jgass

[lbelflowers]

It might be a Thai Police crest,looks to be a sword handle on the upper left hand side. Jim Mock might be the man with the answer though.

Never seen any Underwood barrels with Winchester proof marks.

[painter777]

'Scuse me, why would you say the Underwood barrel was a replacement ? What has that to do with the original question on the strange inscription on the receiver ? Underwood barrels were used by many manufacturers, including Winchester, during the wartime production period and actualy preferred. Maybe I am wasting your time with my query. Sorry about that.

jgass,
I was intrigued by the markings on your receiver. I don't feel trying to help has been a waste of time on my part. If you feel otherwise, this will be my last post about your carbine.
Your WRA receiver 5,598,807 was made in 1944.
Why would a Underwood barrel dated 7-43 be found on it, unless it's a replacement?
WRA did not use Underwood barrels.
Though I have seen Underwood receivers used by WRA and marked .... with the codes T and AW in the serial range of 5,549,922 - 5,834,618.

"Scuse me, why would you say the Underwood barrel was a replacement ? What has that to do with the original question on the strange inscription on the receiver " ?

As posted earlier I looked thru The Carbine Clubs News Letter # 349 that shows British and other Commonwealth stampings, of which none seemed to match.
There may or may not have been Import or British markings on the original barrel. Added barrel markings could have helped narrow the search trying to ID the receiver marking.

Your markings appear very much like the Thai Crest police that was found on the Howa carbines built in Japan during occupied Japan, post WWII.
I can't yet explain your marking, but as stated it looks very much like the Thai Royal crest.
The Thai Royal Crest on the Howa was stamped on the frt receiver ring.
I have nothing to explain (If it is the Thai Crest) why it would be found on a WRA receicer.

Here's a link, feel free to study it.
Better yet contact Jim Mock, you can E-mail him thru the first link below.

Note: In 1995 Quebec, Canadian Importer/Exporter named Districorp Enterprises Inc. of Laval, Quebec. Had a large number of Howa Carbines.
Is it possible they had brought in a few real USGI carbines that were stamped with the Royal crest, I can't answer that. I find no documentation and didn't happen to be there to dig thru and ID everything they had.

HOWA M1 Carbine

The Royal Thai Police logo had a number of variations, This is a possibility that they stamped their crest on your WRA while in their possession, as a loaned/leased carbine:

Thailand: Royal Thai Police

Here are just a few of the countries that we loaned/leased M1 carbines to. Many marked them for their use.
Many other, Central, South american and other countries have had carbines supplied to them from the US and allies. Including many resistance groups.

The Armory

Good Luck...
Charlie-painter777

[Bruce McAskill]

jgass, Winchester never used Underwood barrels as Winchester was a barrel producer and made all of their own barrels.

[JimF4M1s (Deceased)]

jgass,

Charlie was just trying to provide some additional useful information that has been learned over time.

Many of the people on this forum have been collecting carbines for a long time, myself about 36 years. Over time, folks have accumulated a library, maybe joined the Carbine Club and read their newsletters, been on forums discussing this rifle, guns shows, used them the military, etc. Putting all these things together has given us some in site as to what could or could not be correct for a given maker, or even a serial number range of a maker.

By passing this along to other, we hope it affords owners a bit more understanding of their weapon. Maybe at times more information then needed to answer a specific question is given. But it is just someone trying to help out. This was the intent of Charlie.

And, we are learning new and or different information all the time.

Please take the information in the context it was presented, there was no underlying agenda meant.

If you have other questions, please continue to ask about them. Hopefully someone will have an answer.

Personally I still want to know about the marking on your receiver so I can archive it for future reference.

Thanks for your post.

Jim

[Mikey51]

Yes, agree, new pic shows no evidence of Brit Proofs. Will contact Jim tonight Charlie, I normally get a reply from him overnight. jgass, I take your point. For everybody, I have found Brit proofs hidden under the left or right hand sides of the barrel, under T3 bands and lugs etc. Mike.

[Sleeplessnashadow]

Records of the Military Assistance Program maintained by the national Archives indicate between 1950 and 1976 Thailand received 73,012 U.S. Carbines. I have a breakdown of the years, models, and quantities on the link below under Thailand.

http://www.bavarianm1carbines.com/carbinesnara.html

We know the Thai police ordered 10,000 M1 Carbines from Howa. They were manufactured in 1965 and 1966 at Howa in Japan. Howa stamped the logo of the Royal Thai Police on the receiver ring.
Attachment 33358 Attachment 33359

My research into Howa and their carbines can be found at this link:

http://www.m1carbinesinc.com/carbine_Howa.html

The other markings adjacent the logo on your carbine look like they may be letters of the Thai alphabet, which I'm not familiar with but at a glance on an internet search it looks like a good possibility.

Jim
BavarianM1Carbines.com
M1CarbinesInc.com
USCarbines.com

[JimF4M1s (Deceased)]

Jim,

You did all the leg work and we get to benefit from it.

Thanks for the very informative post.

Jim