Quote:
Originally Posted by Absalom
I did too. And then I got the “Mach Arms” from the curator at the Lithgow Factory Museum in an e-mail. It was Lithgow’s telex code. Better source 
The actual ammunition factories in Australia (Lithgow made primarily guns, not ammo) all had an M code for Munitions Something. The oldest, at Footscray, was MF for Munitions Footscray. So I think way back somebody was trying to explain the MA on Lithgow guns and since it wasn’t ML they got creative fishing for another possible explanation. And then everybody in the literature copied that; before the internet, actually checking would have been too much work 
And as for the large number, whenever I check Pate’s footnotes and see Skennerton as the source, I remember the supposedly 49,764 Colt Official Police 38/200 for the BPC, which I discovered upon having the Colt archivist check the ledgers, to have been only 18,252.  |
Thanks for the additional information.
I did find it a little odd that 49,764 Official Police 38/200 revolvers were listed by Pate, but in his book they hardly even get a mention. I know information isn’t always available, but for that large of a number I would have expected there to be more than just a mention of them.
I don’t suppose you have any more information about the Official Police 38/200’s? I am mostly wondering if it’s known how many were shipped to the different commonwealth countries. I have seen a couple with Australian markings and was curious if it’s know how many were sent there.