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| | From:  tommytalldog (Original Message) | Sent: 10/27/2008 5:26 PM |
Interesting piece on the History Channel sez the Bren gun was a Czech design. T-Dog |
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Flash, yeah the article pointed out the Bren was used into the 60's when it was finally replaced. Very heavy, 25 lbs. & a very slow rate of fire which made it accurate & stingy on ammo. A trained gunner could "milk" the trigger & actually fire single shots. T-Dog |
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Bren was 22 lb, GPMG (your M240) 26lb. That's Google all I can say is the Bren felt far lighter. Add 30 rd mag ( 2.5 lb or 50 rd belt for GPMG (4.25 lb) and they're both very handy Yes you are talking about "double tapping". A punishable offence with the GPMG 'cos you ain't there to smarttass but to learn to control burst fire. Tootling off a 5 rd burst and watching those tracers lift and strike is fun. Bren was in use in the '70's as an AA and local protection (joke!) gun for the Abbot SPGs which were Royal Artillery. There was an AA 97 rd mag made for the Bren too, and a tripod mount for sustained fire. Rarities now |
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Rare one for you Tommy. I'ved never sen a real one; JimBert might 100 rd bren mag with loading tool. BTW ROF was about 550 RPM. GPMG up to 1000. |
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It was said that the Bren was too accurate. I once fired of a mag of 28 rounds on one, which was quite an experience for a 14 year old. |
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Flash, the problem with a drum mag is the difficulty in loading. T-Dog |
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Yes quite right These are for AA use therefore probably from a static location and pre-loaded. |
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First time I ever fired a Bren, nothing happened except the breechblock ran forward. Whipped mag off, cocked, and live round spun down about an inch then ignited and flew up past my face. I'd had a hangfire, the primer (cap) had fizzed for a few milliseconds before igniting the powder. This was 1966; we were still using WW2 .303 ammunition. Tommy you might remember I had a terrific row with Arnie on this site about it; all sorts of things like class warfare came into it. |
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Flash, don't remember the particulars but I am not surprised. The Serjeant Major was a real hoot most times. T-Dog |
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Flash.... I seem to recal the Bren having a 'slide' under the body, that was a guard against the large piston, which flashed back and forth and could whip your fingers off if you put them in there by mistake. I also remember them suffering from gas jamming and thus had a swivel on the barrel, to change to a new jet, I think 4 in all. Is that right? |
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major, similar to M-1 Thumb eh? T-Dog |
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Tom... so the Bren has a sister digit wrecker then? We'll wait for 'Fingers Flash' to confirm it. |
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- There were 2 dust covers on the Bren, one under and one over the breech block
- you rememebr the top one had a milled hump, and you slid it back to close the magazine aperture, and forward to load a mag. There was a spring loaded ball bearing to lock it closed
- Underneath was a nicely machined slide, which opened the ejection slot when you cocked the weapon. You could slide it shut manually and there was a small catch to lock it. Yes the breech block would not do your fingers any good........new nail varnish time
- At the front of the barrel was a circular plug which contained 4 x 90 deg gas channels which allowed the gas to hit the piston at the front of the breech block. Each channel was a different diameter; ideally you worked on the narrowest channel until it clogged then turned it round for the next wider etc.
- The channel had a wide parallel opening to locate a tab to hold the barrel.
Here got all the goodies next post |
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| If you look at the bipod legs, where they join the barrel and just to the left is the round gas plug and you can see a big cross in it which is located into a tab. If you pull the latch to the left of the trigger group up 90 degrees, and pull the carrying handle up 90 deg you can pull the barrel group forward and away from the gun, to add a cool barrel. OR slide a round of ammunition into the gas plug lugs and turn it 90 deg. Note bipod legs adjustable for height. Big round circular drum above and to the right of the pistol grip is the sight 1 click is 50m yds. This is the Rolls Royce of the Brens the .303 Mk1 as told by the sight. The later (Canadian made) had simpler sights and no bipod height adjustment. Finally I've managed to get a good pic of the drum mag. I showed this on the LI site 3 years ago and non of the old and bold could identify it, it's so rare. , |
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Incidentally behind the barrel release catch is the magazine dust cover to which I referred. |
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