NPM Carbines and Umderwood parts

[ewall]

My 5.6 Winchester is all W and as made. It has one non W part: an AU recoil plate. Winchester received 5,000 recoil plates from Underwood in Nov 43 and my carbine was made Mar 44. There is another near mirror carbine in the data base with an Underwood RP, made at about the same time. Another way to tell if the RP is native to the stock is to look at the etching in the wood under the plate. There will be matching marks in the wood for every machine mark on the plate. If it is original to the stock it will be VERY hard to remove as well.

Thanks. In looking at the interior of the stock, it looks pristine around the area of the recoil plate. No scuffs or deformation around the recoil plate, just indentations where the plate resides. I am pretty confident this piece is original from the factory as the S/N is consistent when Underwood was delivering parts to NPM.