20 Round Mag Markings

[benulis55]

I just purchased a fairly large lot of factory 20 rounders.

On all the factory 20s that I have ever seen near the bottom front of the mag it say NE-1

I have never known what this stood for nor have I ever had reason to find out.

Well, as I began cleaning the inside of one of the mags, I noticed that there was an orange slime all over it. At first I thoguht nothing of it but then I saw it. It said NE-2 instead of the regular NE-1. I should state that the appearance and structure of the mag does not appear to be any different.

Now I may be making a big deal out of nothing but I would like to know the story behind these markings.

Does anyone know what they means?

 

 

Also, if you are in need of some nice mags email me at benulis@losch.net

[nfa_guy]

Nick's book has a great rundown on the markings. I reference it often.

[BASS6621]

For what it's worth, I was reading Jim Ballou's book on the BAR (good read). In it there is a section about NESA (New England Small Arms) which was a conglomeration of a group of New England manufacturers who made the BAR during WWII.

 

I don't have the book handy, but what was interesting were some of the notations in the book regarding NESA's BAR contracts. Some of the contract markings were of the form "NE-n". (IIRC NE-9). In checking my Reising 20 rounders, they are marked "NE-2".

 

Are "NE-n" mags NESA manufactured and just incremented to show the contract number? I don't recall Frank's book going into much detail here but it has been a while since I last picked it up.