SMG bracket

[rob love]

When the installation kits came out for the 1/4 ton M38 and M38A1 trucks, they had the SMG bracket along with the upper and lower brackets for the FN rifles. There was a blueprint included in the kit showing the installation locations for the brackets, which "should" have been followed by the mechanic installing it. I think Brian Asbury has/had those kits at one time so I wonder if he has a copy of the blueprint. I had a copy myself, but not sure if it is buried in my file cabinet of similar documents and UFI.

As to timelines, the FN and SMG were adopted in the latter half of the 50s, and were in service until the about 1990. So certainly the brackets were routinely installed on the early 50s Jeeps as well as the Cdn2 and Cdn3, and the M151A2.

As to the non-approved location of the mounting on your Jeep, there were some mechanics who either knew better than the engineers who drew up such things, or else they just didn't read blueprints. But yes, it is very possible the bracket was located there, especially if the holes line up.

Now the question comes in whether you could have a sten mounted in that bracket. Again, the service dates overlapped, so it would have been entirely possible. The stens were withdrawn over a period of years, and not suddenly.