Strange Stamp

[painter777]

Well you do know the stock has been replaced, possibly done at the Armory level with 'spare parts' stock.

Wondering if the barrel and receiver are original mates.
NPM used many barrels. If that U barrel is original to the NPM receiver it would have what we call the NPM punch mark near the P proof stamp on the barrel.

Note Pictures by fellow member mpd1978 showing the NPM punch mark (proof)....

Help needed for correct barrel for NPM

Cheers,
Charlie-Painter777

[Mattwood440]

Well you do know the stock has been replaced, possibly done at the Armory level with 'spare parts' stock.

Wondering if the barrel and receiver are original mates.
NPM used many barrels. If that U barrel is original to the NPM receiver it would have what we call the NPM punch mark near the P proof stamp on the barrel.

Note Pictures by fellow member mpd1978 showing the NPM punch mark (proof)....

Help needed for correct barrel for NPM

Cheers,
Charlie-Painter777

Well it has something. Looks more like a T to me. Maybe the P and the punch got smooshed together. What do you think?

Attachment 50570

[Mattwood440]

Why does the sight have these weird tooling gouges? It says EU with the U being really faint.

Attachment 50571

[Mattwood440]

The trigger group says SG. There a "No" on the slide. The rear sight is post war. Most of these parts I know are post war mixes. I was mistaken on the handguard, it's a Q-RMC.

Attachment 50574Attachment 50573Attachment 50572

[CrossedCannons]

Well it has something. Looks more like a T to me. Maybe the P and the punch got smooshed together. What do you think?

Attachment 50570

Looks like a "P" to me, but your "P" has serifs. Did Underwood use serifs? I don't know, but all my Underwood examples wear non-serif P's. I think that sometimes fonts changed during production (size for sure but I don't know about type). Hopefully somebody who really knows their Underwood proofs will add

[Mattwood440]

Looks like a "P" to me, but your "P" has serifs. Did Underwood use serifs? I don't know, but all my Underwood examples wear non-serif P's. I think that sometimes fonts changed during production (size for sure but I don't know about type). Hopefully somebody who really knows their Underwood proofs will add

I see it. Good catch!

[INLAND44]

In that case only the stock came from a Bavarian.

[Mattwood440]

Quick update. I've been corresponding with Jim from Bavarianm1carbines.com for about a week and here's what we have so far.

1. The internals are an early, probably arsenal rebuild. It's possible it was rebuilt in the US or it may have been rebuilt in a county outside Germany who was not required to restamp, like Belgium.

2. The stock is made from European wood and was varnished from the factory. These stocks appeared after 1957. The stock has the Bundewehr mark meaning it should have been in use by the German national security forces, but it has no stamps indicating that it was. The whole carbine may have been exported between 1957 and 1968, before the import marking requirements.

3. The carbine was never used by the National Guard because the stock would not have passed specs due to the varnish.

4. The stocks might have been exported alone, which would explain the lack of numbers, then put on carbines in the US by other firms, like sporting goods stores. Jim is looking into this.

5. Gramps owned this carbine when he worked at the B and E division of the Detroit PD from 1966-1970. He wrote this on the sling.

6. It's possible he acquired it before the riots, or through the police when they requisitioned carbines from sporting goods stores during the riots (confirmed that they DID do this) and then he bought it. It never belonged to the DPD.

Overall a pretty cool story. I will update again when I have more solid information soon. We are still confused by the buttplate.

[Mattwood440]

Sorry for the late update.

I made a mistake, the stock is Walnut which is odd because it definitely has the characteristic varnish of a bavarian stock, not to mention the Bundeswehr mark. Neither Jim Mock or Larry Ruth have ever seen the buttplate before.

Jim wasn't able to come up with anything about the stock other than the fact that it was added sometime between 1955 and 1967, which would be between the foundation of the Bundeswehr and when my grandfather worked Detroit B and E. I also have the mags which are loaded with ammo headstamped 59-61 which would support the fact that he acquired the M1 during that date range. I guarantee he did not change the stock.

So, to make a long story short, due to the stock change and lack of markings we will never know who rebuilt it. And the stock is REALLY unique.

[JimF4M1s (Deceased)]

Interesting, thanks for the update.