Got Me Another USMC

[Fred]

Fred, I spent about 6 hours cleaning it. You would be proud. It does look really nice. I just cleaned the stock with spirits and 0000 steel wool. Talk about dirty!

Great! May we see some photos of the cleaned rifle?

[Punch the Clown]

The rifle is not conclusively a USMC rifle. Perhaps it is, perhaps it isn't. The buttplate certainly appears to be a USMC buttplate. But buttplates are subject to the laws of Animal Husbandry. Nevertheless, you appear to have a fine rifle.

Thanks for sharing!

J.B.

p.s.,

The rifle is not listed in SRS.

John I can't help being a little disappointed. I am curious of it's origins. It does have the Hatcher hole, the right park, a lot of the parts in black oxide. When I took it apart it was all glued together and flooded with that dark brown cosmolene so I don't think it's a recent bubba job. Regardless, I'm happy with it and I think I paid a fair price.

Fred, the weather is still crummy here. I took a couple of indoor pics but they don't do it justice.
BTW, the Hatcher hole lines up perfectly with the gas port in the bolt. The stock is a bit high which half blocks the hole.

[Punch the Clown]

Posting Details. I Remember cplnorton mentioning some significance to the crossbolt staking.

[cplnorton]

Posting Details. I Remember cplnorton mentioning some significance to the crossbolt staking.

Yeah you see that type of staking done on a lot of Marine target rifles, and even Marine snipers. But I also later found it on stocks that never had anything to do with the Marines. It just seems to be the way some had been staked.

On your rifle, I could see the argument either way. As John has stated. It certainly looks like it could be one. You do see that type of finish on a lot of Marine looking rebuilds. But I have seen it on some rifles that bare no USMC traits.

I do sort of believe it is likely was one, at one time though. Just because of the serial number and barrel date. But as John said it could really go either way. And as you know AAG is for Augusta. But the Marines were dumping M1903's as early 1943, and then you see the final exodus of M1903's out of the Marines post 1954.

But going through the docs and seeing how much stuff is constantly going back and forth between all the branches. And how the Marines rebuilt Navy rifles, and how the Army refinished Marine rifles, and just so many weird things that make it hard for us studying traits, to make conclusive comments on. I mean it's entirely possible you could even have a rifle that served in every branch at one time or another in it's service life.

But here is what I have around it Punch. It is certainly in good company to be USMC. But there are some around that are not. Like I said, I think the odds are better it was, than wasn't. But it would be nice to have some more evidence to say for sure.

One thing you might check, is the front sight numbered? Like a .40 or anything?

824665 101537USMC - SAN DIEGO (SURVEY)
824672 102330USMC
824687 111730USMC - PEARL HARBOR
824728 061637CASS TECH HS
824728 033138DETROIT HS
824738 013031USMC - HAITI
824738 031631USMC - HAITI
824865 013031USMC - HAITI
824902 083042USS J FRANKLIN BELL (APA16)
824960 092632CAMP DIX TO SA
824960 010433CAMP DIX

[Punch the Clown]

John and Steve, thanks for taking the time and reviewing this rifle. I guess a 50/50 chance ain't bad at all. I'll keep it in the safe next to the known USMC rifles just in case they're kin. No number on the front sight that I can see. Thanks again to you and John for all your help.

[el Woodman]

Like Fred, I spot that platinum inlaid vertical line through the rear sight aperture.....Old!

[Punch the Clown]

Is that an early inlaid platinum line running vertically through the peep sight? Wow!
.

Fred, you and Woodman are right. Thanks for pointing that out.

[RCS]

Jan 1931 barrel date

Back sometime in the early 1960's, I had a friend that bought 1903 barrels and a few 1903A3 barreled
actions from Great Lakes Naval Base, in their retail shop. I think the barrels were $3 each and the
1903A3 barreled actions were $10 each. When he moved to Fla about twenty years ago, he gave me
one of the barrels. It is a SA 1-31 and has the vise marks. He said that these barrels and barreled
actions came from the training rifles and when something broke like the stock, they sold off the metal
parts. You could always spot the navy training rifle barrels because the first inch down the bore had
light rust from marching in the rain.
P1010030_0027.jpgP1010035_0032.jpgP1010032_0029.jpgP1010028_0025.jpg

[Fred]

Is there a Verticle inscribed line running through your peep sight insert or slide? It looks like it

[Punch the Clown]

Is there a Verticle inscribed line running through your peep sight insert or slide? It looks like it

Yup, you pointed that out right away. I didn't notice it.

[Fred]

I'm unfamiliar with that design. It's Neat!

[Marine A5 Sniper Rifle]

Punch,
As noted by JB, unless a direct link is found for a particular rifle, it's history can only be implied. This is a portion of a list of known USMC rifles (other than by physical appearance) with yours inserted. Although I am not a big fan of statistics due to one of my previous career paths (drilling oil, gas, and uranium wells), I would be willing to wager your rifle has marched under the G&A.

I noted the "Hotfoot" stamp. I am not familiar with that stamp at all, but Col Bull Simons ran an early CIA operation that was code named "Hotfoot" that operated in Laos in the late '50's. They were one bad ass bunch of killers. Connect that rifle to that bunch and you have a winner big time.

824513		02/27/36	USMC	PORTSMOUTH NSY
824572		03/14/31	USMC
824665		10/15/37	USMC	SAN DIEGO (SURVEY)
824672		10/23/30	USMC
824687		11/17/30	USMC	PEARL HARBOR, PVT. GEORGE G. ROSE
824738		01/30/31	USMC	HAITI
824738		03/16/31	USMC	HAITI
824738		03/16/31	USMC	Pvt. Thoephil J. Klosowski-1st Brigade, Port au Prince
824745		04/05/18	USMC	Punch the Clown's new USMC rifle, SA 1-31 bbl, stippled buttplate, HO 16 bolt, AAD artouche, HOTFOOT G.E.K. stamped into stock, Hatcher Hole,
824865		01/30/31	USMC	HAITI
825055		07/27/09	USMC	SA 3-18 BBL, HH, "TENN." STAMPED ON STOCK UNDER RECEIVER
825081		03/16/31	USMC	HAITI
825081		03/16/31	USMC	Pvt. Roy A. Knight -1st Brigade, Port au Prince
825111		11/21/38	USMC	SAN DIEGO (SURVEY)
825131		03/27/29	USMC	SAN DIEGO
825386		04/14/38	USMCR	(SURVEY)
825387		05/02/39	USMC	SAN DIEGO
825389		04/22/37	USMC	SAN DIEGO (SURVEY)

[Punch the Clown]

Thank you Sir and thank you for taking the time to do the research!

[Marine A5 Sniper Rifle]

I have been trying to find any information I can about HOTFOOT and G.E.K. with no real progress. I looked at US ships and Greek ships with help from a couple of old Navy buddies, but we came up empty handed. I vaguely remember our discussing the G.E.K. stamp back during the height of the Greek returns, but found no evidence of Greek stamping of the returns. Any of you guys know the origin of these stamps?

Back in the day, a Hotfoot was a lit match stuck in the sole of a sleeping Marine using a wooden match.

[Punch the Clown]

I just looked at the stamp again. It says G.E.K It looks like it's been there for a long time. I was thinking G.E.K was someones initials and Hotfoot a nick name?