Is this an Inglis 8mm MkII barrel??

[TactAdv]

Okay, so the saga continues. From an earlier posting of mine, I was awaiting the BATF transfer/arrival of the 1942 Daimler/Monotype Mk II live machine gun I had recently purchased a couple months back. So now, it shows up, it's here.

(See original thread here Bren Mk II mgfr '42, unfired until 2013??)

So I was going over it, looking at everything and then pulled the barrel to inspect. Ruh-roh!!.....something isn't right here!! 1942 Daimler/Mono Mk II.....in .303, Right? Take a look at the attached barrel pictures if you will. Original Inglis serial number on the chamber is 6T5131, if that helps.

Pictures show most of the pertinent markings on the breach end. Thing that caught my eye was the heavily stamped marking of "7.91", and the JI stampings. So, out comes a few test cartridges.....steel case Romanian 8mm...and low-and-behold it chambers the 8mm cartridge just perfectly. Take a look at the picture showing, in particular, two barrels.....one the JI 8mm (I think) compared to a known Lithgow .303 Brit Mk II barrel. In the known Lithgow barrel, the 8mm case will NOT chamber at all.

So, seems to me I got a Inglis 8mm barrel with this machine gun here?? Comments?
-TomHAttachment 55540Attachment 55541Attachment 55542Attachment 55543Attachment 55544

Information

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[browningautorifle]

Looks like you're right...

[Peter Laidler]

As per BAR above. But the mystery is how did a 7.92mm Bren barrel come to have a .303" gun serial number stamped into it.

[browningautorifle]

.303" gun serial number

Some day you'll have to tell us how you know that. I should think these would have gone in progression, and both lines would number in succession. Or did they have serial blocks?

[Brit plumber]

That looks like a .303 barrel converted to 8mm. Kev G knows about these barrels marked as 7.91, been lots of them.

If you look at the breech end you can see the cut out for the feed horns of the breech block of the .303

---------- Post added at 09:10 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:07 PM ----------

Some day you'll have to tell us how you know that. I should think these would have gone in progression, and both lines would number in succession. Or did they have serial blocks?

The 7.92mm guns had there own set of serial numbers, they never got as high as 6T and the first 7.92mm guns with 0T prefixes were 1944 dated.

See here

Possible Early 7.92 Bren Barrel, HK Bolt? | Weapons OnLine

[TactAdv]

[QUOTE=Brit plumber;307131]That looks like a .303 barrel converted to 8mm. Kev G knows about these barrels marked as 7.91, been lots of them.

If you look at the breech end you can see the cut out for the feed horns of the breech block of the .303[COLOR="black"]

---------- Post added at 09:10 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:07 PM ----------


Oh, do tell me more about THAT. Please. Now my curiosity is piqued.


Reason I ask, per se, is that the former owner of this gun told me he shot a couple hundred rounds of..........wait for it....... .303 Brit ammo through it. He didn't even KNOW about the "8mm" idea......

Not saying I agree with his assertion, or not, just relaying what he said. And that said, if the bore was originally for .303 ammo, I can kind of see how just re-chambering it might work....

So....what mags would have been used with this kind of conversion, and who did it like that????????

-TomH

[browningautorifle]

I wondered if it may have been re-chambered, but I shouldn't think that would be very successful. I know there were vast differences with the 8mm and 303 and 7.62...enough that you can't just change barrels.

[Brit plumber]

I've added a link in to my last post that takes you to an old post by Kev.

[TactAdv]

I've added a link in to my last post that takes you to an old post by Kev.

All the pictures are dead-linked!

Any ideas on what this barrel is then?? It's not sleeved, for sure.

[browningautorifle]

I'm wondering if you can determine the bore diameter. That could tell us if it's just had a 8mm chamber ream run in...the back end looks the same as .303. Can't tell if that's paint, park, or suncorite on it. The 7.91 seems to be a pro job though. Not like my stamp set for sure.