John Inglis Bren mag Factory Through Repair

[Peter Laidler]

I'm not sure that FTR'd Bren magazines are rare as such. There was a HUGE - and I mean massive FTR programme at Enfield during the early 50's, during and after the War in Korea to upgrade our mobilization stockpiles of Bren Guns.

After the end of the war, during the late 1940’s, a massive repair and refurbishment programme was undertaken at the major ROF’s (Faz, rifles and Stens). Malaya was about to explode and envelope Siam and Burma while Indo China and Korea were restless. Enfield refurbished tens of thousands of needy Bren guns of all marks for the War Reserve programme. This included converting Mk2 Brens to what was initially called at the time ‘UPGRADE SPEC’. While it is quite possible that other factories converted Mk2 Brens to Mk2/1 specification, the only Mk2/1 conversions encountered by the author are those from Enfield and BSA Guns. The BSA conversions being marked with the usual ‘ll/1’ marking and ‘BSA-51’ or ‘BSA-52’. Enfield records show that they converted 10,200 Mk2 guns to Mk2/1 specification during the FTR programme. The programme was carried out commencing with the outbreak of the war in Korea in 1950.

There are plenty of Inglis Mk2's FTR'd to Mk2/1 spec by Enfield and BSA and if every Bren comes with 2x boxes + 1 in the chest - you do the maths! There's bound to be mags from everywhere that have been FTR'd.