Does anybody know where I can find a list of companies that manufactured original No. 15 chests? Can't find one on the net. I suspect no list exists since it seems likely the chests were primarily fabbed by mom and pop woodworking shops around the UKicon.

Need this info because the manufacturer name on my 1944 chest is only partially readable, for a very interesting reason. As ArtioZen points out on his website (Chest S.A. No15 Mk1 - Transit Chest for the Lee Enfield No 4T Sniper Rifle), per the official drawings the the end caps for these chests were made from thicker wood up through Feb 43, thereafter from thinner wood.

This is the proximate cause of my inability to read the manufacturer name on my chest: the crenelations (protrusions) of the front & back panel dovetails extend about 1/32" to 1/16" beyond the surface of the endplate (observable on many No. 15 chests).

As the result, when the embossing tool was pounded into the endplate, the letters only embossed onto the protruding ends of the front plate crenelations that stand proud of the endplate, but the embosser was not struck hard enough for the letters to be embossed on the crenelations of the thinner endplate. Therefore there are gaps in the embossing where it crosses the crenelations of the endplate that are lower than the protruding ends of the frontplate crenelations. Hope this description makes sense!

As mentioned in my earlier post, I think I can make out an O, then a blank space covered in caked paint, then a three letter grouping (illegible-R-H), then another blank space covered in caked paint, then an E. It's possible the E is an artifact in the wood grain, but it's the same size as the R & H and I'm convinced it's embossed. This is all that can be seen, which is why I'm hoping a master list of chest manufacturers exists.





Thoughts? Ideas?