No4 Mk2 Assigned Serial #'s

[tlvaughn]

I was looking at Stratton's "British Enfield Rifles - Volume 2", when I came across the No4 Mk2 assigned serial number ranges for foreign countries chart (Table F-15). I noticed that there was an overlap of assigned serial numbers for Uganda and Burma. Here are the assigned serial numbers according to the chart:

PF 360460 - PF 381159 -- Uganda
PF 361260 - PF 401086 -- Burma

There is an overlap from 361260 to 381159 (19,900 rifles). Is this an error in the book? If so where will I be able to find the correct serial numbers assigned?

I briefly looked through my other reference books and tried a search on this site, but was unable to find an answer.

Information

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[tlvaughn]

I hate to answer my own question, but I found the following posted on another site:

PF 360480 - 361159 -- Uganda
PF 361160 - 361259 -- Parker Hale
PF 361280 - 401086 -- Burma

Based on this info, it looks as though the contract for Uganda was for 680 rifles, not 20,700, and the contract for Burma was for 39,807 rifles, not 39,827.

If this info does not look correct, please let me know. I will use this info I found to update my notes.

[Thunderbox]

I'm not sure that any of the assigned number ranges actually mean anything - i.e. that any of the rifles in those ranges were delivered to the specified country. "The list" is probably no more than the remains of a Fazakerley production plan dating back to 1949 or so when they were about to start with Mk2s.

It would be interesting to uncover evidence - perhaps from importers - of where particular numbers sequences actually ended up. The only one I am aware of by observation is that clearly South Africa received thousands of rifles covering the changeover from Mk1 to Mk2 - i.e. somewhere from PF 89000 onwards.

I have a feeling that most of the other "customers" simply received quantities of Mk1s and Mk1 FTRs from UK's huge pool of surplus No4s, which would be very much cheaper for a - say - poor Caribbean territory than buying brand new rifles. Lets not forget that the purchaser would in most cases have been the Foreign & Colonial Office (as was) which has a well-deserved reputation for parsimony....

[Peter Laidler]

Huge amounts of these rifles that were Admiralty and Air Ministry stockpiles and were centralised at a 'large Ordnance facility' in the UK after the War Department, Air Ministry and Admiralty became the UK MoD.

I don't think that it's any secret that 'many, many thousands' of still brand new No4's were delivered to the Afghans, via Pakistan to help them fight the Russians...............

The rest, as they say, is history....................

[HRA466]

What is the story on the "AF" serial numbers???????????