USMC on (S) barrel means United Shoe Manufacture Co.?!

[saddler]

The local (to me) version of the company only just ceased trading

I have a machine of theirs 3 feet from where I'm sitting - they were called (here) the British United Shoe Machinery Co. Ltd - or BUSM Co for short

Given that Singer made sewing machines AND gun parts - I don't see how the United Shoe Machinery Co. would NOT have been asked to also contribute


The mix up over initials reminds me of how a lot of Third Reich souvenir collectors were fooled into paying for plates & crockery with the monogram of DR - for the Waffen SS "Das Reich" division
...until someone realised that this Division must have had 7 course meals 5 times a day given the amount of items about with the DR mark.
Turned out to be the mark of the German Railway!