I picked up this little girl about two months ago. She was named Penny by someone that had her before me. If you look at the last pic, the one of the buttstock, you will see her name in the stock.
The stocks appeare to have a Tru-Oli finish on them. When I have a little extra time I will remove the finish and restore it to a hand rubbed BLO finish.
I shot it last month and all I can say is, SWEET!
They are a sweet little gun aren't they.
Wonder when the carving was done ?
Bloke I used to work with was a CSM in the Australian army in the '70's. He used to tell a story of how he was in charge of a detail to cull non standard stocks from the MKIII*'s the army had in storage at the time. Specifically they removed (and burnt) hundreds of stocks that had been "altered" by the troops. Ranged from basic things like initials carved in the butt through to quite elaborate carvings.
The power of accurate observation is frequently called cynicism by those who don't have it.
In Brave Men by Ernie Pyle there is an accout of the field armours picking up rifles from a battlefield along with the mortuary crew and some medics. One of the rifles had the butt inletted for a picture of a girl/woman. After an inspection, the rifle was reissued with picture.
While, Pyle, reported on US infantry men in WWII, his accounts are militarily universal.