Bren bipod for MK2 or MK3 Bren???

[Flying10uk]

I have this Bren bipod with the dispersal code M616 for BSA Mansfield and was wondering if it was intended for a wartime produced MK3 Bren or MK2. The legs are of round section not oval and there is no provision for sling attachment. Thanks for any info.

Information

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[Peter Laidler]

Last bit first. There is provision for a sling. It's attached to the bracing bar close to the yoke. You can use the sling hook or just the sling less the hook. It is a simplified wartime expedient for any Mk/type of Bren. It made absolutely no difference to the gunner or the Armourers shop. It was later declared obsolescent but they slowly drifted out of service when stocks of the Mk1 type became more plentiful

[Flying10uk]

Thanks Peter, I hadn't thought of the bracing bar as being used to attach a sling to.

[tankhunter]

Ugly looking bit of kit, isn't it?......But solid & STURDY in use! Cosmetics not required in Wartime conditions! It did the job required of it admirably in a basic form!

But speaking of cosmetics, Look at the Sten!..........Did the job naturally. But then along came the Rolls Royce of SMGs. The Sterling!.....SUPERB Weapon in my View.

[Flying10uk]

There has been some suggestion that some spare/surplus legs from perhaps this type of Bren bipod may have been recycled into scabbards for the No4 Pig Sticker Bayonet but I don't know if this is correct?

[Peter Laidler]

It's correct - sort of! But these tapered bipod legs are far thicker material than the thin and flimsy No4 bayonet scabbards. So how the Bren legs would accommodate the scabbard mouthpieces and springs has never really been answered satisfactorily. As a matter of interest, tapering the tube was done by rolling it down in a set of gradually reducing/tightening rollers, previously used on cycle frames. Hence Hercules cycles producing Bren bipod legs. They probably used the same machinery to roll-down scabbard tubes too

Personally, between you and me, I think that this is a load of total guff caused by someone in the past seeing the similarity, adding two and two, putting it into print and another myth becomes a fact. I stand to be corrected but only after some searching questions are answered.