Illustrated 1937/8 parts list. Has anyone got.........
Here's another mystery solved you Bren fiends...........
Has anyone got one of the original illustrated parts list for the Mk1 Bren that came with the 1938 issue of the Bren upgrade/amendment part of Instructions for Armourers.
Care to have a look at it............. Look at the butt slide section........ and close to the wooden butt, does yours have a spare emply space? If so, then it is in fact the second or subsequent edition of the illustration because in the earliest copies, that little space contained the butt marking disc.
The same applies a bit later down near to the pistol grip. The spare space there originally illustrated the oil bottle assembly that fitted into the base of the hollow pistol grip. only the first 400 guns (there's a question mark about this quantity at the moment.....) had this useless feature that wasn't incorporated in the subsequent production guns
Why the marking disc was subsequently deleted from the illustration is unsure but as it was identical to and fully interchangeable with the rifle, there was no reason to duplicate the matter. It too was also soon to be deleted from production in any case