was issued to. If correct he won best sniper at the UKLF sniper concentration, Otterburn in 87 with this rifle. Furthermore it would look like it's one of the very few L42's inherited from the Royal Anglians that never broke down and went the full distance with 3 RGJ