1915 Drill No5 Mills - Stamped Body?

[EnfieldMills]

Afternoon everyone,

I have this nice 1915 Drill No5 Mills but I found the body is stamped "UF" under the lever.

Would this be a company stamp or a mold stamp? Also seems strange that its upside down.

On a different note the ring is a replacement I put on as the original was in bits when I got the mills.

Cheers, Luke

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[gothica7]

Nice grenade bud, I suspect that is nothing more than a mold mark from the foundry that made it but I suspect the 'experts' on here will be able to tell you one way or another.

Andy

[Millsman]

I agree with Andy. It's probably a mould mark.Very nice original example and a rare base plug.

However, I've also noticed that quite a few of these mould marks have the letter F in them.

This opens up the possibility that they may be marks from independent foundry companies. There were many just making bodies to supply to other companies.

A example being H & J Hill who supplied bodies to Vickery's Patents. Vickery took H&J Hill to court in 1916 after being supplied with too many bodies that were not to the government standard.

So some will be mould marks and perhaps others independent foundry suppliers.