[Mike Cecil]

Dan,

The Australian Army used the Staghound up until the early 1970s (Reserve Armoured Corps units). The Armoured Corps was the only Corps to persist with the .30-06 cartridge all the way up until around 2005, when the M113A1 with T50(Aust) turret with the .50-.30 combination was finally retired. I understand your Staghound is ex-Australia, one of two exported about 13 years ago.

In 1962, all the M1919A4's still in Aust service were converted to the British configuration to fire from the open bolt. The kits, at 20 GBP each, were supplied from the UK, with conversion carried out locally. Total cost of kits was around 18,000 GBP. The new designation was L3A3 and L3A4. Calibre remained as .30-06. (ie .30 cal)

I can only think the changeover/modifications caused the alterations you are seeing - cannot think of any other reason why the mount in the Staghound would be 'non-standard', though I have not seen any evidence that the Centurion fixed or flex mounts were altered as part of the changeover from the M1919A4 to the L3A3 and L3A4, so maybe that is not the reason.

Motto is correct regarding some Aust AFVs using the Besa. The 7.92 mm BESA finally went out of service in the Australian Army in the late 1950s when Centurions were converted from Mk3 to Mk5. The Besa was not used in the Staghound, but had been used in Matilda up till 1955, and in Centurion Mk.3 until the late 1950s.

Mike