Browning machine gun serial no.

[Ken MacLean]

Could one of our armourers help here?

A poster on another forum has asked what the prefix letters 'BS' on a Browning aircraft machine gun serial number mean. The gun in question is the Browning M2, originally 30-06 calibre which was adopted by the RAF, rebarelled for .303 and known as the Browning MkII. Serial number is six digits with prefix BS.

-Ken

[David Duxbury]

Could one of our armourers help here?

A poster on another forum has asked what the prefix letters 'BS' on a Browning aircraft machine gun serial number mean. The gun in question is the Browning M2, originally 30-06 calibre which was adopted by the RAF, rebarelled for .303 and known as the Browning MkII. Serial number is six digits with prefix BS.

-Ken

Ken,

I hasten to add that I am NOT an armourer, but I believe that the "BS" prefix to the serial number indicates that it was manufactured by Birmingham Small Arms in the United Kingdom (also famous for its bicycles and motor cycles!) In fact BSA made ALL the Browning 0.303" guns delivered to the RAF so far as I know, but then again they were also manufactured (to British specs) in Canada as well. I have some serial numbers of Canadian manufactured Brownings somewhere, mainly because the RNZAF took delivery of a number of these guns to completely equip its Hudsons in 1942, and after the delivery the Canadians advised that some of them had suspect sears, and quoted the batch believed to include the faulty parts. From memory the information I saw included no prefixes for the serial numbers, but this would not have been necessary anyway as the manufacturer was already known.

David D