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Hello All
New to this forum.
I have a 1942 Long Branch, No4 Mk1*.
It has the LB serial number and above another serial number.
Please tell me what the second serial number is. Is it the NZ number?
I have a lot of reading left to do so if this is an obvios question or have been discussed before, sorry. There is just so much information on this forum that I have not digested yet.
Thanks
In short, it's what we used to call the New Zealand Census number. The serial number for weekly arms checks remained the LB master number
Perhaps a dumb question. If the weekly arms check remained the LB master number, why go to the trouble of adding the New Zealand Census number?
And... The NZ marked (looks like Electro Pencil to me) LB No.4 MK.I* bayonets that occasionally pop up. Were the New Zealand markings add to the bayonets at the same time the census numbers were added to the rifles?
I'm assuming they were shipped together.......?
On the topic on NZ numbers...
I own an interesting, to me at least, NZ marked Long Branch. Rifle appears to have been used very little, and is all matching numbers, except the bolt. However the New Zealand Census number that is stamped on the action body, bolt and magazine are all matching and in the same font/size. The original LB serial number on the bolt is only off by a few digits, if memory serves (it's late and I don't want to get up, go to the basement and unlock the safe). I have often wondered how that happened. Perhaps an armourer, in a bit of a hurry and stamping a number of rifles at one time inadvertently mixed bolts? At any rate I find it interesting.
Answers: Q1. Ain't got a clue and didn't understand why when I was there either!
Q2: Ain't got a clue. They might have been shipped together but I saw sealed crates of deck cargo rifles where the rifles were totally rusted out hulks when opened for disposal at the big Northern District Ord Depot in 1968. No bayonets in there as I recall. There's absolutely no point in numbering a bayonet to a rifle as they are all made to be fully interchangeable and generally are. If not, then something is wrong so you adjust and fit to suit. We always had a set of slave bayonets painted white or yellow that were used to test muzzles
Q3: Census number on the bolt and magazine......... I don't remember this! Just the rifle body and we were armed with these No4's at the time. Time for the NZ'ers to answer that
Thanks Peter. Will pull the rifle and bayonet I have later today and post details. Might amuse someone and we might learn something (purely by accident of corse) in the process.
The NZ number can also be found marked on top of the bolt handle & on the bottom of the magazine on No4s but not always, that has more to do with where/who marked them.
Close but mismatched numbers can be produced how you described but some could be attributed to human error at time of manufacture, such as swapping two numbers ie 23465 instead of 23456 or even a number being turned such as a 6 into a 9.
Thank you 5thBatt.
Pulled my rifle, it is a 1942 Long Branch No.4 MK.I* serial number 7L8207 bolt is 7L5791, NZ Census number 2103. The Census number is on the left butt socket under N^Z and above the LB number, matching number on top of the bolt handle, and the bottom of the magazine is marked:
7L
8207
N^Z
2103
The LB No.4 MK.II bayonet that I found a few years after the rifle is electro, or vibra penciled
N^Z
13345
On the right side of the socket.
Bolt number being close my aunt fanny.... getting old ain't for the faint of heart.
I have a 1943 Long Branch out of NZ service, sn. 24L2145. The census number is NZ/38408 on the left of the butt socket above the factory serial number. This one also has it engraved on the top of the body at the breech end with a hand engraver, (scratchy pen).
Shipped as deck cargo in 1942 and then left unopened until 1968?
Interesting sort of practice.
I wonder if they went for a swim as well?
Some people say these rifles were intended for the Hong Kong garrison, or perhaps Singapore/Malaya.
If intended for somewhat immediate use as in the above scenarios, I wonder if they were preserved/packed as heavily as rifles intended for longer term storage?