Yesterday's Weapons Forums

Sure must have a very special unit to have the circle around the runes.

Rad

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Someone went to a lot of trouble to make the stamp. I'd watch for it on other items, too. SW

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Here's an unusual mark seen only on handguns and I actually know what it is for once - had it in my notes. ( Pssssst! Meester! TAKE NOTES!!) sw

SFARE = Sezione Fabbrica d'Armi Regio Esercito
GVT = Gardone Val Trompia

Sezione means 'section' so this revolver was made in the section of the Gardone arsenal dedicated to same.


bode3.jpg [ 54.22 KiB | Viewed 22775 times ]

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On the same revolver is a marking in Arabic. It's for Egyptian police - possibly in Cairo. After the war, Britain gave arms to their protectorates ( "colony" was not PC at the time) and a lot of surplus and captured equipment went to Egypt and Palestine.

This is consistent with another marking in this thread. The Star of David is seen on a Carcano captured in N Africa that was issued to "supernumerary police" in Palestine to fight arabs like the slimy yassir arafart.

Friends in Italy tell me the mark is seen on other Egyptian handguns like Webley and Enfield revolvers.

Bodeos with the mark are not common. SW


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**ETA** Here's another revolver illustrating the concept. This Webley was issued in Palestine - possibly Israel.


bodeo.jpg [ 76.14 KiB | Viewed 22770 times ]

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Here's another Bodeo mark. Since there aren't many antiques left, we'll leave it here. Brescia Bodeo from 1890. SW


mark2.jpg [ 61.53 KiB | Viewed 22761 times ]

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This mark is on the bottom of the stock on an Italian Vetterli with Krnka Quickloader attachment points. I've discussed it with others, and it might be related to that experiment. Nobody I talked to had ever seen it before.

As mentioned elsewhere in this forum, the Krnka Quickloader just didn't work as intended, and the experiment was scrapped in favor of the Vitali magazine system.

As well as I know, the cartouche relates to a certain section of the arsenal at Roma. SW


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Yet another unknown mark. I saw it once before on a Terni M91 long rifle from East Africa. This one is supposedly on a Beretta 9mm police carbine. We might learn the details some day. SW


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Bubba does his worst... or makes a good attempt at it. This is from the sportered remains of one of the very last M41s made at Terni. Late 1943 - maybe even early 1944.

The odd mark is the Crown of Savoy over the serial number. It's a standard military mark, but I've never seen it on an M41 before and very seldom on the stock like this. It's usually seen on the barrel near the serial number and very much smaller.

Notice the serial number letter prefix is BF. The last was BH.

Oh, this would have been a good one to grab if un-monkeyed with. I hope you have 'roids, bubba!! SW


cartouche2.jpg [ 97.75 KiB | Viewed 22743 times ]

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This mark is also on a 1943 M41 - much earlier in the year than the M41 above. Never saw this one before, either. I lifted the pic from an auction. The seller didn't leave us much of a pic & I messed with it to reduce flash glare.

"FABBa ARMI"
"R.E."
"TERNI" RE being for Royal Army, of course. SW


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Here's a better pic of the Arabic marking on the Bodeo I just got in.


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I just put "police" into one of the online translators which gave me this - not that I trust online translators very far. SW
تنظيم المجتمع, دخل الشرطة

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Here's another variation of the Napoleone and Vittorio Castelli mark. Seen here on an early officer's model Bodeo. SW


castelli5.jpg [ 66.59 KiB | Viewed 22721 times ]

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Every time I think that has to be it for uncommon marks, along comes something else. Seen here is an M91 Long rifle from 1927. But no M91s were made then. A replacement barrel? The serial number comes back to 1933... I dunno. I'll leave it here and maybe win a bet with it someday.

I'd sure like to bid, but it's in Germany. SW


M91 (535x374).jpg [ 108.3 KiB | Viewed 22720 times ]

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I checked with Italian friends who tell me Terni made spare barrels from 1922 to 1932 with the same serial number prefix as this. Italy hadn't the money to make new rifles but did continue to take care of the ones they had.

So it's an interwar refurb. SW

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Here's a better than usual Terni refurb cartouche seen on a Roma M91 long rifle. Again from the interwar years. Fascists had just come into power in 1922 and had grand plans. Unfortunately for them, they had very limited funds for same.

So instead of producing thousands of new Carcano rifles for the idealistically-proposed larger army, they were left refurbing those worn out in WW1. No new long rifles were made between late 1918 and 1932. SW


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This mark isn't really uncommon, but it's often obliterated from sanding the stock or hard use. And I've never seen them explained so here we go.

The letters are stylized LP for Luigi Pulveroni, who was an inspector/foreman at the arsenal. His initials will also be seen on various small parts. SW


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Got this one from JPoarch94 who spotted it on fleabay. Might be for a Balilla moschetto - extremely uncommon if for a regular moschetto given that only one is presently known to exist.

It's the only Castelli bayonet I've ever seen. SW


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**ETA** Yep - for a Balilla moschetto

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Yet another variation of Castelli marking. MIDA Castelli in this case and seen on a Bodeo. There's also a Toshi Castelli mark, but it's only seen on Balilla moschettos. So far. SW


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This is an uncommon refurb mark and even more uncommon since it's seen on a 6,5 Vetterli. Yep - this is the same Bernadelli still in biz today. SW


marking5.jpg [ 91.73 KiB | Viewed 22818 times ]

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This one isn't easy to see but it's there, and I've never observed it on a bayonet before. 4UT or Fourth Technical Office. Not a German mark but commonly seen on 380 automatic pistols used by Germany.

It's occasionally seen on Carcanos and Carcano parts. Shows the item marked was inspected with measurement gauges and passed the inspection. I'll replace it with a better bayonet mark... if I ever find another. SW


marking6.jpg [ 52.44 KiB | Viewed 22810 times ]

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Brescia went through a variety of markings beginning in 1932. This is the second they used.


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The first was Fabb. Naz d'Armi Brescia. 1932 X shows the tenth year after fascists took over in 1922. I'm not sure about the A. More on that later.

They went from that to FNA-B in a small font. I haven't found a good Fabb Naz pic but will quickly post it when I do. SW

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