Help- long Bren sling with 1941 date?

I’ve just received a NOS single-hook Bren sling and I’m puzzled by the markings.

It’s 54” long, without the hook, from the tip of one metal end to the other. The markings are “B.H.&G. LD. 1941 [broad arrow]”.

I’ve read the thread with the list of equipment changes, and it says that one-piece slings weren’t produced until 1944.

Am I misunderstanding that list, misreading the stamp, or could it in fact be just an extra long rifle sling instead of Bren?

https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...origjpeg-1.jpg

https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...origjpeg-2.jpg

Or, could it be a reproduction? Was sold to me as genuine.

Both come to mind, being "Perfect" I wonder about repro. Also looking at the last number, the one is it really a one or a four? I always thought they look one way at one angle and another at a different angle. Lying down at distance it looks like the last two numbers are the same. I just wonder if it's a four?

What was the source?

I'm seeing 1944 on my computer but part of the second "4" is very feint.

The crow's foot arrow doesn't look quite right for a genuine sling.

I bought it from Sarco Inc. , a reliable parts dealer in Pennsylvania.

I have tried hard to see that digit as a “4”, because it should be 1944, but it looks so much like the first “1” to me. It’s gotten dark here now, but I’m going to pull it out in the natural light again tomorrow.

It's one of SARCO's reproduction BREN slings ,they have been sell them for years .

I see. Then I suppose the date doesn’t matter.

I’m a little disappointed that they didn’t list it as newly made, though.

Thank you for your replies, gentlemen.

Give them a call or email them and ask if they are a reproduction . Unless they list a item as a original in their ad or on their web site you need to ask them if it is or not .

It looks like a pretty good reproduction as repros go. If it was mine I would be inclined to apply one of the "modern permanent Blancos" to it that come in a bottle with a choice of colours. The price of the Bren sling on their website looks reasonable to me.

If it helps you work out what to do, I recently paid, in the UK, £28 for a post WW2 NOS Bren sling with 2 hooks. It was a little dirty from storage but I know it to be genuine.

In hindsight, I probably should have guessed because it’s so immaculate, but the thickness and weave of the webbing seems just the same as a definitely original Bren sling I used to own. Looking at that brass now, though, I can see it certainly doesn’t look 80 years old, or the hook. Dumb.

It was fairly cheap, too, which seems a dead giveaway now.

I still expect reproductions to be labelled as such. Perhaps it was an oversight on their part. I’ve been buying parts from them for many years and always got what I expected to get.

This will be going on a dummy gun, anyway, and it is nicely made so I’m not unhappy.

I have purchased from SARCO since 1966 and use to visit their store in N.J. every 2 weeks until I retired and move to Maine in 2007 . They have made some very good fake items over the years and they have sold many original items and the key understanding is to all ways ask if it is a repro. or real original item . They are pretty honest and will tell you what it is .

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Originally Posted by Richard W.

I still expect reproductions to be labelled as such.

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I agree with what you are saying Richard, but, they haven't advertised it as a WW2 sling have they? It is just advertised as a Bren sling; a Bren sling made in 1944 or 2020 is still a Bren sling. So, unless it was the first ever Bren sling made, you could call a Bren sling made in 1944 a "reproduction" because it wasn't the first Bren sling ever made.

Kay Kanvas Liquid Blanco: Kay Canvas Liquid Blanco 1944 No3 KG Dark

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Originally Posted by Richard W.

I bought it from Sarco Inc. , a reliable parts dealer in Pennsylvania.
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Here, let me correct that for you. “Sarco, a reliable producer of low end repros, knock offs, and copies, all from India.”

Cholly Steen never let putting an extra dollar in his pocket get in the way of saving all he could by reproducing at the cheapest possible source.

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Originally Posted by TactAdv

Here, let me correct that for you. “Sarco, a reliable producer of low end repros, knock offs, and copies, all from India.”

Cholly Steen never let putting an extra dollar in his pocket get in the way of saving all he could by reproducing at the cheapest possible source

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Another disgruntled customer????:madsmile:

I would not be upset with SARCO at all . I did not see them listing the sling as a correct issued Bren sling . Any one buying parts should all ways ask if it a reproduction , they will tell you up front if it is or not . In all of my years in dealing with them only once they sold some thing to me that was listed as original and found to be a new made item and when I contacted them they fully refunded me the purchase cost and shipping both ways . They quickly corrected their internet listing and the print ad to indicate it was a new made item .

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Originally Posted by Buccaneer

Another disgruntled customer????:madsmile:

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Not at all. I buy from SARCO all the time, it’s just that I’ve known Cholly Steen for decades and therefore I buy with my eyes open. They don’t try and hide that many items are reproductions, but they are not overly forthcoming either. It’s not a problem if you know what what you’re buying.