WW1 Magazine Info

[USMC0802]

Does anyone have information on which company (companies?) manufactured the original WW1-era blued magazines?

 

 

I am also interested in when the changeover was made from blued to Parkerizing - whether early WW2 issue was old-stock WW1 production, or if there were any blued magazines manufactured during this period.

[Sandman1957]

See the Pinned reference guide on the Thompson forum. That should answer your question. I do not think any were produced with parkerizing. All I have seen were parked during retro fit and put up for storage.

 

http://www.machinegunboards.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=9897

[USMC0802]

Thank you for replying Sir - my profile pic may have thrown things off, and I didn't think to specify, given the page, that I am looking for information on BAR magazines. I can't seem to turn up much info on those anywhere...

[USMC0802]

Still in search of info on WW1 and early WW2 blued BAR magazine producers...

[jim c 351]

USMC,

I don't know the answer to your question. I only own one blued BAR mag and its a Seymour.

But I might point out that all WW2 carbine and Thompson mags were blued.

This fact may provide a clue as to what the specs may have been for BAR mags of the same time period.

Jim C

[USMC0802]

Thanks Jim. I also have a few "S" - presumably Seymour - marked blued BAR magazines which I figured were WW2. Seems the WW2-Korea Parkerized magazines are pretty common, but I have not been able to figure out who made the WW1-era magazines and how they may have been marked...or how to distinguish them from those produced 20+ years later.

[darrylta]

I've also looked into the differences in WWI & WWII mags.

Can't find much of anything on the topic?

I bought a bulk buy several years ago of nice blued BAR mags, a lot of 60 at a reasonable price.

Darryl

[Normal1959]

I've also looked into the differences in WWI & WWII mags.

Can't find much of anything on the topic?

I bought a bulk buy several years ago of nice blued BAR mags, a lot of 60 at a reasonable price.

Darryl

You need more

Says Clyde had 75 when they got him.

Eric

[Normal1959]

Here are some of my early and late.

Eric

[USMC0802]

I've seen several variants, but never anything in print on how to distinguish the early "original" WW1 examples. Have seen blued "S" with blued followers, and with color-case followers. Original-appearing "S"-marked Parkerized too - probably a WW2 transition from blue to Park. As for the 1918 era, Colt, Marlin, and WRA would all have been capable of manufacturing magazines, but it would also make sense for them to have been subcontracted. As it stands now, I am inclined to go with the idea that WW1 production may be unmarked, but this is based only on not having seen anything pointing to the contrary and I'm hopeful we'll find someone with info. Small point of trivia, but it'd be neat to know...

[Normal1959]

I pulled some of my mint blue ones.

Followers are also marked "s"

Eric

[jim c 351]

USMC,

I imagine you already own the book, "A Rock in a Hard Place", by Jim Ballou.

In case you don't , he lists 2 companies as the earliest makers of BAR mags.

Empire Art Metal Co. in NY

American Standard Stamping Co, in Bridgeport Conn.

All WW1 mags blued.

Unfortunately Jim doesn't say if these mags were stamped or how they were stamped.

One may assume that any mag stamped with any maker with a different code would not be WW1.

I probably wasn't much help, but at least I got some practice typing.

Jim C

[RoscoeTurner]

You will also find BAR magazines with a Dulite finish, slightly different than the blued finish.

[Normal1959]

Here are a few different variations i found in mine with various finishes.

Eric

 

BTW that's my new I phone 7 in case anybody wanted to know. They have better cameras and I can see the difference from the 6s.

Edited December 11, 2016 by Normal1959

[junglewalk]

In the Weapon series, the Browning Automatic Rifle, by R. Hodges, on page 12, there is a photo with a caption that has puzzled me for some time...........

.....The photo is late WWI, showing ladies assembling BAR magazines, and the caption,".....During WWII, BAR magazine production was canceled when someone at Rock Island discovered that they still had over 2,000,000 magazines left over from WWI production runs."

........Does this mean, all the magazines we find in our possession are nearly 100 years old?....>> and if so, does this mean they all started out blued, but when these 2,000,000 magazines were finally issued for WWII, many of then had their blued finishes redone by being parkerized, and many of those were finally stamped by the companies that put them thru that process?

...am I way out in right field with this assumption?

[RoscoeTurner]

In the Weapon series, the Browning Automatic Rifle, by R. Hodges, on page 12, there is a photo with a caption that has puzzled me for some time...........

.....The photo is late WWI, showing ladies assembling BAR magazines, and the caption,".....During WWII, BAR magazine production was canceled when someone at Rock Island discovered that they still had over 2,000,000 magazines left over from WWI production runs."

........Does this mean, all the magazines we find in our possession are nearly 100 years old?....>> and if so, does this mean they all started out blued, but when these 2,000,000 magazines were finally issued for WWII, many of then had their blued finishes redone by being parkerized, and many of those were finally stamped by the companies that put them thru that process?

...am I way out in right field with this assumption?

 

 

BAR magazines were manufactured during WWII and through the Korean War. Some may have been manufactured as late as the 1960s. Not where I can access my references at the moment to verify the last.

[junglewalk]

Jim, where can I find those magazine production numbers for right up to the Viet Nam war?,,thanks

[RoscoeTurner]

Jim, where can I find those magazine production numbers for right up to the Viet Nam war?,,thanks

 

I do not have a reference for the production figures but the markings are the give away, the late ones will also have drawing numbers along with the contractor name code. Normal1959's photo above shows some of the late type markings along with some of the Korean War period markings such as the ROT type which is Royal Typewriter.

[USMC0802]

Jim C, Thanks for pointing that out. I read "Rock" cover-to-cover some months back when I got the BAR bug bad, but did not remember the magazine info. When I started getting curious about the WW1 magazines, I went back to the text but didn't find that information.

 

Tyler