F in Oval Check, Recoil Carabines

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   2024-B     
F in a Oval Muzzle Devices 
CONTRAT E.U.C. 159,  
CARABINES cal, 30 U.S. all models.

Information provided to Larry Ruth by Chuck Osborn.

It is alleged that this tag was from a case of new recoil checks with the F in oval marking. 

Note the nomenclature is not typical of that found on USGI items

CONTRAT E.U.C. 159,  What is E.U.C. 
CARABINES cal, 30 U.S. all models.  
Note the spelling of carbine it how the French spell carbine, though it may have been used in any French speaking countries.

This may answer who was using them, but the question remains who manufactured them?

The
 F in oval Check Recoil, M1 and the Hider, Flash, M3 have been discussed
 as to who manufactured them, who were they for and lots of speculation 
has gone around. 

The aluminum wing nut has a Nyloc insert. 

In CCNL 351-9 a mystery M1A1 butt plate was discussed bearing an F in a circle depression.

http://www.uscarbinecal30.com/modelM1A1.html

That
 article suspected that the plate was made by a company called Ferro and
 contracted by the State Department for our overseas allies.
The
 article also states that Ferro was a subcontractor for Ford and made M1
 Garand Barrels circa 1956-57, and carbine Flash Hiders and Recoil 
Checks sometime in the late 50s to mid-60s. 

But where did this information come from?

Previously
 the Garand Collectors Association published an article on the Garand 
barrels that were showing up having a small F in a circle followed by a 
date followed by the letters AY. Normally the position of the AY on 
Garand barrels is a heat lot. 
Their has been conjecture that AY is a subcontractor code. If that is the case then why is there also a F in a circle?

The
 author of that article stated that when he was working on his 1951 GMC 
pickup truck with a 248 cubic inch motor that he found on the head on 
the engine was the manufacture symbol "FERRO"  and on the other side of 
the head was the part number for the head followed by the letters "AY" 
along with the GMC logo. 

I
 was able to locate 248 cubic-inch motor head picture. Note the part 
number and below it, there is an X rather than AY. To the left of GMC, 
there is a script F on top of a raised circle.
However
 on the other side of the head (bottom portion of the picture) there is 
no"Ferro" marking, rather the Saginaw Malleable Iron logo circled in 
yellow. With that, I cannot say this head had anything to do with Ferro,
 but the script F is like the F used in Ferro markings. 

It would seem that Ferro was doing castings for the "Big Three", Ford, Chrysler, and GMC. 

To
 further complicate things, The Garand Stand Report did an article 
titled Circle F Coded Parts by our own Louis Losi. He talks about parts 
markings found on .50 cal Browning machine guns. 
of note was that Frigidaire div of GMC was using the circle F marking on the parts they made. 

Photo courtesy of Louis Losi

Now
 I am not sure if the article is trying to correlate Frigidaire with all
 circle F marked parts, but there is the claim that Ferro was sold to 
the John Harsch Bronze and Foundry Company in 1953. This information has
 been found to be erroneous as it was Ferro that bought Harsch.  

It
 would be unwise to say that any of the above proves any one of those 
companies had anything to do with the carbine muzzle devices. 

So a few things to ponder here. 
Is there a difference between an F in a circle vs an oval?
Are the F fonts the same?
Can more than one company use the same marking?

Bill Ricca's U.S. Caliber .30 Carbine Flash Hiders (uscarbinecal30.com)

OMFG Recoil Checks are now being FAKED! - The Carbine Collector's Club - Page 1 (uscarbinecal30.com)

Any report of Flash Hider made by Drillmation - The Carbine Collector's Club (uscarbinecal30.com)

A1 stock, any idea - The Carbine Collector's Club (uscarbinecal30.com)l

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Edited by New2brass - Apr 29 2024 at 3:35pm