Question on Aussie FTR Revolver

[Retired W4]

As part of my spending spree Saturday I got a pre-Victory, SN: 898948. Marked FTR/MA 53 (Factory Thorough Repair/Munitions Australia, 1953), with UNITED STATES PROPERTY on the top strap. My question involves the stocks. It came with pre-war service stocks with flat silver medallions. The serial numbers on the right panel are very small and hard to read but I can make out most of the appropriate numbers. Would these stocks be correct for this revolver? Thanks in advance.

Messed up and put this in the wrong section. I need another cup of coffee. Moderators please move this.

 

[murphydog]

Yes, the commercial style stocks would be correct at that SN.

Did you mean to write the serial number on the right inside stock panel matched the gun? That is pretty definitive.

 

[Retired W4]

Yes, the commercial style stocks would be correct at that SN.

Did you mean to write the serial number on the right inside stock panel matched the gun? That is pretty definitive.

Yes Alan. SN is on the correct location on the stocks, but are difficult to read/make out. Most of the numbers are legible but not all of them.

 

[Retired W4]

As soon as I get back from a VA audio exam I'll clean it up and post pictures.

 

[gwpercle]

If the legible numbers match the serial numbers ...
I would call them the correct stocks ...
In this case , horse shoes and hand grenades ... Close Counts !
Nice Score ,
Gary

 

[murphydog]

In the 1930s the serial number stampings on the grip frame and stocks were really deep, so 3/5/8/9 and 1/7 would look very similar. The rear cylinder face and barrel flat numbers often look clearer.

 

[merl67]

In the 1930s the serial number stampings on the grip frame and stocks were really deep, so 3/5/8/9 and 1/7 would look very similar. The rear cylinder face and barrel flat numbers often look clearer.

I'll second this for me it's easier to read the serial number on the rear of the cylinder, and barrel then compare to the one on the grip frame. The other day I had to correct a store employee who was about to use the assembly number found in the crane area as the serial number....

 

[Retired W4]

Pictures as promised. Bore was OK. Clean now. Chambers were really dirty but they sparkle now. They were NOT reamed for 38 special, thank you.

I just noticed it is marked FTP, not FTR. Charles Pate does not explain that. Possibly a mistake??

All numbers match in all the right places.

 

[Buford57]

Pictures as promised. Bore was OK. Clean now. Chambers were really dirty but they sparkle now. They were NOT reamed for 38 special, thank you.

I just noticed it is marked FTP, not FTR. Charles Pate does not explain that. Possibly a mistake??

All numbers match in all the right places.

Looks to me like a light strike on the descending stroke of the "R". Nice representative example.

 

[LVSteve]

Poor strike on the R in FTR. Poor stamps, proofs, and even serial numbers on arms used by the British and commonwealth military are a "feature".

 

[2152hq]

The M/A..'Muntions Australia' meaning is/was another term that had taken hold and then repeated so often it became 'fact'.

No one ever really checked and secured any record of such from the factory.
Not until some collectors contacted the Lithgow Factory/Museum directly a few yrs back (go to the source).
Lithgow's response in short was :
"...Nobody really knows what it stands for, but we believe it is Mach Arms, the telex address used by Lithgow SAF...."

Better than wild guess I'd think.
Is there any source to the beginnings of the Munitions Australia meaning to the MA mark?

Not that it all together means a whole lot, kind of like Clip and Mag to me. I know what they're talking about, But serious collectors like to clear things up and get to facts.

 

[Retired W4]

The M/A..'Muntions Australia' meaning is/was another term that had taken hold and then repeated so often it became 'fact'.

No one ever really checked and secured any record of such from the factory.
Not until some collectors contacted the Lithgow Factory/Museum directly a few yrs back (go to the source).
Lithgow's response in short was :
"...Nobody really knows what it stands for, but we believe it is Mach Arms, the telex address used by Lithgow SAF...."

Better than wild guess I'd think.
Is there any source to the beginnings of the Munitions Australia meaning to the MA mark?

Not that it all together means a whole lot, kind of like Clip and Mag to me. I know what they're talking about, But serious collectors like to clear things up and get to facts.

My source is "U.S. Handguns of World War II, The Secondary Pistols and Revolvers" by Charles W. Pate, page 110.

I'm wondering what collector contacted the Lithgow arms factory..

Mr. Pate is a highly respected expert in these matters who relied, in part, on David J. Penn of the Imperial War Museum, London England. Mr. Pate's book has a forward by Roy G. Jinks, Historian, Smith & Wesson.

 

[Retired W4]

"Not until some collectors contacted the Lithgow Factory/Museum directly a few yrs back (go to the source).
Lithgow's response in short was :
"...Nobody really knows what it stands for, but we believe it is Mach Arms, the telex address used by Lithgow SAF...."..."

I would still like to know the names of these collectors who called the Lithgow factory to get that response.

 

[Nagloc68]

An Australian pre-Victory is a nice find. Looks in good condition also! Well done. I have a V-model all matching except the stocks, which are "period correct". I have several MA rifles, and it is true there is no definitive definiation of MA documented in the Australian collector/research community. Not even the learned Ian Skennerton has a definitive explanation. We all know what it means.