Curious paint markings on stock

[reach147]

Hi,

New member here checking in here.

I have a WW2 No4 MK1 that I purchased recently. It has no ZF or DP marks on it.

It does have a touch of blue paint on the rear stock and what appears to be two large red stencil letters that have been partially removed.

Attached please find some pictures showing the details. Curious if anyone has seen this before.

The rifle is in good shape overall and I tested CHS and it passed.

Anyway, if anyone has thoughts on this I would appreciate it.

Thanks.

Information

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[Thunderbox]

Probably just rack numbers - there are thousands of variations, given the numbers of countries and units that had the rifles.

[Peter Laidler]

Yep, just the rack numbers. But I'd like to see the oither parts of the SOU that you can JUST see under the small of the butt. That's a bit of history that I might be able to unravel for you................ Armourers knew all of these markings and yours.......................................

[reach147]

Hi,

Thanks for looking at this :-)

Here is the SOU number

[Peter Laidler]

Yours was given a major Base Workshop overhaul - pretty well a FTR but without the in-depth body jig examination at 18 Base Workshops at Bovington Camp in Dorset in March 1956. CP was the examiner.

SOU 2 was their mark that indicated Southern Command. I suspect that as the mark is still clear, it was a 'programme' where, say, 500 used rifles are taken from Ordnance or withdrawn from a unit being sent abroad and returned to war reserve stockpiles. There, they'll be put into what we called 'deep pres' or deep preservation and stored for decades. But that's just a guess.

Anyway, there's a bit of its history......................

[reach147]

Great to know, thanks again :-)

[RossM10]

Yours was given a major Base Workshop overhaul - pretty well a FTR but without the in-depth body jig examination at 18 Base Workshops at Bovington Camp in Dorset in March 1956. CP was the examiner.
SOU 2 was their mark that indicated Southern Command.

Would you happen to know who/where SOU 3 was? (It's actually stamped SOU/3 and 1/59).

[Peter Laidler]

er............. what is stamped SOU/3 1/59

[RossM10]

Well it's actually on the overhaul plate of a vehicle, but the general format of SOUx seems likely to apply to both. I'm trying to identify where this vehicle had a Base repair in 1959.
I have evidence that it was issued to a unit located in Southern Command (as was).

[Peter Laidler]

It is indeed. SOU3 was the vehicle annex/outstation of 18 Command Workshops at Plymouth. I think it was at MILPOOL. They Base Workshopped the last of the Austin Ice Cold In Alex type ambulances down there in 1967

What vehicle type is it? The reason I asked was because the SOU 2 was the main workshop and 3 didn't do small arms