[vl5150]

I've wanted one of these for a while and finally was able to align finding the right one and having the money all at once. I really love the Bren. Just a fantastic, simple design. Supurb materials and beautiful to look at as well.
I ran this one at the range and it is just interesting as hell to shoot and is my favorite range gun now no matter how much .303 costs now. It functions 100% and was build by Stan at Project Guns. Stan does a great job with these rebuilds and I'm lucky to be close to his shop and to have met him many times.

This is a 1943 MKI that's a transitional (*edited- mongrel) model .

 

[brit plumber]

Nice gun but I'll have to ask a few questions out of interest. Does it say 1943 on it? It does look like an intermediate gun but they were only made in 1941. The barrel looks to be a Aussie Lithgow Mk1 (Just like the early Enfield and Inglis Barrels) which is nice, the bipod is from a Canadian Inglis Mk2 and the Butt is also possibly JI Mk2 too. I think you have a real nice gun there.

Does it retain it's original serial number? It should be somewhere in the F6000 to F9000 range.

 

[John Sukey In Memoriam]

I agree that the Bren is a luverly thing. The go-fast switch works on mine

 

[vl5150]

Nice gun but I'll have to ask a few questions out of interest. Does it say 1943 on it? It does look like an intermediate gun but they were only made in 1941. The barrel looks to be a Aussie Lithgow Mk1 (Just like the early Enfield and Inglis Barrels) which is nice, the bipod is from a Canadian Inglis Mk2 and the Butt is also possibly JI Mk2 too. I think you have a real nice gun there.

Does it retain it's original serial number? It should be somewhere in the F6000 to F9000 range.

Thanks for the info on this. Appreciate it. Who knows what happened to the poor thing when it was brought in. Well, I do know..chopped into pieces and re-built. At least it was done up into a functional gun and will live on here as a semi auto. The SN as stamped on the back of the receiver is V57XX but that may be the new US SN. It does say 1943 on it as well. The internals were all clean and refurbished to look like new and the bore of the barrel is excellent. It looks like it has a MK III gas system as well. I tried it out before buying and was expecting it to not run and I was shocked that it not only was 100% reliable, but was fun as hell to boot. I did the check out of it at a local indoor range and it drew a crowd. But I really liked shooting it more and said to myself I gotta have it. The only issue I see if that the barrel collar is hard to loosen without a light rubber mallet tap.


I'm glad picked up the last stash of Canadian WWII .303 from Samco a few years ago. I don't think my Enfields will be eating much of it.

 

[brit plumber]

Regardless of where the parts come from it's still a nice gun and is functional so it's a winner in my book.

The serial V57?? dates the rear section to 1942, the centre section is obviously 1943 due to the date and the forward section is 1937 to 1941 and could be Aussie, Canadian or British. If you can post a close up photo of the side in front of the barrel nut I can tell you the manufacturer and possibly the date for that part. If the barrel nut is tight, lay a sheet of emery cloth on a surface plate or glass table and rub down the forward face a smidge. The nut abuts the forward face of the housing and forces the threads of the barrel back so that the barrel is seated fully home. If the nut is tight, you remove some material at the front of the nut so less force is needed to close it. Don't go mad, just a little and then trial fit, once you have it so you can just do it by hand, you've finished.

When/If you rub down the forward face of the barrel nut, I rotate the nut in a circular motions i.e. rotate it around the centre of the bore of the nut rather than back and forth or large circular movements. This should keep the nut reasonably square. It will obviously remove some of the surface finish but it wares off at these points anyway.

 

[ActionYobbo]

nice gun. thats a real frakengun too by the mix of different models and makers.
I love me bren almost as I love me vickers

 

[vl5150]

This is too funny. As it took all the commonwealth countries to work together to win the war, it took all of their effort combined to make this Bren. What a mongrel. Here's the pic of the area by the nut. Looks like Canada? The middle symbol is a 43 in a box.

 

[brit plumber]

 

[vl5150]

Thanks for the breakdown! Pieces of my Bren were fighting all over the word all at the same time.

Stan does some good work on these kits so this must be puzzled together from one of the later kits that had the bad cuts or was mismatched to begin with.

If this were a Garand or a No4, I'd be upset, but since these are so hard to find and this one is so nice with an excellent bore (and I got to shoot it 1st), I'm pretty happy with it.

 

[45Auto]

That is one cool range gun. I would imagine that it must be rather accurate as well.

 

[bentwrench]

Congats on the Bren. I just got mine finished and am awaiting its delivery.

Here is my '43 Enfield for comparison. Note the ribs omitted near the gas vent holes. If you haven't grab a box of magazines while they are still cheap. Around $10 a pop for one of the nicest steel magazines ever made. I got one of the unopened surplus boxes. Fun stuff!

This one was Built by Lyndon Yates at Kiwi Custom Guns

 

[brit plumber]

Bentwrench, could you post a pic of you cocking handle, it looks like the scarce rounded cocking handle only fitted to the first 10,000 or so Enfield guns.

 

[Ike27]

Nice Bren..

Love mine.. Damn accurate too! A bit of trigger slap but that was easily corrected.

 

[brit plumber]

I love the Bren too, this is one of my L4s.

 

[964AWACS.]

Congrats! That is on my bucket list of guns (I already have a couple of spare barrels and several mags). Enjoy a great piece of hardware!

 

[vl5150]

Nice Bren..

Love mine.. Damn accurate too! A bit of trigger slap but that was easily corrected.
View attachment 765849 View attachment 765850

Nice Bren! How did you reduce the trigger slap?

 

[Ike27]

5150

I just polished the surfaces of the striker where it contacts the trip lever.

 

[GUNBB]

Shot a BREN , FA ,in 7.62X39, a few years ago. Took an AK-47 Magazine. Fun to shoot. BB

 

[John Sukey In Memoriam]

I have the chinese 7.62 x 39 conversion kit for my Bren. It will chamber a round and fire it BUT will not cycle for the next round.
Just never got around to make a lighter return spring though I do have extra springs

 

[brit plumber]

I have the chinese 7.62 x 39 conversion kit for my Bren. It will chamber a round and fire it BUT will not cycle for the next round.
Just never got around to make a lighter return spring though I do have extra springs

Is that not a gas problem? I'm sure the Chinese conversions retained the original full length spring? What is in the kit? Barrel, Breech Block, Ejector, Piston extension and mags? Kev Groom has an original in his collection, I'm sure if he pops along he can answer my spring question.