Armory marking
- Thread starter igotta40
- Start date
dfariswheel
Member
- Joined
- Dec 26, 2002
- Messages
- 6,653
Circle P is an inspection/ Proof mark.
You see it on the M1 Rifle, M1 Carbine, and M14.
You see it on the M1 Rifle, M1 Carbine, and M14.
tark
Member
That stamp means the gun passed proof. It is stamped there so any inspector can glance at a rack of completed guns and tell if one has missed proofing. On an M-14 ( M-1A ) stock there should also be a defense department acceptance cartouche stamped on the left side of the stock.
Speedo66
Member
On Carbines the P mark was mostly placed on the bottom of the pistol grip.
An addition P was often placed on the front of the pistol grip if it was rebuilt.
Your M-14 stock should have the makers ID stamp under the butt plate.
An addition P was often placed on the front of the pistol grip if it was rebuilt.
Your M-14 stock should have the makers ID stamp under the butt plate.
AlexanderA
Member
What about a "P" without the circle? This is on a Smith Corona 03A3 stock. The stock may have been sanded, but I can find no trace of the circle. The only other markings on the stock are "O.G" in a box (for an Ogden Arsenal rebuild) on the left cheek of the buttstock, and "SS" in large but shallowly stamped letters near the buttplate. None of the other usual inspection marks.
Speedo66
Member
From what I’ve read, there were some original proof mark P markings without a circle. The original proof letters were “sans serif”, while the rebuild P marks, mostly within a square but not always, were with serif.
The “OG” marking on your stock is, as you mention, a post war rebuild stamp from the Ogden Arsenal in Ogden UT.
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P5 Guy
Member
Inspection stamps on my old 1943 03'A3
entropy
Member
Frank J. Atwood.
entropy
Member
Seeing the three stamps (FJA, the Defense Dept stamp next to it, and the RA below and to the left of it) together in the light of day, it looks like the FJA stamp was added much more recently. Sarco does sell such stamps. I'd need a closer pic or to view it personally to be able to determine whether it was faked or not.
Let's Go Brandon would be even rarer.
Riomouse911
Member
Seeing the three stamps (FJA, the Defense Dept stamp next to it, and the RA below and to the left of it) together in the light of day, it looks like the FJA stamp was added much more recently. Sarco does sell such stamps. I'd need a closer pic or to view it personally to be able to determine whether it was faked or not.
Let's Go Brandon would be even rarer.
Stay safe.
AlexanderA
Member
Or, it could be that the FJA was stamped more deeply originally.
The rifle appears to have all Remington parts (the stock, the bolt sleeve, the cocking piece, and the trigger guard are all distinctly Remington). The receiver is Parkerized, which was the original finish, and the other parts (except for the cocking piece) are blued, which was also the original finish. So, only the cocking piece was a postwar replacement. I'd be interested to know if there is an OG (or OGEK) rebuild stamp. This may be one of the guns that escaped a complete rebuild.
Speedo66
Member
H.Sacks & Sons of Brookline MA, a subcontractor to Springfield Armory, used an S under a half diamond, which looks like what you have.
P5 Guy
Member
Further rearward on the stock is the OG stamp. Bruce Dow evaluated the 03A3 and said the stock and trigger guard were of later type than the barrel date (3-43)
AlexanderA
Member
That's the "winter" trigger guard that was adopted relatively late. Both it and the standard guard were used interchangeably thereafter, on both Remington and Smith Corona production. You can tell the difference in the Rem versus SC trigger guards by the indentation that's right behind the front guard screw: the Remington is straight while the SC is curved.
Here are the trigger guards, with the Remington at the top and the Smith Corona below:
The key difference in identifying a Remington versus Smith Corona stock is the inletting for the band spring. In the Remington, the recess has squared ends while in the Smith Corona it has rounded ends. Again, the Remington is at the top while the Smith Corona is below:
P5 Guy
Member
The 'RA' is for Raritan Arsenal, is it not?
AlexanderA
Member
Remington Arms. The Raritan Arsenal rebuild stamp (RA) should generally have a "P" after it, with or without a hyphen. (That's not an inspector's initial -- it means the gun was proofed at Raritan.)
The RA stamp was put on Remington stocks, starting after Smith Corona began production, to distinguish the Remington product. Since the RA stamp could later have been sanded off, a more reliable way for modern collectors to tell the stocks apart is by the band spring recess.
