Bren serial numbers.

[dawikeho]

Hi,
I have a deact in South Africa MkII Inglis 13T3123

David

[tatty0269]

Good morning Chris,

I have a MK I Bren the details are given below.

Manufacturer :- Enfield (stamped with superimposed ED)
Date:- 1941
Serial Number:- H4863

Bi-pod stamped:- MA but can not find serial number.


Barrel stamped:- N3264 776N

FTR Stamp:- MA/52/FTR

Deac Date:- 1997

Any information you may have on this weapon would be gratefully received.

I have added some pictures below.

Attachment 55494Attachment 55495Attachment 55496Attachment 55497Attachment 55498

Regards

Peter

[Aussie48]

MA is the Australian Lithgow marking

[Gwildor]

hi I have a mk 1 Enfield 1942, looks like a factory re-work with new stamp crown over E then 3k broad arrow 46, upper and lower, barrel nut serial numbers P 7644, barrel is a bit of a mongrel, nice clear numbers 15 T 2571, and then smaller numbers underneath 2885?E and L9856 and a strike through looks like 8998S, bi pod not clear could be an M will look for more, any more info would be gratefully received.
yours Graham

[callboggy]

Hi, I've a Mk1m 1942 Inglis. The receiver, buttslide and piston serial is 2T2300, the barrel's serial is P5505 and the breech block's serial is B2429 and stamped MC?

[Peter Laidler]

Gwildor, without knowing the master number on the rear of the body, we can't really get to the nitty gritty unless what you call the upper and lower are the body and butt slide - P7644. The 2885E number is(?) the steel batch number while L-9856 and 8998-S struck through are the number of the guns the barrel was previously fitted to. The 'S' indicates that it was the second barrel for gun ?8998. The M on the bipod is a red herring as the bipods are not numbered to a particular gun

You could simply line through the gun numbers (but NOT the steel batch number) and carefully re-number with your gun number. That's what we used to do almost every day when we were fitting/refitting barrels or doing same by fitting/matching up part work barrel sets to other part worn sets/guns.

Callboggy, you coulkd do the same to your barrel and that way it'd be a full house too. Generally speaking* Bren breech blocks and piston extensions weren't numbered to the guns. The MC is a Monotype Corporation from Redhill in Surrey
*But this is not a hard and fast rule. The 7.62mm L4 Bren breech blocks and piston extensions WERE serially numbered to the gun and this practice did tend to carry on over to the Bren too and as an Armourer at a unit with a 'mixed fleet' of 7.62 and .303 Brens for ages and ages, I numbered ours. The breech block with a scratchy pen in the left(?) side recess and the piston extension in the flat in front of the piston post.

Next question.......? I expect others will fill you in with more detail

[sbk99]

Enfield Mk1
1941
Sn on rear of receiver-F8939
Should it have a regular Mk1 stock with the flip down support or the Mk1 modified stock w/o the support? Thanks for any input. Fwiw, it's a registered machinegun and sweet shooter.

[Peter Laidler]

F-8939 should bve what we call a 'last stage intermediate' That is the last stage of the transition between an original Mk1 Bren to the more common Mk1A. You's will (hopefully) be a full Mk1 with the only vestige of it's Mk1/original ancecstry being the fluted gas cylinder.

The fluted gas cylinder remained as the last part to change to the fully simplified Mk1A design because the fluted gas cylinder was used as a holding point or medium during an important machining operation.

Hopefully the experts will chime in if that's not quite correct or my numbering data is out of synch.......

[sbk99]

Thanks for the information.

[sbk99]

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trying to learn about pics