Mk I mags

[mragu]

I have two (2) MK I mags which do not have the spring on the front of the mag. Are these springs available anywhere? Are these mags fairly rare? Any data about what floorplate, follower et cet I should expect to see on these early mags? Thanks.

[peregrinvs]

Yes they are rare and valuable and the last thing you want to do is retrofit a spring to them. As well as the lack of the spring, the other distinguishing feature is the lack of the usual two half-moon shaped indents on the top plate. The two I have had also had Enfield marked internal parts. (the E within a D cypher)

You can see one of the ones I had on this website, as I'm the one who sold it to the dealer:

www.ds-solutions.co.uk/Store/product_info.php?cPath=6&products_id=322

I originally paid 95% less for it than what he's now asking. Which was nice. ;D

Mark

[mragu]

Mark,
Thanks for the information and link. I am even more confused now. What I thought were MK I mags are not the same as shown in your link. Mine have the "channel" on the outside front of the mag but no spring. They do not have correct bottom plates as they have dimples. I have not inspected the internals yet. Here are some photos of what I have:

Mag 1








Mag 2







They have minimal markings on them and some type of paint covers a portion of one. Any additional information on these mags?

[britplumber]

Could these be Czeck made bren mags?

[woodsy]

The front of your mags are quite different to standard British production Mk I mags. I think they could be for the Czechoslovakian Bren, possibly the 8x56R ZB39. Kevin should be the man for this!

[Kev]

mragu,have you any other Bren mags you can compare the curve of the magazine to ?

Can you do some bigger pictures looking side down on the magazine ?

Can you look on the spine of the magazine for a small Z in a circle mark ? What markings do they have on them ?

The magazine appears to be constructed like a ZB39, 25 round 8x56R magazine with the internal radius 'channel' but the curve doesn't look right from the photographs.

The magazine platform (floorplate ?) appears to be .303 though.
If the cover has half moon dimples on it they are UK Bren items.

They are not constructed like the 303 Czech manufactured Bren mags that I have either .

.......interesting

ATB Kevin

[mragu]

Kev,

I have posted my responses below:


mragu,have you any other Bren mags you can compare the curve of the magazine to ?

[MRagu] Yes, I have numerous Bren .303 mags and I will take some photos of these mags on top of the known Bren mags.

Can you do some bigger pictures looking side down on the magazine ?

[MRagu] For reasons unknown to me, photobucket is limiting the size of the photos I can download. Does anyone have any suggestions? What do you mean by "side down?" I will take a number of photos and try to post tonight EST.

Can you look on the spine of the magazine for a small Z in a circle mark ? What markings do they have on them ?

[MRagu] I will look and post results. My camera will not focus in that close if it exists.

The magazine appears to be constructed like a ZB39, 25 round 8x56R magazine with the internal radius 'channel' but the curve doesn't look right from the photographs.

The magazine platform (floorplate ?) appears to be .303 though.
If the cover has half moon dimples on it they are UK Bren items.

[MRagu] The floorplates are .303 Bren. I suspect they are not original. I will take photos of them for good measure. I will also take photos of the internal parts.

They are not constructed like the 303 Czech manufactured Bren mags that I have either .

[Kev]

mragu,just in case you don't have the opportunity to do pictures I have done some comparison pics beteen a Bren and ZB39 mag.

Top view showing tighter curve of the 303 Bren mag on top


Side by side Bren to the top


Front view showing the wrap round ZB39 mag on the bottom


Interested to know what characteristics match your magazines.

Tom, don't suppose they are weird MK3 VB mags (not that I know what they look like )?
ATB Kevin

[mragu]

Kev,
I will try to post photos tonight. My mags have the same profile as the Bren magazine, unlike the ones shown in your photo. One of them does have a small "y" "z"in a circle on the spine. Thanks for the info.

[Kev]

mragu,what sort of finish do the mags have ?
Do they fit a Bren OK ?

atb Kevin

[mragu]

I have had a chance to shoot some quick photos of the mags in comparison to a known Bren mag. I stand corrected in that there is a "z" in a circle on the spines. The finish was originally blue but it appears that they were later parkerzed. The park is wearing off in many areas. The mags lock into my Bren Mk II. They have the same dimension as the known Bren magazine as evidenced in the photos.

Here are some more photos:





Bren mag is on right:



Bren mag is in middle. The spines on the other two mags are centered. The photo makes them look off-center:



Painted area on one mag:



Z in circle on spine:




What does all of this mean? What type of mags are these? Thanks for the time and energy.

[Kev]

Thanks for posting the pictures mragu.
The Z in a circle denotes Czech manufacture (Zbrojovka) and as far as I know before German occupation.

Here are a few pics of the Z circle mark



The 2 mags on the right are ZB26/30 magazines dated 1936.
The one on the left is a 1937 Irish contract Bren mag suppied from ZB does not have the anti bind spring but also no wrap round channel yours has.

As the later Bulgarian ZB39 used the same 'channel' in the manufacture of curved magazines I would take a guess it was made for an export Czech made Bren sometime after 37 ?

On the Czech made Irish 303 Bren mags the only marking internaly or externaly is the Z circle mark.

A very interesting pattern of magazine.

ATB Kevin

[britplumber]

Looks like I was correct then! Total fluke however!!!!!

[Kev]

mragu,what lurks beneath the paint on the top side of the magazine ?

[mragu]

I do not know. Good question. I also do not know how to remove it without damaging the finish. I suppose I could try mineral spirits. I will try it tonight or on Saturday and let you know. I am also going to take the mags apart and see what is inside of them. I will post pictures for further review. Again, thanks for taking the time to educate me on these magazines. Your expertise is very much appreciated.