warren

Overseas postage is not as fast as UK or UK postage..... I'd not panic until at least 25 business days..not calendar days. Many countries do not offer Saturday postal services and then do not ship local mail to a central depot everyday. Also, the guys first language might not be English. I've had packages take 3 to 4 months from some places overseas. When you get the item, check the date it was posted on the package. I just got one what was mailed in October of 2017.

Looks like the stuff produced for England and Canada during WW II Nice clean ammo. It also comes in a white box with just Winchester on it.

It was an early attempt by the British during WW II in die casting. The sear and trip points quickly wore.

What a pile of empties rattling around even though they are ejecting out the doors!!!!!!!

Boning was what the British used to put a glass finish on wood. The best I have found is pork spare rib bones. Don't use castoff's they will gouge the wood. You need smooth dried bones. Pork spare rib bones have a nice curve to them and once dried they have microscopic pores in the bone and it does a great job of smoothing wood. It is a bit labour intensive but the results are spectacular. I've taken old stocks that were only worthy of the fireplace and made great looking stocks out of them without removing any markings. A light coat of linseed oil (BLO), rub it in and then bone again. You will be amazed at the results but again, it is a bit of work.

Oven cleaner will eventually discolour the wood unless you get it all remnants of it out and that is a real chore. Why risk ruining a good piece of wood. Sodium hydroxide is used to digest wood in the pulp and paper industry as stated before. There are many good degreasers on the market and Simple Green comes to mind. I use a domestic degreaser for range hoods that has done the job for years and the grease and oil just runs out after a hot water rinse. Then a VERY LIGHT rub of the finest steel wool you can find or lightly bone the stock. This way you will not remove any markings and the dents that do not have any wood removed will come out and if not a steaming with a damp towel and iron will fix most of those. Then a good boning and you will have a piece of wood that looks like new and retains it character. Save those spare rib bones guys and you will be amazed. Rub the wood with the bone curve and it will smooth wood like a babies bum and not remove any markings. Boning is from an 1880's British armourers manual.

With the sling swivel on the top of the butt stock there is a VERY good chance it is British, AUzzie or Canadian. As to marking the stocks with either a broad arrow for the British or a C-broad arrow for Canada I have never seen a butt or any wood so marked. The "Q" is most likely an inspector. It is not consistent with any known British Commonwealth marking

You also have the stock that has the clip to take the cleaning rod......

Didn't happen to find a decent Lewis butt plate in the Lewis stuff did you ???

Doug: Drop me a pm with your email addie. Interested in anything for the my Boys... cheers, Warren

If you find a supplier I'd appreciate it if you would post it. There are a couple of luggage shop suppliers in the USA that have similar to what you are looking for but not exactly what I am looking for. I need one or a set of two of these.

The gun is in a Carlow and not Fox as I said and is indeed a Mk.1 gun...You can see the front sight to the left of the muzzle. I have a picture of a Carlow with the Vickers taken from the one remaining Carlow left in Ireland (I am aware of) but cannot seem to move the picture here. The Mk. 1 or any other model of the Vickers other than those converted to AFV config. were seldom used in AFV applications. Unconverted Vickers dumped the empties inside and not outside the turret as the Mk VI. Hoppers and bags were not very successful. Brass rattling around in the turret and vehicle caused a multitude of problems. MANAGED TO MOVE THE PICTURE of the remaining Carlow in Ireland Mouth in motion before mind in gear.

Wrong Vickers in the Fox..... The Vickers shown is a ground mount Vickers Notice the water port on the muzzle The AFV Vickers has the ports on the rear of the jacket and the muzzle booster is much different. The one shown here has the monopod for dismounted use sans cheek piece and butt pad.

The British and Canadian ones were cotton waste felt while the later Australian ones were lined with asbestos...... If you have an Auzzie one be careful when installing it as when you fold it around the jacket you will create a cloud of asbestos dust. Just a heads up........

Here's a chest I make for the M1A1 along with a repro of the British 1928 Home Guard chest.