Iglis browning HP shoulder stock.

[MarkdevCanada]

I've been offered a "real WWII" stock for a inglis browning HP for what seams like a steal. Ya, I know if it sounds to good to be true....... Anyway I know next to nothing about these, but it seams like there are way to many of these (all with the same marking) kicking around all of a sudden for them all to be real. My thinking is either someone released a whole bunch of N.O.S., or some company is reproducing them. Anyway if there are reproductions being made, how would I tell a repro from an original and what would an original vs repro be worth?

The marking on this one are; next to the hinge, "MADE IN CANDA", and on the side of the stock is S.A.LTD over 1945.

Unfortunately I didn't have a camera with me at the time, so I don't have pictures to post .

Thanks & cheers
Mark

 

[m1grand]

Have a look at e-bay there are lots of knock offs there ,just to compare ,most are made in China ,to replace the broken ones that were sent over during the war.

 

[koldt]

Sounds like the markings are correct. There were a lot around that were in fairly good shape, with most I've seen looking almost new.
Obviously without at least a pic, nothing is certain.

Seems like they are on gun show tables in the $300 range. Give or take a bit.

Apparently the Made in Canada was stamped on for import into the US. Guess it either didn't end up going, or came back.

 

[GrantR]

As already noted, an original Inglis shoulder-stock/holster that has remained in Canada and never got exported to the U.S. should not have "Made In Canada" stamped on it. The mark was stamped on surplus stocks exported to the U.S. wel after the war, when U.S. regulations required imported goods to be marked with country of manufacture.

Ironically, the many reproduction stocks on the market (much more numerous than originals) mostly seem to have the "Made In Canada" stamp on them, as well as the "S.A. Ltd." that was stamped on original stocks at time of manufacture. (It stands for "Small Arms Ltd.", the crown corporation which operated the Long Branch arsenal. Inglis subcontracted the manufacture of the stocks to S.A. Ltd. which had the necessary woodworking facilities, whereas Inglis lacked that capability.)

It seems that whoever produced these reproduction stocks copied an original which had been exported to the U.S. and thus had the "Made In Canada" stamp on it ..... so they faithfully copied that as well .....

These reproductions are actually pretty good .... so good, in fact that they can be hard to tell from originals, unless you have both side by side for comparison ....

The most obvious difference is that the original stocks were made of walnut while the reproductions are made of a somewhat coarser-grained wood (likely Asian in origin) which is actually lighter in color, but stained to a darker tone to simulate the appearance of walnut.

This is an original stock - note color of the wood - i.e. walnut toned "all the way through"- and also the texture of the wood (mind you, this one is particularly close-grained ..... walnut can certainly have coarser graining than this stock exhibits) -

This is a reproduction stock - note the relative coarseness of the wood, and also the lightness of its color on the inside of the end cap where no stain was applied. (Mind you, I believe some of the repro stocks did get stain applied on the inside also, so one has to be quite careful with this aspect of examination ....)

 

[koldt]

I remember talking with a local surplus dealer here in town, and he was mentioning that years ago, there wasn't so much interest and therefore value in these stocks. He was burning them as fuel in his fireplace way back when. It was a pain in the rear when had to shovel out the metal and throw it away.