17-12-2015, 11:47 PM
Bob Prudhomme Wrote:I'm going to have to search for the article that spoke about the rifles being sold off by the Italian government. From what I recall, it was only one company involved in the sale, and they sold the rifles to the importers. I distinctly recall the terms of the agreement this company made required all identifying marks, including serial nos., to be removed prior to the rifles leaving Italy. Obviously, this never occurred.
Give me a while, and I will produce the article. I wish I could recall the name of the gunsmith in Italy hired to re-condition the rifles into working order. Riga? Riba? Something like that.
Riva.
You see Bob... Feldsott describes the packing of surplus rifles in Italy assisted by the Italian military. Serial numbers are checked as they are packed.(this is all thanks to John Armstrong's work btw - these images are contained in the CD which accompanies the book) Many come from the Archives and are the only copies of the documents...
Here is a composite of all the info. I fail to see why they would remove the one unique identifier for each rifle - if this was done there'd be no way to follow any rifle unless it was restamped with a new unique # and start all over.
I too have heard this Bob - It makes little sense unless the rifles were destined for places where tracing the serial #'s was not a good idea.
Once in a while you get shown the light
in the strangest of places if you look at it right..... R. Hunter
in the strangest of places if you look at it right..... R. Hunter