Hello can anyone help with info on the brass discs and steel discs,that were used on the smle #1 mrk 3 .im wondering if theres corect ones for years etc , or like somany other parts on them they could be whatever was screwed on from the parts bins at the time ??? Thanks for any info.
Smle stock discs
- Thread starter yes man
- Start date
Steel disc denotes a drill purpose (DP) rifle.
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As originally used in the Service, the Disc, Marking, Butt was made of brass and was used to tie the rifle to a particular formation. Commonly, the Regiment and battalion would be identified, also the Company to which the rifle was issued, followed by a Rack Number. The system did not go any higher than Regiment for Infantry, although formations such as the Service Corps would have their rifles marked to the Corps, then to a particular part of that Corps.
This all became rather controversial about the middle of the Great war and, finally, in the interest of secrecy, they stopped marking the discs at that time.
When a rifle went for FTR (Factory Thorough Repair: a complete rebuild). the Butt Marking Disc would be removed and replaced with a blank, which then would be marked afresh by the Regiment receiving and using the rifle. Generally, used Discs would be re-faced and used again; when they were no longer thick enough, they went for scrap.
There were not a huge number of 1908 rifles built and, today, they are a great deal scarcer than they were 106 years ago. If you want to make a lot of faces on this forum smile, you will post some nice photos of this piece for us all to drool over.
This all became rather controversial about the middle of the Great war and, finally, in the interest of secrecy, they stopped marking the discs at that time.
When a rifle went for FTR (Factory Thorough Repair: a complete rebuild). the Butt Marking Disc would be removed and replaced with a blank, which then would be marked afresh by the Regiment receiving and using the rifle. Generally, used Discs would be re-faced and used again; when they were no longer thick enough, they went for scrap.
There were not a huge number of 1908 rifles built and, today, they are a great deal scarcer than they were 106 years ago. If you want to make a lot of faces on this forum smile, you will post some nice photos of this piece for us all to drool over.
I've got a Long Branch No4 butt with a disc marked "10 RD". the nearest that I can figure on it is that it might stand for No 10 Repair Depot RCAF which was located at RCAF Station Calgary (the old Lincoln Park site where I was a PMQ dweller 40 yrs ago).
I will also load pix of my smle ( Canadian marked ). BTW to post pix, you will need to use a pix hosting service or pay $25 for a Team A membership which allows you the Upload of picture and pdf attachments. Ability to directly attach pictures to posts without using an external picture hosting service. Storage size: 13MB ( about 65 large pictures);
