For Victory Database

[chiefdave]

#880680, looks to be Australian by the acceptance marks. What does the "FTR/MA53" under the MADE IN USA means? Rework date?

 

[DWalt]

Factory Thorough Repair/Munitions Australia 1953 - It has been rebuilt. A pre-Victory which shipped around late 1941. This same gun has appeared here previously. See: http://smith-wessonforum.com/s-w-ha...-believe-its-australian.html?highlight=880680

 

[Absalom]

Factory Thorough Repair/Munitions Australia 1953 - It has been rebuilt. A pre-Victory which shipped around late 1941. This same gun has appeared here previously. See: http://smith-wessonforum.com/s-w-ha...-believe-its-australian.html?highlight=880680

One additional detail I have found out from Lithgow since my contributions to that earlier thread is the meaning of MA.

Contrary to what is found in the literature, it most likely does not mean Munitions Australia, but Mach Arms, derived from the Lithgow factory's telex code for most of the 20th century. According to the Lithgow museum's curator, that is the emerging consensus over there (as of last year).