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Lemming
11-26-2015, 12:58
I’m looking for some opinions on a strange stamp on an M1 stock I first posted about here in 2010. The stock is on a Greek return 5.6 HRA handpicked at the Reno Show in 2005 when CMP went on the road to various gunshows. The stock is not original to the rifle; it is heavily sanded with what I think is a faint SA-GAW cartouche. No way to tell if the stock was added in Greece or by CMP.

The stamp is a 3/8” oval right next to the buttplate with 2 lines of text inside it. The lower letters may start “MAK” and the upper line beginning “UE” but it is hard to tell. I have wondered if the letters might be Greek. Unfortunately the script is very small and the upper line is partially defaced by a ding.

Unfortunately I cannot find the original thread searching the Jouster site. No one replying to that post had ever seen this stamp; one suggestion was that it was added by a bored soldier, another that it looked something like a rebuild mark sometimes found on Mausers surplused to the US in the 60s.The same person thought that the lower line might be “MAKEN”, possibly Dutch or German for “repaired” or “mended” and that the upper line might be for the name of the depot or rebuild facility. Of course, that upper line is the most illegible. There was even a thought that it might be a mark from a stock subcontractor.

3334633347333483334933350The photos attached to the earlier thread were taken with a cheap camera. My wife now has a much better camera and with her help I now have some better photos and am going to try again to see if anyone can shed some light on this. I realize this has little potential to lead to any earthshaking revelations, but it has always bugged me. I appreciate any thoughts or theories.

Lemming
11-26-2015, 01:04
Here are a couple more photos of stock. Note the 4th photo here where you can see how small the oval is next to the buttplate
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dave
11-27-2015, 10:31
Very hard to tell anything from a photo. If it was in hand, you can tip it back & forth, put in sun lite, out of sun, etc. and get different angles which may show detail that can not be seen in a
one angle/one distance photo. Then there is the use of a magnifying glass.
I can see the MAX and perhaps a Z after that but the rest is a blur.

Dan Shapiro
11-27-2015, 04:07
Greeks did some weird stuff. Possibly a unit marking?

Lemming
11-28-2015, 03:47
It could be a unit marking Dan, but the stamp is so darn small. You'll need to click on this photo to enlarge it.

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I may take Dave's advice on different angles and lighting...although It may just further highlight my lack of camera skills.