I commented on the breech block carriers (of the L1A1 rifle) being numbered but I could never understand why. They weren't calibrated to or measured in any way to the rifle. A bit like the butt slide on the old Brens and L4 guns. They all seemed to interchange without any priblems after they were hand fitted - of sorts.....

I did mention this Bren anomaly to someone once while the EMER's were being re-written/revamped to become EASP's and he explained that it was important because the butt mounting holes were gauged to a greater tolerance on those guns selected/calibrated/examined/authorised to be used for Overhead fire (OHF guns). But by the 80's NO Bren/L4 guns were EVER used in the OHF role! Oh well.......

One good thing about that conversation that another Territorial Armourer Sgt was involved in (Peter Axxxxx-Xxxx was a Dr in real life.....) was that thereafter butt slides could be serially numbered on the LEFT side rear on the flat above the pistol grip instead of at the rear, above the butt which was always a PITA. After that, it was tacitly accepted that if required, re-numbered bodies could be numbered in a similar place on the rear left side. But I only ever saw a few clapped-out L55's re-marked there
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