USMC cartouche on rifle

[TDP0311]

Thoughts?

http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.aspx?Item=410321750

[cplnorton]

I saw it. I think everyone always considers USMC stamps to be fake. When I get some time I woudln't mind researching the name though. But I highly doubt anyone stamped it like that while in service. The marines could charge you if you let rust get on your rifle. Let alone stamp your name into it.

It could be possible to be a retirement piece. When someone retired, the men pitched in and bought a rifle and stamped it with his name. That is a possibility and probably the most likely case if real.

[Marine A5 Sniper Rifle]

May be authenticate, but adds nothing to the value of the rifle. About 2,000 Corrins served in the Corps. The stamp is placed in a spot that can be seen wile the owner is shooting offhand. Who knows? I have a rifle with a previous Marine's rank and name stamped just in front of the rear sling swivel. Checked that Marine's file and sure enough, he had been issued that rifle in WWI. It has been done. What is interesting about this one is the two sizes of font.

Cpl. Norton is very correct. Get caught doing that stuff and you get Office Hours muy pronto. This one is so obvious, there must have been an official reason to do so. My question is why the USMC stamp? If you are in the Corps, they know it is a USMC rifle without having to stamp it. Maybe this marine served in a mixed service unit.

Jim

[SemperFi, 0321]

I stamped the butt of my WW2 Mk2 Kabar the same way after I got out. Maybe he did it as a tribute piece to his service?
It was not stamped while he was in, but rather after he got out, he acquired an '03 and did it himself.
How many weapons have we seen here that some guy told his family he was "awarded" because he was such an awesome sniper and they "gave" it to him when he got out? I've heard that story dozens of times, only to find out the weapon doesn't fit the time frame, think we just had one a week or two ago.

People get way too carried away by stamps, somehow it makes it official if it's got stamps or notches in it. How many German and Jap bayonets/swords/guns have you seen with notches carved in them? They were not made by the deceased German or Jap, but rather by some juvenile G.I. on his way home from overseas, just to impress his kid brother or friends back home. We all know that a German or Jap soldier would have been court martialed for defacing gov't property, way more severely than a US court would have done. Most of what we see and hear is usually based on some form of mythology anyway. This is just another unsolved mystery stamp, known only to the original owner.