PBS rebuild stamp 1903 Springfield

[mwf203]

I have a 1903 Springfield 1.5 mil so a later one, it has a HS 4-44 barrel on it that is absolutely min. I just noticed today that on the rear sight collar is a PBS -44- stamp. When I look it up it appears to be Penninsular Base Section a rebuild depot. Does anyone know more about this stamp? Another interesting bit about this rifle is it wears a Mk1 fingergroove stock with a relatively unknown inspector stamp (SPL). So the whole rifle has some unique history.

[cplnorton]

There really isn't much more to know that what you probably already know.

They were a rebuild depot for the European theater. It was much more effective to have repair depots in the theaters than it was to ship weapons and equipment back to the states for repair.

Something about the rifle needed to be "Surveyed" which meant the rifle was not serviceable so it was sent there to be repaired in 1944.

I remember seeing pictures of the PBS repair depot at either the Archives or in vintage books of the era. I can't remember which.

The neat thing about that stamp, everyone wonders if their rifle went overseas in the war. It might have only served guard duty or it might have been used in actual combat, there is no way to know. But it was there.

[Firstflabn]

Originally Posted by cplnorton

They were a rebuild depot for the European theater.

No U.S. Army ground troops ever set foot on the Italian peninsula during its brief period as part of the ETO (which ended in Feb 43). Rather, all ground operations there were under MTO command.

PBS was located at the port of Leghorn on the NW coast of Italy. Leghorn fell to the allies in Jul 44.

[jimthompson502002]

They often dated their inspections.

An excited collector once called me to take a look and "verify" his "dated Winchester barrel". That was an M1 Garand.

And it was dated...with the inspection date. Oddly, they'd not replaced the barrel, but seem to have worked on some other details. The rifle did have what seemed to be a replaced operating rod piston and some obvious refinish. Otherwise, the former DCM rifle seemed pretty much undisturbed.

The stamping was quite deep, legible, and done above the chamber, under the lower ( "rear" ) handguard, which seemed a great deal of work for a rather ordinary function.

I've seen more "noted" bolt rifles than M1's with their "signature".

[mwf203]

As I look close it appears this one is dated 9-44. Barrel dated 4-44 so about the approximate time for items to get from factory to theater.

https://imgur.com/a/LTKLnSG

[LAH]

I have a 1943 M1 Garand that came from the CMP, with the PBS stamp on the barrel.

[Kansasbobcat]

I have a M1903 rear sight base stamped: PBS-4-44. The hyphens are the letter "I" turned 90 degrees.