Illustrated 1937/8 parts list. Has anyone got.........

[Peter Laidler]

Here's another mystery solved you Bren fiends...........
Has anyone got one of the original illustrated parts list for the Mk1 Bren that came with the 1938 issue of the Bren upgrade/amendment part of Instructions for Armourers.

Care to have a look at it............. Look at the butt slide section........ and close to the wooden butt, does yours have a spare emply space? If so, then it is in fact the second or subsequent edition of the illustration because in the earliest copies, that little space contained the butt marking disc.

The same applies a bit later down near to the pistol grip. The spare space there originally illustrated the oil bottle assembly that fitted into the base of the hollow pistol grip. only the first 400 guns (there's a question mark about this quantity at the moment.....) had this useless feature that wasn't incorporated in the subsequent production guns

Why the marking disc was subsequently deleted from the illustration is unsure but as it was identical to and fully interchangeable with the rifle, there was no reason to duplicate the matter. It too was also soon to be deleted from production in any case

Information

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[Peter Laidler]

One answer so far via another person. Someone has a tatty copy that doesn't show the pistol grip oil bottle assembly but DOES show the butt maqrking disc in the empty space near the butt. This would indicate that the oil bottle was deleted before series production commenced (at gun A401?) but the marking disc was deleted from the parts list later. But we know this anyway.