Hi. Greetings to everyone in this forum. I'm a collector of military items from Spain. I'm looking information about the markings that appear on the safety catches, for the .303 "Vickers Medium Machine Gun. As shown in the photo, a double arrow and the letter "A" appear. I would like to know what these marks indicate and if you know the period of the safety catches. Can you help me? Thank you so much to everybody.
Hi, Diegocvi, If you want to find genuinely informed in-depth stuff on Vickers MGs, I'd recommend asking Richard Fisher, possibly the current world specialist thereof: Richard Fisher (@vickersmg) | Twitter He also has a website at: The Vickers MG Collection and Research Association That is full of manuals to download, among other solid info. Genuinely approachable & friendly chap with a mania for the guns.
The first bit is the War Office 'Crow's Foot' - it seems to have been stamped twice. All British military equipment was, and still is, stamped with a crow's foot. Regards Frank
Letters after WD broad arrows are often date codes, but it's an esoteric subject, and not one I know much about. May I show the picture elsewhere to see if we can find an answer for you?
Double stamps (for coins often called double strikes) are usually accidental. For coins they enhance the collectors values as they are fairly rare. I wouldn't be surprised to see the same for other items but am no expert.