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Munitions Factory "MC" Finsbury, South Australia

Darkman

Darkman

Well-Known Member
My friend Ron Hardy here in Ballarat wishes to pose a question to all the knowledgable Australian members regarding the headstamp "MC".

MC on wartime production cartridge cases is for Finsbury, Adelaide, SA. Apparently as the monogram MF was already taken by Footscray it was designated MC because it was near to Cheltenham?

All documentation that we can find relating to the establishment of Finsbury indicates that the factory construction commenced in 1940 and it became operational in February 1941.

The problem is that Ron has cases, or has recorded, a number of MC headstamps on cases that date much earlier than this. He has records of:

MC, Lot 1, 1927 on an 18 pdr III case (manufacture of the case)
MC, Lot 1E, 1927 on an 18 pdr III case (manufacture of the case)
MC, Lot 2, 4/27 restamped on a reformed or reworked 18 pdr II* case, originally a K-Kynoch case dated 1918 and Lot 253
MC, no Lot, 1/28 restamped on a reformed or reworked 18 pdr I** case, originally a RL-Royal Laboratory case dated 1905

These dates appear to predate any recorded dates for 18 pdr or 6 pdr Hotchkiss cases he has for "MF" Munitions Footscray, which commence in 1929.
i.e. MC seems to predate MF for large calibre gun ammunition, but MF was the "home" of ammunition production in Australia.

Does anyone have any explanation for this or information on the MC headstamp prior to 1941?

Thanks,

Graeme
 
Graeme,

What is there to suggest the first two cases are Australian other than their location? Do they, or indeed the other two, have a 'D' with a broad arrow stamped within it?

In respect of the latter two, is the 'MC' stamped within a rectangle?

Any photo's?

TimG
 
Tim,

I have no photos of the cases only Ron's hand drawn records of the headstamps. I wll attach a copy but I don't know how well this will reproduce.

There is nothing to suggest that the first 2 cases I listed (I forgot to list a 3rd 1928 case) are Australian made, other than a large capital "MC" in the 3 o'clock position.
Whilst there could be another British/Commonwealth manufacturer that possibly used the "MC" monogram, the "M" for Munitions factory nomenclature is a prefix used on all Australian cartridge cases.

The cases do not have a broad arrow within a "D". They are fairly clean and bare of many marks at all other than an A in a diamond (annealed?) and a cross within a circle (scleroscope hardness test?).

The repaired/reworked/converted cases do not have MC within a rectangle - just a plain MC. I have seen this repair contractor symbol before on British cases, but I don't know who it is.

Regards,

Graeme

P1050183.JPG
 
Graeme,

I have 'St. Lawrence Alloys and Metals, Ltd.. Beauharnois, Que. Canada' shown for 'MC' (I have no idea what they made munitions wise). However, one would expect to see a Broad Arrow within a 'C' for Canadian cases. Also, I can't imagine the 1918 case being shipped back to Canada.

What markings are on the primers?

TimG
 
Tim,

No broad arrow in a "C" to denote Canadian manufacture.

All the primers in the 1927 & 1928 "MC" made cases are British, and unusually for some reason they are very early with pre WW1 dates. e.g. VSM 12/06, RL 11/05 and RL 3/09. The primers in the reworked cases are RL 5/18 and RL 2/13.

So this is a little inconclusive as any Commonwealth country may have used these.

Still a mystery.

Cheers,

Graeme
 
The only thing I can think of is that "MC" was possibly an early designation for the large calibre gun ammuntion factory at Footscray in Melbourne, Vic. There had been small arms ammunition production at Footscray since about 1890 as the Colonial Ammunition Company (CAC) up until 1921. During and after WW1 various other factories were established in the Footscray and Maribrynong area such as Maribrynong Explosives ("ME" and its associated factories such as "MEP" - Pyrotechnics, "MEC" - Cordite), Maribrynong Ordnance ("MO" for gun manufacture) and Maribrynong Munitions Laboratory ("ML"). Note that the "M" prefix does not stand for Maribrynong but Munitions, and was used throughout Australia.

Large calibre gun ammunition production commenced at Footscray in 1922. Later identification for this ammunition factory used the monogram "MF" - Munitions Footscary. However the earliest cartridge case Ron has with the "MF" monogram is 1929, and he has (or has records of cases) other "MF" cases throughout the 1930s up to WW2.

I said in my initial post that "MC" appeared to predate "MF" ("MC" headstamps known with 1927 and '28 dates), but as there is no overlap in dates, perhaps "MC" was an early designation for the gun ammunition factory at Footscray (from 1922 to 1928) and it changed to "MF" in 1929?

Anyone got a better explanation?
 
Well I am pretty sure I have now worked out the answer with a little further research. "MC" on large calibre cases up until 1928 does in fact mean Munitions Footscray, or perhaps more accurately, Munitions CAC. After 1928 the monogram became the more familiar "MF".

After WW1, with much reduced demand, the Colonial Ammuntion Company went through hard times. The Government Department of Munitions leased property (and possibly utilised existing workers and tooling/equipment?) from CAC in 1921 and established the large calibre gun ammunition factory there in 1922. The pertinent information I have learnt is that the Dept. of Munitions then purchased the property from CAC in 1928. This aligns exactly with the monogram change on known gun cases - "MC" up until 1928 then "MF" from 1929 onwards. Perhaps "MC" stood for Munitions CAC or Munitions at CAC, then after becoming a full government factory the monogram was changed to conform with the Government munitions naming convention relating to the location - "MF" for Footscray.

When the cartridge case munitions factory was established at Finsbury near Adelaide SA in 1941, "MF" was already taken, so as it was adjacent to Cheltenham - a large centre with an existing railway station - "MC" was selected. Ordnance personnel at the time would have been aware of the distinction, but the knowledge has been lost over time.
 
Tim,

I found a fairly recent heritage report on the ordnance industries in the area commissioned by the Maribrynong City Council. It was only an overview and fairly brief, but it did have the important bit of information about the lease and eventual sale of the CAC site to the Dept. of Munitions.

Regards,

Graeme
 
I know this thread is very old, but I have a list of symbols of government factories dated 6th April 1943, sent to me by Footscray. It does show the monogram for ammunition factory, Finsbury as MC. MD was Derwent Park, Tasmania.

Sorry I have never been into the heavy stuff so may have info if interest, but don't realise it.

Fuse factories: MFA, Albury, MFG Goulburn, MFW, Wagga MFB, Broken Hill.

Cheers
 
Could you post a photo of the list at all? I would be interested to see some original period documentation and any other monograms.
Cheers.
 
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