Long Branch - Linking Serial Numbers to Month of Production

[Seaspriter]

Several people, including myself, have been curious to link Long Branch Serial Numbers to the actual months when they were produced. (I was able to do this with Savage-Stevens Enfields using extrapolation -- that data is in the Milsurps Knowledge Library.)

To my knowledge, at this point there is no data base linking year of date stamp with estimated month of production. (If I'm wrong, please correct me on this and I will go no further trying to create one).

At this point, I have tracked down enough production data to make a reasonable (+/- 1 month) estimate for the years 1941-1945 and 1950. There are some anomalies that forum members could help resolve:
- the first month of actual production in 1941 (No4.MK1) -- it seems to be very late in the year.
- the last month of production of a No.4 Mk1 (no *) (these all seem to be 1941, none in '42)
- there were several thousand rifles built that have 1941 receivers/1942 barrels (there seems to have been a shortage of barrels in the production ramp-up, thus receivers were built and stamped in 1941 but were not completed until 1942 when they were fitted with barrels. Several rifles have shown up in the listings (0L9595, 1L3851, 1L9585) with '41 receivers & '42 barrels.) I suppose since these were not completed until '42, they are technically 1942 production -- IOW should these be counted as 1942 rifles?
- there is a conflict in the 1941 production data between Skennerton (7,589) and Stratton (over 10,000). This conflict may be because of the conflicting data between what is stamped on the receiver and what actually went out the door -- can anyone clarify?
- In the History of Small Arms Limited- October 1943-March 1946 Prepared by Assistant Manager, T.H.Marshall, Small Arms Limited, 1946. there is very good production data for late 1943 to the end of production in August 1945. However, the production accounts by management don't coincide with the serial numbers. Marshall states there total number of
Rifles produced was 905,731 (including Snipers) plus 7,210 .22" Training rifles (am I correct that these were serialized just like and in sequence with the Mk1*). However, the highest serial numbers for 1945 production is 91L9864 according to Lumpetmine's data. Why the difference of 14,133 rifles?) Could this be at the Mk1(no star) from 1941 was not considered in the final report?
- Marshall's official report states: "Production on this Rifle was stopped as of August 17th, upon receipt of the cancellation of Contract U.N. 8975(70,000 Rifles). All ‘black action’ assemblies as of that date were finished and packed in shipping chests, pending disposition instructions. 9,390 Rifles remained unshipped, and applied against the remainder of this contract." Possibly (probably?) a number of these rifles (or just receivers?) were still available when Korean War production was restarted, because the earliest 1949 production serial numbers are 90L0805 (Skennerton says its a 1945 RCAF rifle) and one showed up upon Lumpetmine's request on this site as 91L0114. Does the difference between the last 1945 production and the earliest 1949 production mean perhaps the 9,390 rifles that were unshipped in 1945 were put in storage (with all the other production machinery) and restamped? (there is some basis for this after reading other posts).
- In what month was production restarted in 1949, and in what month was production complete on the Mk1 in 1950? The last dated 1949 (according to Lumpetmine's data base is 91L9151, and the earliest 1950 is 91L0510 and the last 1950 is 96L0012).
- After 1950, it seems to be a hodgepodge of little contracts, DCRA arrangements, and reconfigurations (like the 1955 27L66XX from 1943) that probably won't make a lot of sense to try to assign a monthly date.

Guys, pardon me if I've thrown a pile of numbers at you, but any clarification could really help put something concrete around the task (I thought it would be simple, but the old adage: "the more you know, the more you know you don't know" seems to have reared a few conundrums!

Many Thanks. Robert

Information

Warning: This is a relatively older thread This discussion is older than 360 days. Some information contained in it may no longer be current.