Unit disc - help needed

[tsquared82]

I recently purchased a unit marker disc to go with a No1 MkIII which I am restoring. Obviously the disc has no relation to the rifle itself... but It would be cool to know the history or origin of the marker while my rifle bears it.

The disc is not made of brass by the way... I think it's iron. It does bear the British broad arrow mark on the back of it. In case my image fails to upload... below is a description of the markings on the disc. Thanks for your time.

30

I (hole) B

115

I am unsure if those markings are an I, l, or 1 .... so any best guesses would be awesome.Attachment 70990

Information

Warning: This is a relatively older thread This discussion is older than 360 days. Some information contained in it may no longer be current.

[Peter Laidler]

To conserve brass, later discs were made from phosphated mild steel. The only single use of the letter B, according to the British Army equipment regulations dating from 1900, to when marking of butt discs ceased in 1944 was to indicate a BERMUDA station

[tsquared82]

Thanks for the reply.

So could I interpret the disc as: Issued 1930 / 1st battalion / Bermuda / (unknown what the numbering at the bottom is.) ?

[Peter Laidler]

Bottom number would be(?) the rack number in the armoury or it's place in the controlled stores register

[tsquared82]

I did a little further digging and have found that IB fits in with the Australian unit "Infantry Battalion" ... Armed with that, I can only assume that the disc could mean that it belonged to the 30th Australian brigade/battalion wich was short lived... But fought against the Japanese in WWII.

Just another angle from which to interpret the information on the disc I guess.

[Peter Laidler]

You can be rest assured that if it indicated anything Australian, the avid Australian contingent on this site would have come in by now.

But, as you mentioned it, there is a good and very interesting booklet packet with no end of exciting information about these butt marking discs that would sit perfectly on your and the remaining forumers library shelf. Available from Brian at BDL Ltd in SC