1958 7.62mm H51Mk1

[smle2009]

Just got this very nice H51 from my old mate Andysarmoury,thanks Andy. A nice early one for 7.62mm.
wondering if anyone knows what the A rifle only refers to,I first thought it was because the rounds were in chargers and bandoliers but why a large A and rifle only,would have thought it would have been for rifles only? and the magazine fed Bren in 7.62mm was used also.
Also trying to work out what the B at the end of RG.19.12.58B stands for(bandolier?)
It would seem by the stamp on the inside of this box that it was made in 1947.

Cheers
Tony

 

[Darrol]

Just got this very nice H51 from my old mate Andysarmoury,thanks Andy. A nice early one for 7.62mm.
wondering if anyone knows what the A rifle only refers to,I first thought it was because the rounds were in chargers and bandoliers but why a large A and rifle only,would have thought it would have been for rifles only? and the magazine fed Bren in 7.62mm was used also.
Also trying to work out what the B at the end of RG.19.12.58B stands for(bandolier?)
It would seem by the stamp on the inside of this box that it was made in 1947.

Cheers
Tony

hi sure that its for bandoliers of 7.62mm in chargers/stripper clips .more than likely for the l1a1 self loading rifle .the A could stand for auto .regards darrol

 

[Bonnex]

Just got this very nice H51 from my old mate Andysarmoury,thanks Andy. A nice early one for 7.62mm.
wondering if anyone knows what the A rifle only refers to,I first thought it was because the rounds were in chargers and bandoliers but why a large A and rifle only,would have thought it would have been for rifles only? and the magazine fed Bren in 7.62mm was used also.
Also trying to work out what the B at the end of RG.19.12.58B stands for(bandolier?)
It would seem by the stamp on the inside of this box that it was made in 1947.

Cheers
Tony

I think (and I am contributing outside my comfort zone because I know TonyE is not around to answer it) the A refers to the Belgian Manufactured SLRs (some had full auto select) and B would have been used to differentiate the British manufacture.

B on the workdate is something different and is effectively a part of the 'lot' number. The first lot of the day would have just the RG and a workdate, the second adds an A, the third a B. For lot sizes and nuances to do with mixed dates I'll leave it to an AT to answer.

 

[smle2009]

Many thanks Bonnex,
the full auto Begian SLR answer now has me wondering about the ammo it had in it as it was L2A2 ball,the standard staple diet for the SLR,LMG and GPMG,now wondering if there was a modified version of this round ie staked primers ect without changing the L number?
As often is the case with this hobby one answerd question leads to another unanswerd question!:tinysmile_cry_t4:

All the best
Tony

 

[smle2009]

I think (and I am contributing outside my comfort zone because I know TonyE is not around to answer it) the A refers to the Belgian Manufactured SLRs (some had full auto select) and B would have been used to differentiate the British manufacture.

B on the workdate is something different and is effectively a part of the 'lot' number. The first lot of the day would have just the RG and a workdate, the second adds an A, the third a B. For lot sizes and nuances to do with mixed dates I'll leave it to an AT to answer.

Found out at last!....Norman you were very close :wink:, I was lucky enough to pick up a couple of early training manuals for the SLR last weekend,one covered the Belgian X8E1 and X8E5 trial rifles,the other covers the British X14E1 SLR.
The Belgian Type A(X8E5) rifle refers to the version that could be loaded using chargers,the Belgian Type B(X8E5) rifle could only be magazine loaded...one other thing these manuals clear up is the story that the Belgian trials SLRs were fully automatic...they wern't,just semi auto the same as the later issue SLRs, BUT we did previously 'play' with some 'standard' Belgian FAL's in 7.92mm calibre which were fully automatic.

Atb
Tony