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M1A1 grip question

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yinzer View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote yinzer Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Topic: M1A1 grip question
    Posted: Jan 06 2022 at 11:50am
Could anybody here explain what all these tiny little letter A's are that a stamped on this M1A1   Paratrooper Grip.

Thanks,

TR

TR
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote GotSnlB28 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: Jan 06 2022 at 3:50pm
Usually those letters are from an inspection process. I don't recall seeing m1a1 grips with them before, but most likely that's what it is.
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yinzer View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote yinzer Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: Jan 06 2022 at 6:01pm
Thanks for shedding some light on all these tiny letter A's,  that's a lot of inspections for this little grip.

Tom
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote usmcdoc67 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: Jan 07 2022 at 8:17am
Have seen many M1A1's over the years but none with those A's. Also, the marking on the front looks like Mickey Mouse turned sideways, not the circle "P"Tongue
Glenn
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote yinzer Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: Jan 07 2022 at 5:56pm
I agree on the stamp on the front of the grip, I gave up trying to figure out what heck that one was, but 
 this an authentic M1A1 Paratrooper Grip by all other indications.  I'll just have to live with the oddball
 markings I guess.  
TR
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote yinzer Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: Jan 08 2022 at 10:00pm
Thanks all of you for your input, I’ve gotten the answer to my questions.

TR
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Dan Pinto, Photo Editor

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote New2brass Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: Jan 09 2022 at 11:17am
Originally posted by yinzer yinzer wrote:

Thanks all of you for your input, I’ve gotten the answer to my questions.

TR


Care to share the answer?
I am not convinced it is a upside down P based on the the proportions

It is more reminiscent of the Spanish Civil Guard emblem, A Belgian proof mark that was for black powder rifles as well as a Paris proof house marking that was an backward E and a P in a circle.

I am not saying it is any one of those, but is probably a European marking of some form


Edited by New2brass - Jan 09 2022 at 2:17pm
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote jackp1028 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: Jan 09 2022 at 2:26pm
@Dan, I agree. It reminded me of the Belgian "Provisional" proof mark you would normally see stamped on the barrel.

JackP
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote carbinekid Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: Jan 09 2022 at 4:25pm
it reminds me of the P proof you’d see used in the late 1890s to early 1900s on Krags.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote arthur Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: Jan 09 2022 at 9:34pm
Looks to me very close to markings on FN49 stocks in front of trigger housings.

http://www.uscarbinecal30.com/forum/uploads/2396/FN.jpg


Edited by New2brass - Jan 09 2022 at 9:58pm
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote yinzer Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: Jan 10 2022 at 8:47am
Well, I really didn't have a definitive answer to the post thinking my post was in the ditch, but I think you may have solved the riddle to the stamp in the circle on the grip.  This grip was purchased from S.I.A.M. Militaria-Collector.Com located in France and I read on this site that FN in Belgium did a lot of postwar rebuilding of American weapons for the U.S Army.  However, I did read this in a NRA American Rifleman article on FN's postwar rebuilding effort of U.S. small arms "Fabrique Nationale did not add any known markings, even some markings found on postwar M1 carbine magazines and generally attributed to FN manufacture are questionable at best. It is likely the U.S. military specified that no markings be applied, as FN historically marked parts for quality control in its own production."  Here are a few more photos of the stamp at different angles.




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Dan Pinto, Photo Editor

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote New2brass Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: Jan 10 2022 at 9:07am
You are correct that FN did rebuilds for the US and were not to mark the carbines in any way. We know they rebuilt the M1a1s as well as there a pictures of M1a1 stocks being rebuilt at the FN factory.

After the war a great many carbines were lent or sold to other countries. I suspect your grip was on one of those carbines and went though a inspection or rebuild. This would not fall under the rules of a carbine that was rebuilt for the US.
It could also be a property or unit marking from a foreign country.

We see carbine stocks marked with all kind of markings that found their way back to the States.

Have you tried reaching out to the vendor to see if they know what the marking is?
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote yinzer Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: Jan 10 2022 at 9:40am
No,  I have not spoken to the vendor yet as to the origin of these parts but I have been meaning to ask  him about that as I have purchased several other M1 carbine parts from him.  
TR
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote French addict Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: Jan 11 2022 at 9:57am
Just for info, SIAM (http://www.militaria-collectors.com) is known as nenel3 sells on a french auction site Natura Buy

https://stores.naturabuy.fr/militaria-collectors/

and he has another site
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