I just received the information that Italian S18-1100 AT rifles in 20x138B Rheinmetall had bolt / breech faces with the serial number of the weapon engraved in relatively large letters.
Upon firing the serial number was giving space to the case head to deform into the engraved part of the breech face and sowith left it's serial number in the case (as a relief).
As far as it assumed by the leading researcher in this field (J.-B. Anderhub) this was not to mark the cases but to enable the operator to view and verify the serial number of the bolt which otherwise had no exposed surfaces visible from the outside of the weapon. When the bolt was in rear position the number was legible. The purpose of this posting is not to discuss the possible reason why this has been done (that will be to no avail I guess).
The question is:
Has anybody ever seen such a case with something that looked like a "raised" portion of the hs which looked like a serial number (maybe as a "mirror" - have to ask back how the number was applied there). If so an image of such a "deformed" case would be much appreciated (for a book project, credit will be given etc.). By nature of the weapon and considering the time frame of use most of such cases were likely to be found in Northern Africa since later on the weapons were not in use anymore when the war went on in Italy itself.
Upon firing the serial number was giving space to the case head to deform into the engraved part of the breech face and sowith left it's serial number in the case (as a relief).
As far as it assumed by the leading researcher in this field (J.-B. Anderhub) this was not to mark the cases but to enable the operator to view and verify the serial number of the bolt which otherwise had no exposed surfaces visible from the outside of the weapon. When the bolt was in rear position the number was legible. The purpose of this posting is not to discuss the possible reason why this has been done (that will be to no avail I guess).
The question is:
Has anybody ever seen such a case with something that looked like a "raised" portion of the hs which looked like a serial number (maybe as a "mirror" - have to ask back how the number was applied there). If so an image of such a "deformed" case would be much appreciated (for a book project, credit will be given etc.). By nature of the weapon and considering the time frame of use most of such cases were likely to be found in Northern Africa since later on the weapons were not in use anymore when the war went on in Italy itself.