Enfield oil bottles

[redcat]

Has anyone ever seen a copper oiler? I have just purchased what was described as a "Canadian relic" oil bottle marked on the base with McA-15 and a broad arrow mark possibly in a circle. It was almost black with a lot of corrosion on the lower half but when cleaned it appears to be made from copper.

Redcat

[ovenpaa]

Put a magnet on it, the oiler may be steel that was plated copper.

[redcat]

Just tried that - no go. It's non ferrous. Will post a pic tomorrow.

Redcat

[MrD]

Has anyone ever seen a copper oiler? I have just purchased what was described as a "Canadian relic" oil bottle marked on the base with McA-15 and a broad arrow mark possibly in a circle. It was almost black with a lot of corrosion on the lower half but when cleaned it appears to be made from copper.

Redcat

What you are describing as a broad arrow in a circle will actually be a broad arrow in a C. This denotes Canadian ownership

Donald

[redcat]

You are correct, Donald.

Redcat

[MrD]

After I posted this, I looked at the link posted earlier. The maker's mark seems to be linked to Ross rifles according to that site... maybe yes, maybe no. You'd need to do some more digging

[redcat]

Scraping the inside of this bottle indicates that it is actually made of brass.

Redcat

[Gingercat]

I suspect that being buried in the soil caused some chemical reaction with the zinc part of the brass alloy, perhaps leaving the less reactive copper component more obvious on the surface... it's been a while since I studied any chemistry though! :)

Managed to pick up a maker I'd been seeking for a while for my own collection on eBay recently - 'S.H & S' (with no Ltd.)... always nice to find one you haven't seen before!

Regards

Mike