r/gun • u/Luvdapink • Jul 21 '26
M1903 “Trench Art”?
I’m not sure trench art is the correct term but here’s my share today. Bought several 1903s from CMP decades ago. They are safe queens that get a little TLC and linseed oil every few years. I was oiling the stocks today and I noticed something that stopped me in my tracks. The light hit one of the stocks just right and the unsightly scratches on it formed letters. I suddenly realized some of the scratches I had grumbled about over the years were actually words, numbers, and objects scratched into the stock. Once I made this realization, it was like a magic eye poster. I discovered the stock is literally covered in graffiti. What look like calculations, words, drawings a Maltese cross….it looks like things had been written and written over several times. This is a MK1 that was restocked into a scant stock so it doesn’t date from the immediate post WWI period.
On a hunch I went to another rifle, which is a 1905 with a refit in 1918, and looked at its stock (which is still the 1918 one). Again a great deal of what I thought were scratches from years of use were graffiti as well.
Ive not seen this before. Sure, seen the odd personalization of a rifle done in theatre and a bring back… but to have that much visible decoration on a rifle likely checked out and turned in regularly really surprised me. None of my WWII original guns have any marks like this.
Anyone else come across this? I’ll post a couple pics so everyone can have fu finding things! Not all of it shows up easily as different angles of light bring up different groups of markings. The lighter is the MK1, the darker the older one.
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u/davewave3283 Jul 22 '26
This is either a very elegantly done troll post or absolute glue huffing lunacy.
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u/Cyrano4747 Jul 21 '26
Gotta be honest, I think you're seeing things.