Strange US&S markings

[Johnny Peppers]

Well , I think I found the answer. Reading Dolf's new 50cal BMG book , he talks about a standard manufactoring procedure of the time. They would , at set up , make three guns. One at min. dimentions , one at maximum , and one dead center. They would then mix the parts up between them to make sure that any part made " in spec" would work with any other part made " in spec ". Now , because we are dealing with parts from one mfg. , and the only difference is a few thousandths , it would be wise to mark each part as to which gun it came from. These guns remained at the mfg. , as fitting test beds during production. Also to test parts when they are changed to make sure they will work with all other guns already made. Therefore , because they never left the factory , they were never stamped with the insp. stamp.
So this would explain the lack of an insp mark and the marking of all the parts under what appears to be the orig. exc. finish.
You answer one question , only to find two more. Anyway , it looks like I fell into somethig they only made three of ( or four , or ?) Chris

The 1911 slide stop pretty well rules out making a minimum, maximum, and spot on part for tolerance test pieces.

[emmagee1917]

Well pooooooooooo! How did I not notice the slide stop ???



Ok , Ok. Like I said , the trigger looked like it didn't belong ( not marked , not blued) . But the stop finishes it. Oh well , you don't see the markings when it's together. Now I can take it out and shoot the snot out of it with no worries about breaking a rare numbered part.

Thanks guys , this place is STILL awesome. Chris