French Gras question

[Aragorn243]

I found a French Gras M80 this afternoon that looked pretty nice with the exception of a hole drilled into the right side of the butt stock. The hole is about half an inch deep and 3/8ths of an inch across.

I came home and looked up photos of these and found this hole in quite a few of them although it has been plugged in most of them.

It's a bit early for me but I am thinking about it. Anyone know the significance of the hole? It appears to be drilled in the center of a round cartouche although the other side has a complete cartouche on it. Numbers seem to match with the exception of the bolt.

Ok, I learned this is a "Holy Water" plug hole. Possibly indicates it was in Russian service. The rifle stock did have what appeared to be imperial or crown stampings that did not look French to me. It's missing the plug however.

And now I learned the "Holy Water" plug story is a myth. It was a device used to differentiate a military rifle from a civilian rifle. No civilian was permitted to own a military rifle and if it had this hole/plug, it was obviously military.

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