Need help with Enfield Stock "Logo", what does it mean?

[68rs327]

I bought this Enfield sight unseen, by a few photos I was emailed. I am picking the rifle up in a few days. It is a 1943 SMLE Ishapore and seems to be in decent shape.
My question is: What does the the Painted "Logo", represent?
I have seen other Enfields on the internet that have markings something like this.
Is it a training rifle logo?, a specific military division logo? or ? Any idea what it means?
Also, what's a run of the mill 1943 SMLE Ishapore valued at in decent shape?

Thank you,

Information

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[breakeyp]

It is not a common marking. I would not remove it as someone sometime may know what it is.

[Sentryduty]

The marking is not anything I readily recognize, some sharper photos could assist research efforts.

What I can tell from the photo supplied is that this is applied with a stencil, observing the "splits" in the letters. What does that tell us? Not much aside from the fact that if there was a stencil made it almost certainly wasn't some idle soldier's graffiti and it would have been applied to more than one rifle.

Since it is a likely a simple fixed stencil, and probably not made with easily changed templates, so it should not be a rack number. I think it is a ownership or unit marking, possibly a military, para-military or police unit. Since it is an Ishapore rifle, I would then look to Indian, Pakistan, and other non-western nations.

Time to bust out the google based on those suppositions and see if there are any returns.

[68rs327]

I have Googled the heck out of it, and can find very little. I did find one on YouTube that has similar markings on the stock. I would love to find out what it means. It's a mystery that I have to solve....

[68rs327]

Anyone have information of the stock markings on these Enfields? Seems to be more common than I thought after searching through photos. The marking must mean something?

[Patrick Chadwick]

If you study the photo from You Tube, you can see the manufacturer's roundel stamped in the wood to the right of the stencil.
Boths stencils appear to have a date (7/78 and 12/78) in the center. If this is a date, it is from a time when these rifles must have been retired from regular army service.
The stencils are crudely applied, and appear to have a word CENROSTO around the circumference. CENROSTO could be an abbreviation of the organization that bought the rifles.
CENtral RO??? STOre, for instance?

Enfield butts have a pretty straight edge on the comb and below. The butt on the example you are purchasing has a peculiar outline that is splayed out towards the foot - compare it with the second example - and no visible trace of a manufacturer's roundel. I have seen this kind of outline several times on Khyber Pass Specials. So the butt may be non-original. Or has been repaired at toe and heel.

My guess: an ex-service rifle acquired by CENROSTO (private security firm?) and stenciled as their property.

---------- Post added at 12:48 AM ---------- Previous post was at 12:40 AM ----------

some sharper photos could assist research efforts.

Hear, hear!

[CINDERS]

Could even be a stores name with the date when it came onto the ledger in the case of the u-tube one 12/78 the scalloping may have been a bored crunchie trying to lighten the weapon but I feel it is not as issued piece they may have found themselves in the square for quite a while. It may have been an Indian Army thing for when they are up in the mountains who knows.

[68rs327]

I think the mystery has been solved... A avid Enfield collector just emailed me and said.
"I cannot make out everything on the stamp, but it was quite common - still is actually - for armourers to apply what are called 'rack marks'. It made inventorying easier when rifles were marked this way. It also meant that if the rifle was transferred to another unit, the old unit rack mark could be taken off and the gaining unit's mark applied."
Logo is used for inventory purposes.

[Mk VII]

Too complicated for just that, which is usually just a number in different colours for different units in the btn. We still await a better theory.

[Sentryduty]

Too complicated for just that, which is usually just a number in different colours for different units in the btn. We still await a better theory.

I agree, rack numbers are usually pretty plain, this looks like a unit issue or similar property style marking with a control number inside.