Help- long Bren sling with 1941 date?

[Richard W.]

I’ve just received a NOS single-hook Bren sling and I’m puzzled by the markings.

It’s 54” long, without the hook, from the tip of one metal end to the other. The markings are “B.H.&G. LD. 1941 [broad arrow]”.

I’ve read the thread with the list of equipment changes, and it says that one-piece slings weren’t produced until 1944.

Am I misunderstanding that list, misreading the stamp, or could it in fact be just an extra long rifle sling instead of Bren?

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[Richard W.]

Or, could it be a reproduction? Was sold to me as genuine.

[browningautorifle]

Both come to mind, being "Perfect" I wonder about repro. Also looking at the last number, the one is it really a one or a four? I always thought they look one way at one angle and another at a different angle. Lying down at distance it looks like the last two numbers are the same. I just wonder if it's a four?

What was the source?

[Flying10uk]

I'm seeing 1944 on my computer but part of the second "4" is very feint.

The crow's foot arrow doesn't look quite right for a genuine sling.

[Richard W.]

I bought it from Sarco Inc. , a reliable parts dealer in Pennsylvania.

I have tried hard to see that digit as a “4”, because it should be 1944, but it looks so much like the first “1” to me. It’s gotten dark here now, but I’m going to pull it out in the natural light again tomorrow.

[tr63]

It's one of SARCO's reproduction BREN slings ,they have been sell them for years .

[Richard W.]

I see. Then I suppose the date doesn’t matter.

I’m a little disappointed that they didn’t list it as newly made, though.

Thank you for your replies, gentlemen.

[tr63]

Give them a call or email them and ask if they are a reproduction . Unless they list a item as a original in their ad or on their web site you need to ask them if it is or not .

[Flying10uk]

It looks like a pretty good reproduction as repros go. If it was mine I would be inclined to apply one of the "modern permanent Blancos" to it that come in a bottle with a choice of colours. The price of the Bren sling on their website looks reasonable to me.

If it helps you work out what to do, I recently paid, in the UK, £28 for a post WW2 NOS Bren sling with 2 hooks. It was a little dirty from storage but I know it to be genuine.

[Richard W.]

In hindsight, I probably should have guessed because it’s so immaculate, but the thickness and weave of the webbing seems just the same as a definitely original Bren sling I used to own. Looking at that brass now, though, I can see it certainly doesn’t look 80 years old, or the hook. Dumb.

It was fairly cheap, too, which seems a dead giveaway now.

I still expect reproductions to be labelled as such. Perhaps it was an oversight on their part. I’ve been buying parts from them for many years and always got what I expected to get.

This will be going on a dummy gun, anyway, and it is nicely made so I’m not unhappy.