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Post by Kev on Nov 6, 2008 20:57:16 GMT 1
It looks to be made by BSA.Is there a 'B' on the head of the front leg axis pin (underneath the front leg adjuster) ?
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Post by woodsy on Nov 7, 2008 8:39:52 GMT 1
Just some quick observations on New Zealand numbers which were stamped on our guns during WW2, and the variations I have noticed. 1938 Enfield Mk I #A3408, stamped NZA 14 1941 Inglis Mk I M #N4933, stamped NZ^A 1451 1942 Inglis Mk I M #0T5982, electro pencilled 3775 1943 Inglis Mk II #9T6980, stamped N^Z 6774 NZ Brens were numbered from 1 and our first shipment arrived in 1939 (approx 20 guns). As the war progressed we were supplied from Canada (John Inglis) and by the end of the war we had received just over 13,000 guns, which remained in service until the 1980's with Territorial and Cadet units, the Regulars having used the L4A4 Brens since the mid '60's. It is interesting how the early guns were marked NZA (New Zealand Army) then the addition of the Broad Arrow, finally culminating with the commonly encountered N^Z which was finally dropped completely in the very early '60's. They had finally figured out that the guns already had their own unique munbers!  |
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Post by Kev on Nov 8, 2008 17:11:03 GMT 1
Very interesting info Rod. I have NZ^A 123 (stamped) on a 1940 Enfield s/n F1428  Kevin |
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Post by woodsy on Nov 8, 2008 22:07:19 GMT 1
That number fills a gap and shows that deliveries were very slow until 1941 when the Inglis guns came on stream. I would imagine that when the NZ troops (2NZEF) arrived in Egypt in February 1940 prior to going on to Greece, that they were supplied with Brens from British Army stores. By then NZ would have only recieved a small number of guns which would not have been enough to train the new recruits, let alone being sent overseas! Enfield guns are fairly thin on the ground here, most Brens in NZ collections being John Inglis. |
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Post by missingsomething on Nov 9, 2008 3:52:07 GMT 1
Mine has NZ markings but it was electropenciled on the gun and barrels. NZ 6080   |
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Post by woodsy on Nov 9, 2008 8:06:16 GMT 1
To tie in with the previous numbers, would I be correct in assuming your gun is a 1943 Inglis, late Mk I M or Mk II?
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Post by missingsomething on Nov 9, 2008 12:30:07 GMT 1
To tie in with the previous numbers, would I be correct in assuming your gun is a 1943 Inglis, late Mk I M or Mk II? Close... 1941 MK 1m Inglis... that ended coming back to Canada! Original serial # N3496  |
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Post by woodsy on Nov 10, 2008 1:01:49 GMT 1
Ahhh! So much for that theory!  It would appear that either the shipments contained random numbers, or they were randomly numbered when they got here. |
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Post by Kev on Dec 6, 2008 10:32:44 GMT 1
Have another NZ marked Bren for you Rod (not mine) s/n L3467 of 1941 Enfield manufacture. - NZ^A 1018
ATB Kevin
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Post by woodsy on Dec 6, 2008 21:26:21 GMT 1
Thanks Kevin. You can see that by 1941 ( possibly 1942 due to shipping) we only had just over 1,000 Brens which was nowhere enough even for a small army like ours! 1942 & 43 were the big delivery years for us (John Inglis) as we wound up with over 13,000 Brens and we seldom see a gun dated after 1943.
Cheers
Rod
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Post by kieronhill on Mar 8, 2009 21:35:09 GMT 1
I have in my collection of militaria a book
that belonged to an officer of a LAA
Battery and in this book it has a list of
all the serial numbers of the MKI Brens that
the battery had at their disposal and the
names of the soldiers to who they were
issued. I would be interested to know if
any of these Brens have made it on to the
deactivated market?
The list of serial numbers are as follows:
F6050
W7710
W7694
W7265
W7415
W7651
W7728
My own personel Bren is a Enfield 1943 MK1 serial no Z8161
deactivated by Ryton Arms Ltd in 2009, it has matching serial
numbers on lower and upper receiver, but the barrel is
5T5473
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Post by Kev on Mar 8, 2009 22:24:29 GMT 1
Hi , thats an interesting document you have.
Not very often you can give possitive provenance to a guns history so it would be very interesting if anyone has one of them.
The nearest match I have found is W7248 , 17 away from W7265 on your list .......close but no cigar !
Hope someone has one.
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Post by kieronhill on Mar 9, 2009 7:44:00 GMT 1
Hi Kevin, It would be nice if someone has one of these guns, as I said the book belonged to a Royal Artillery officer, the details of his battery can be found on my website here www.eightharmy.co.uk/royalsussex.htmso the the serial number you have that is 17 out who is the manufacturer? Cheers Kieron |
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Post by Kev on Mar 9, 2009 20:52:47 GMT 1
Hi Kieron,the Bren isn't mine I just happen to have it logged from a list of Brens that Mike Priest deactivated.
Being a MKI Bren with a W prefix it would have been manufactured at Enfield.
A very nice website by the way, is Captain J.D.Wallace a relation ?
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Post by kieronhill on Mar 9, 2009 21:37:05 GMT 1
Hi Kevin, Wallace is no relation just one of
the many adopted granddads on my site
if you know what I mean.
Cheers
Kieron
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It would appear that either the shipments contained random numbers, or they were randomly numbered when they got here.