No2 Revolver, BODY and Pairing numbers

Forumers on the Bren forum raised a point about serial numbers matching throughout the whole kit. I'd looked into this while we were refurbishing hundreds of the old No2 revolver which has both a SERIAL number PLUS a pairing number that matches the side plate to the body. It is critical to keep these together because the axis pin holes and screw holes are drilled together so that when the trigger and hammer axis pins are fitted, they align exactly with the side plate.

At one of our big Base Workshops (40 Base) we had hundreds going through at a time and as the side plate was matched to the pistol, they'd easily become mixed up with dire consequences! So the In Inspector, Mr Saw had a little book where every gun SERIAL number would have penciled in alongside the serial number, the 'pairing' number - the internal number that matches the frame with the accurately matched side plate. So....., if you had a mismatched body and side plate that didn't fit, instead of searching through 200 oily pistol bodies you could just look at the book, match the pairing number with the original frame serial number and match it up easily.

Are you still with me...............? Keep up at the back of the class! I wondered whether the 'pairing numbers' on the body and side plate had any relationship with the serial number of the body. But nope, there didn't seem to be any correlation at all. Even when the serial number letter changed it made no difference. Same as the year change...... Sometimes the pairing number just seemed to re-start at 0099 and carry on for a year. Maybe I had too much time on my hands and really needed to get out a bit more

Just a bit of useless info for you No2 pistol owners who might have wondered about the why's and wherefores of these numbers. Why didn't they simply put the pistol serial number on the side plate? Probably becauyse the pairing number was done early on in manufacture while the serial number was put on at the last final inspection.

No, no...we got it. The early S&W M&Ps are the same. They have a number matching the cylinder and frame. Those numbers have nothing to do with the serial. The man creating a book of numbers would be busy though. Those books would be interesting to have now, to see how many revolvers you come to that he dealt with.

Yes, they'd be very interesting now. Some others that would be more interesting were in the workshop archive at the huge Ordnance Depot at Ngaruawahia in NZ. There, in paper ledgers, held together with string binding were the serial numbers of all the rifles that could be spared to be sent to Britain in 1939(?) or 40 and others listing the weapons earmarked for sending to Egypt for the NZ portion of the 8th Army. Plus lots of other info regarding lend lease stores to be returned post war...... If only I'd known now. It also had details of the NZ No8 rifles, costs, contracts and deliveries and papers relating to the fact that as the No5 was to be the 'new' rifle post war, NZ wouldn't re-equip with the 'old' No4, awaiting....... There were two lovely girls that ran that part of the stores group. Susan Munns and Kathy someone or other.

Mr Saw was the in-inspector BAR. He just wrote out the numbers. We did all the work! There was always a .38" ammo shortage or 'dues-out' for range testing from the blanket stackers at 221 BAD in Johore in order for us to test fire them prior to long term storeage - which was just another term for 'sea dumping'. The secure order for, say 3,000 rounds of .380" ball would usually come back as 3,000 rounds of .300" ball! followed by a snottogram telling us to get it right next time. They'd probably never stocked more than a couple of thousand at a time The irony was that most of the Armourers had a spare .38 stashed in their tool boxes. The down side was that to be caught outside our secure areas with one was a capital offence in Singapore and Malaya

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Originally Posted by Peter Laidler

.380" ball would usually come back as 3,000 rounds of .300" ball!

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Sounds about right...typical.

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Originally Posted by Peter Laidler

long term storeage - which was just another term for 'sea dumping'.

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And that's just too bad...sad.

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Originally Posted by Peter Laidler

Mr Saw was the in-inspector BAR. He just wrote out the numbers.

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I got you, he controlled in and out, reception and dispatch. All those books would end many arguments today...

I hope those books went to Waiouru when the big ND Ord Depot closed down. Our recovery vehicles were really ancient CMP Fords and Chevvys too. All in perfect condition - as were the big AEC Matadors.

Added a bit later..... The little light recovery Ford CMP type twin-boom recovery vehicle had an engine as quiet as anything you ever heard...., or NEVER heard. We took it to Sylvia Park in Auckland at then overnight to Devonport for some small recovery job at the Naval Base. Not the most comfortable truck but soooooooo quiet. I think that they were going to replace the lightweight recovery vehicles with newer Bedford RL 'light recovery' vehicles (all 33DMXX numbers) at a vastly reduced cost from UK stocks that were being left in Malaya or Singapore. I wonder what happened to all of the old CMP stuff we had, including a jeep that was used as a bit of a gash run-a-round. I wonder what happened to the Valentine tank that was outside the workshop. Good times.