No 4 Mk1 T Transit box Reproductions/Canadian Version

[tbonesmith]

Have you used the Canadian hardware? Does it differ much/at all from the British hardware?

[grant580]

Have you used the Canadian hardware? Does it differ much/at all from the British hardware?

The difference between British hardware and Canadian is that the British hardware has three screw holes in the hinges (six total) where as the Canadian versions have four screw holes (eight total) All my hardware is Canadian but have to put them on the British boxes anyway because thats all I have.
I could have the holes welded shut and re-drilled to the three hole pattern If I had to. Would be willing to trade someone some four hole hinges for the British ones if anyone has some to spare.

[303sniper]

Hi,

The chest is looking great!!

You only used Canadian hinges and you stencil is telling me its an British made rifle inside.....huh?????

But again, an very well made repro!!

CU Harry

[stencollector]

The last picture shows the detail of the hasp being held in place with a brass rivet and you can see the C broad arrow stamp I put on the lid. I had this C broad arrow stamp made up by a Croatian Master Engraver out West. You can also see that about the last two inches of the lid has a "T" shaped joint in it that holds a piece of wood measuring 2 inches by 5 inches with the grain going the other way to prevent warping.

I believe the Canadian no15 chests had metal re-enforcing around the ends of the lid. At least the two I picked up did.

[grant580]

Hi,

The chest is looking great!!

You only used Canadian hinges and you stencil is telling me its an British made rifle inside.....huh?????

But again, an very well made repro!!

CU Harry

Thank you for the compliments 303sniper! The reason of course for making the British stencilled chest is because that's what the customer wanted and unfortunatley I only have the Canadian version of the hinges. I explained that I only have the four hole hinges, but he said go ahead anyway and make it British old boy!

[grant580]

I believe the Canadian no15 chests had metal re-enforcing around the ends of the lid. At least the two I picked up did.

Hello Stencollector! Now that's interesting, have not seen any evidence of that so far and the fact that you have two with the metal re-enforcing on them indicates it may have been standard on some, or perhaps all the Canadian chests?
Would love to see a picture of that metal re-enforcement and general pictures of those chests, any chance you could post that for us??

One thing I have noticed about my research into these boxes is that there are many variations regarding interior colours, stencilling etc, I have also been trying to research some of the original Canadian manufacturers of these boxes and from what I understand there were four manufacturers of these transit boxes during the war and one out West here somewhere. Anyone have information on that they could share with us?

[stencollector]

Here is a shot from the day I brought them home. You can just make out the edge on the top box. I'll get some closeups when I get out to the shop later today. The lower box went to John R; I still have the upper box.

[grant580]

Here is a shot from the day I brought them home. You can just make out the edge on the top box. I'll get some closeups when I get out to the shop later today. The lower box went to John R; I still have the upper box.

Yep, I can make out the metal corner, funny I never noticed that before as I have those very pictures in my files and looked at them many times while doing my research on the transit boxes. Looking forward to the close ups.

I assume that box in the picture has four screw holes in the hinges?, and are the leather handles sewn? It sure seems there is quite a variety of styles when it comes to these transit boxes??, sure glad to have you on board with this thread Stencollector!

Considering the variety of Canadian transit boxes that are turning up, would it be possible to start a spot on this sight for everyone who owns a Canadian made transit box to send in a picture of their box so we an see all the different variations of boxes?

[Peter Laidler]

Don't forget that manufacturers were granted what we call 'relaxation in standards or specification' for several reasons. One that I recall was ' ....in order to make best use of the or their resources at hand' and Canadian Bren chests were a classic example. Onother was a dissimilar cast for the telescope brackets and another the material spec for a certain type of bolt. Another was a different shank thickness for the Bren Mk2 pistol grip bolt. I could go on, There were pages and pages of them in the Base workshop EMER's.

And when the kit is in service, itis repaired to the best it can be '.....in the circumstances'

Leather handles last about 10 minutes in the Far East so they'd be replaced with rot proof (?) webbing or even rope. If you see a green coloured rifle of Bren pullthroughs, there's another spec change as they are rot proofed for Malaya.

So don' forget the MANY changes over just a few years..............

[stencollector]

Here are some shots of the Cdn chest. The light out in the shed isn't the best, so take the colors with a grain of salt. The interior is the purple primer. The same primer was used on the outside of the box before it was given its coat of olive.