Walter,
I have edited my above post to clarify my comment about Australian property markings. As DRB has mentioned, it is not unusual for the (relatively few) examples of which we are aware that have no "FTR" markings to have no 'Broad Arrow,' "D/|\D" or "A/|\F" property markings either. It is distinctly possible that these guns did not have their property markings applied until the time that the FTR was performed. When I said that the FTR markings were what indicated Australian usage, I meant that the FTR markings also included application of the property marking(s).
BTW, on this topic, I have corresponded with a collector from across the Tasman Sea in New Zealand who states that although it was standard practice during WW2 to mark all of their small arms with "NZ" property markings, the Victory Models were an exception and that those V.M.s we've seen with "NZ" backstrap-markings were so marked in the postwar years and not on receipt.
It appears (although, again, I'm drawing these conclusions from a relatively small number of examples) that it was not standard practice to mark Victory Models on receipt in "the Antipodes," which is why the only time we see guns with property markings, they also have FTR or rack numbers (sometimes, I believe, referred to, erroneously, as "unit numbers"). I infer that the latter were applied as a means of inventory control during a time when many (most?) of these guns weren't being issued to individuals on a permanent basis, but rather issued temporarily on an as-needed basis (e.g, to MPs).
I'd sure like to hear from any Australian collectors on board here about the dating of the markings. Does anyone else have a non-Australian-marked, non-FTR'd example with an Australian provenance?
BTW, Charlie's and my database shows FTR dates from '53, '54 & '55.
Steve
