'A' marked drum mags

[Kev]

Further to the thread started by Woodsy -
weaponsonline.proboards76.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=brensale&thread=1149917216&page=1
and 100 round drum mags with what appeared to be an 'A' stamped manufacturers mark that may have been by Austin.

Through contacting the Austin Ex Apprentices Association they have kindly come up with some good info from a peice in their in house magazine requesting help on the possible manufacture of drum mags at Austin.

The good news is that Austin did indeed manufacture drum mags at Longbridge , approx 421,000 in all !
Magazine (drum and 30 round box) manufacture shed marked in yellow -


As privatefjordy mentioned that one of his Vickers K mags was also marked in this fashion I presume some of the 421.000 total would have been K mags ?

Going back to the earlier thread there also appeared to be an inspectors mark (L2) on the 'A' marked drum mags , I'm guessing the 'L' stood for Longbridge ?

Pics below are from Austin Longbridge showing drum mag manufacture , assembly and inspection.






Many thanks to the Austin Ex Apprentices Association for their help , information and pictures notably Mr A Osboune and Mr S Holbeche.

[woodsy]

Nice one Kev! Well researched.

[Tim]

Nice bit of digging kev

Note how the raw steel is protected from rust by the quantity of
Brylcreem in the locality.

Secondley of course , anyone got a time machine ......pretty sure they would not notice one or two going astray ;D

[Kev]

On a sad note the West Works at Longbridge which contained the (still known untill Longbridge was shut) 'Bren gun section' was demolished last week.

Pic showing one section stripped out ,machinery having been shipped to China.



Pic showing abandoned car bodies on the long shut down assembly line.


Now all demolished !

The West Works before being used as part of Bren production during the 2nd WW was originaly constructed in 1916 for the manufacture of 9.2 inch shells.

[mattgibbs]

I was just thinking 400,000 plus mags is an awful lot. What the hell happened to them all?
Apart from the 2 in my garage that is.
Did they export large numbers to any particular country.
Regards
Matt Gibbs