Early Underwood Sears

Several years ago I got very lucky and acquired what I think is an exceptional 1.359 million Underwood.  The gun was carried by one of MacArthur’s supply officers and had been in the family since the war.   These photos will give you some idea about the condition of the carbine.

 

 

 

Imagine my disappointment when I found the sear had been hand etched with a *U*.  The family was not aware of anyone ever taking the gun apart.   I posted pictures on another forum and was told that since early Underwoods are known to have unmarked sears, there was no purpose in hand-etching and “someone was trying to make the gun into something it isn’t”.   OK…   I never changed the sear.

 

This weekend I picked up the parts from an early Underwood in the same serial number range.  With the exception of the stock and Type 2 rear sight, the carbine looked to be original.  However, the receiver and barrel were damaged, and the gun was being parted out.  When I disassembled the trigger group, I found another hand-etched sear.  If you look closely, the finish has been buffed off both sears in the area where the *U* is hand-etched.   In the picture of the just-acquired sear, the left * is a punch mark.

 

 

I’ve seen some LT-Q hammers with hand-etched “R”.  I’m curious as to whether anyone has seen hand-etched sears on early Underwoods.