Odd Carbine Markings

[usmc69]

The local gun shop got in a Underwood post war rebuild today in trade. The recoil plate and the handguard have a circled E4 marking on them and I can find no markings on the hammer. Another odd thing was it had the barrel proof P forward of the Type III barrel band, thought these should be under the Type III barrel band as Underwood never put on Type III's. Barrel was dated 10-43 Underwood. Best guesses are welcome.

Thanks,
AJ

[Tuna]

Late war/post war replacement parts for the recoil plate and the hand guard. Is the guard a four rivet or two? I would hazard a guess that it's 4. The P proof stamp is in the right area for Underwood barrels. I would not be surprised if the recoil plate is a cast one and the serial number if the barrel is original would be in the 2 million range.

[usmc69]

Late war/post war replacement parts for the recoil plate and the hand guard. Is the guard a four rivet or two? I would hazard a guess that it's 4. The P proof stamp is in the right area for Underwood barrels. I would not be surprised if the recoil plate is a cast one and the serial number if the barrel is original would be in the 2 million range.

Thanks for the reply. I had figured the circled E4 parts were replacement parts, just did not know if U.S. or foreign replacement parts. Yes, the recoil plate is a cast piece. The hand guard is a two rivet. The S/N is 2769XXX.

Thanks,
AJ

[Tuna]

The 2 rivet hand guard would make it a war time replacement. But a cast recoil plate would be post war. Time wise they just don't go together. As far as I know there were no recoil plates made overseas except maybe in Germany by ERMA. But recoil plates don't really were out but maybe it is a German made replacement for carbines with type 1 or type 2 plates. That could account for the circled E4 on both parts and the hand guard being an early one. Bit of a guess on my part but it does seem to fit.