Mystery part sort of quiz to identify this part

[RCS]

I found this black color harden steel part among some US machine gun parts years ago. I
always thought it was some sort of gage, it is almost the correct length of a 30-06 headspace gage. Problem is that it is just too small in diameter. A few years ago I even posted these photos on another forum - still without any positive answer.

After looking at this part again I noticed something and found the answer which I will post.Attachment 79553Attachment 79554

Information

Warning: This is a relatively older thread This discussion is older than 360 days. Some information contained in it may no longer be current.

[Lee Enfield]

Hebrew??

[RCS]

Not Hebrew, but look on the M1 Rifle forum as I did find a M1 rifle with Hebrew markings on the receiver

[browningautorifle]

I still think it's a headspace gauge, but for .30 carbine.

[RCS]

Jim, for the past few years, I also thought it was some type of headspace gage, it is not a headspace gage nor any other type of gage.

Robert

[Lee Enfield]

Browning Automatic Rifle 1918a2 "buffer tube Actuator".

I recognized the logo (New England Small Arms Corporation) was the key for me.

Then I just googled 1918 parts...

Actually, there is more to the "NE" marking story. The marking "NE" indicates it was manufactured by one of several companies that formed a consortium during WWII, known as New England Small Arms. They manufactured BAR parts, and most interestingly to me, they manufactured Reising Submachine Gun magazines. Each member of the consortium were assigned a number, from NE-1 to NE-9. Another writer and I have been trying to determine more details regarding these companies, and the specific designation numbers they were assigned. I've been surveying Reising magazines for a few years now, and have a spreadsheet with data collected from 225 different examples, indicating which manufacturer code is marked on each one. If you're interested, you can read the thread about it on Machinegunboards.com at the link below.

http://www.machinegu...?showtopic=9976

If anyone on this board has more information about the number assignments for each company that participated in the WWII New England Small Arms consortium, I'd be very interested in hearing abut it.

David Albert
dalbert@sturmgewehr.com

[RCS]

You are correct, I also noticed the small NE and remembered the New England Small Arm Corp (they did produce 188380 approx.). It was very easy to mistake this actuator for some of gage, I know because I did too

[browningautorifle]

I saw the NE, and knowing NESA made BARs...but didn't go that way. Didn't occur to me. I had one too.

I remember seeing the rear mounting pin for a MAG 58(C6) and thinking it was a gauge of some kind too, boy, was that out of whack too.

[RCS]

I found this case hardened magazine follower for the WW2 BAR magazines. I sent the late James Ballou a photo, he said that Seymour thought that a harder follower would improve feeding. It really did not offer any improvement and these followers still are found in rebuilt magazines.

Also of interest is the first bipod adopted for the BAR Model 1918A1 in 1937, these are quite rare to find. These bipods were in use during the early years of WW2 until the Model 1918A2 became availableAttachment 79644Attachment 79645Attachment 79646

[Lee Enfield]

I found this case hardened magazine follower for the WW2 BAR magazines. I sent the late James Ballou a photo, he said that Seymour thought that a harder follower would improve feeding. It really did not offer any improvement and these followers still are found in rebuilt magazines.

Also of interest is the first bipod adopted for the BAR Model 1918A1 in 1937, these are quite rare to find. These bipods were in use during the early years of WW2 until the Model 1918A2 became availableAttachment 79644Attachment 79645Attachment 79646

How close is the 1937 bipod to the R75 version?