We take a 1940 Bren gun to the range to demonstrate function, disassembly, and shooting from a variety of positions. For more information, check out www.ForgottenWeapons.com .
A Rolls Royce of an LMG. My father landed on D-Day armed with one of these and his respect for this weapon was immense. To put the record straight, the British Bren gun operator did have a number 2 who carried extra magazines etc. Unfortunately, my dad's number 2 was killed immediately after landing at Queen beach on D-Day. My father lost sight of him when they hit the beach - and never see him again after that. The next time he was close to him was when he was standing over the man's grave in France when he and I journeyed back there in 1989. A very emotional experience for him and me too. R.I.P. Cpl Stares. And R.I.P. to my dad. x
IMO, a top mounted magazine is preferable to a side-mounted one, especially on an LMG. Top-mounting aids feeding and ejection, and doesn't unbalance the weapon the way a 30-round mag of rifle ammo on the side would.
The Bren was the first LMG I ever fired, at 15 years of age, as a Royal Canadian Army Cadet. It's a very stable weapon, and unlike some, it's recoil will actually pull the weapon forward, and not give a punishing rearward kick like the FNC1A1. Later, as an instructor, we always had the gunner dig his toes into the ground to help hold the weapon back. There were cases of lightweights actually being pulled forward as he fired. Quick bursts of 3 to 4 rounds were the norm, and accomplished by a very quick utterance of SOB as you quickly squeezed and released the trigger. The mags held 30 rounds of .303 rimmed ammo that must be loaded with each successive round's rim ahead of the last, otherwise it would jam. You only loaded 28 rounds into the mag because using the full 30 gave excessive magazine spring compression, and could lead to an immediate jam at a most inopportune time. There were 2 IA's or Immediate Actions. First IA was to change mags. Second IA was to release the barrel and slide it forward, and using the head of a round, use it to turn the gas regulator to the next larger hole, to ensure that carbon deposits hadn't jammed the hole and was preventing the recocking and reloading of the next round. As I said, I first learned this, at 15 years of age, and then later became an instructor. To this day, I can still recite all of the specs for that weapon, including such things as the weight of filled mags, 2/34 pounds, and gun weight, 19 pounds. I'm now 2 months short of 77. It kind of sticks with you. lol
We got to fire them here in New Zealand in the fifth form in High School after the 303 it was great to be pulled forward instead of having a badly bruised shoulder. The stripping reminded me of that we had to do this blindfolded.
I was talking to guys in indian army ..(.here we call it LMG.) Why are still using it ...they said its very accurate you can practicality empty whole mag into a window from 100 mts....which is very important in fighting in urban area that also 7.62 mm..
I was trained on this around the same time here in Ireland in the reserves, i think it was the last year it was in service here as well. There were plenty of jokes about its age but truth be told we freakin' loved the thing.
I used the Bren when I was in the Irish Reserve in 80's. On a firing range in Cork there were over 20 Bren's firing at the same time. An awesome sight and sound
Hi Ian, there was also a 100 round drum magazine also, often used in the vehicle pintle mount. Very effective to fire from the "hip assault position". In 1996 at the ANZAC Day celebration in the Sergeants Mess, I watched a 70 year old WW2 veteran strip the BREN in 12 second blind folded, with a gap of fifty years since he last handled the BREN. His only comment, "My sergeant would have kick my arse for being so slow, I used to do this in 9 seconds." Thousands of repetition training drills stores the physical action in your brain forever. The L4a1 is the 7.62mm NATO version. Thanks Greg
In the Army Cadets we were awarded a shoulder badge for stripping a Bren blindfold in under a minute. (The true contest was sub-10-second, though.) It was a huge honour to be permitted to fire the thing. I remember the crack-crack-crack of rounds passing over my head in the target butts, closely followed by the chug-chug-chug of the muzzle reports. Hair-raisingly, we used it loaded with wooden bullets on live exercises: the wooden bullet created enough gas pressure to operate the action, and was smashed by a baffle mounted on the end of the barrel. From memory the wooden ball was coloured purple, to distinguish it from jacketed ball. We actually fired at each other at fairly close range using this arrangement. God only know what would have happened if the bullet masher had fallen off or if someone had loaded the thing with live ammo by mistake. A light and very accurate gun, tough as hell, easy to maintain and use. The only drawback was that the barrel would overheat after a couple of magazines and the accuracy could then become erratic. You learned to be very careful about which parts of it you touched when it was hot. An excellent video - thank you for rekindling old memories.
Tim de F I will always remember Carry on Sergeant, which has a scene where Bob Monkhouse has to strip and then reassemble a Bren - it's not something you see every day.
+Tim de F By the time I was in the cadets the Bren was unfortently long gone, however did get to have a go with an L86 lmg suppose it's a strange/interesting gun like the Bren. Quite the upgrade from the Lee Enfield no.4 chambered in .22 I trained with.
+Tim de F Can't remember doing it blindfolded in the cadets. But I do remember we did speed stripping, reassembly, and firing at the range. Literally you stripped it down. 4-5 seconds was normal for speed. We did leave the regulator in for this I remember. You then reassembled and had to get a round on target. Anywhere between 30 -45 seconds was great, but under a minute all up was considered a pass. IA drills at the range were fun too. What to do when the gun stops firing. This guy does some great videos but he's clearly never handled a Bren before this shoot.
If only Faxon could makes some stress relieved barrels for brens/L4 conversions, &/or similar modern production standards and processes applied to this excellent LMG design for a revised improved L4**-LMG-ISW - keep the GPMG as a HMG.
|I have seen many comments regarding the magazine capacity of the Bren , its primary use was designated as a section support weapon an Infantry section consisting of 6-7 riflemen a gunner and his assistant. their job was to provide fire support to the section and the recommended method was 3-4 round bursts we were taught to say " fish and chips " to time the burst mobility and ease of use were the Brens strengths .
My grandad was issued a Bren LMG during his National Service (deployed to Berlin and Hong Kong in the 1950s). He said if you were shooting at a brick wall, you could knock out individual bricks. It was that precise
Many years ago, I knew an old guy Named Tom who served as a Bren gunner during the Korean War. He told us that the Chinese troops would try to get them to fire so much that the first barrel wouldn't have cooled sufficiently by the time the second barrel overheated, and when the Chinese judged that they had two hot barrels they would charge the Bren's position. What they didn't know was that Tom & his sideman had "acquired" (I.E. stolen, in the finest tradition of the British Army ;) a THIRD barrel, whose weight they cursed when lugging the Bren around, but Tom said he owed his life to it, as it gave a number of Chinese a final & permanent surprise. I think he regarded the extra barrel as a form of rather dark practical joke.
Kevin McAspurn having had the 7.62. Variant as my personal weapon during the 80s you can also piss on the barrels to cool them! Bugger of a stink but it would save your life!!
Old guy Geordie Brown at my work told me that the spare barrel was quite good for caving in a chinamans head as well. Quitest nicest and most honest guy I have ever met. I was very suprised by that story.
Gary Mitchell . Never heard of military intelligence mate. Do you honesty believe that the Chinese wouldn't have studied captured weapons or fallen enemy soldiers. One of the oldest civilizations on earth have remained through using their brains , not shooting off their mouth.
I was with the ADF in the 80's and our main platoon firepower was the M-60 GPMG, it was mandate at the time in our unit for all platoon members to carry 100 or 200 rounds each for the gun along with their own 140 rounds for their SLR, depending on the mission, so about 25 to 30 troops would haul between 2,500 to 6,000 rounds for the M-60.
My Grandad who has now passed away he was a Bren Gunner in the British Army and thought in Burma and at Normandy was great to see his gun in action. He never did speak about the Wars he didn't have too as you could tell by his eyes the things that he must have seen I would never want to see. Cheers Grandad always looking down to guide me ;)
Thanks for the excellent Bren demonstration . I trained and used the Bren 53 years ago ! when I was in the British Territorial Army (almost equivalent of US National Guard ) .I seem to remember there was some times a need to change the size of the gas hole found at the Bi pod end .This could be done by using the bullet end of a 303 round as a wrench .One summer day about twenty of us were laying in a circle and in the middle was a Bren .Our instructor an Irish Sargent started the demo by saying " This is is the Bren Light machine gun , It IS the finest light machine gun in the world , It has a 30 round box magazine and a handle on the side " fur ter cock it with " so saying he then kicked the cocking handle to the rear with his boot ! . In the late 1970s I was in the Rhodesian army and came across the Bren gun again . still in use on active service .This time re chambered for the 7.62 NATO round .
Piston Barrel Butt body by pod you can piss on the barrel but not on the bloody by pod Dis mantel order Piston removed to the right replaced to the left to even spring wear
It's good to see my BREN again. In 1975-1976 I was assigned as a conscription infantry sergeant with a territorial unit in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. My unit was the successor of the KNIL or the Royal Dutch East Indies Army, a colonial armed force in what is now Indonesia. We had the weapons of the KNIL, including Browning High Power pistol, Garand M1 rifle, M1 Springfield carbine, 2 "infantry mortar and the Bren machine gun. In December 1975 we still had far too much ammunition left and that ammunition had to be used up. At the infantry shooting range Harskamp, our Sergeant-Major had a nice idea .. 4 men, each with a Bren at a shooting point at 300m from the bullet trap. The rest of two infantry groups had to fill the containers, 5 normal rounds and then 1 tracer round untill full. You understand that It turned out to be a party. This time we were allowed to shoot from the hip. It turned out to be quite possible to hit the target in this way, actually to my surprise. Oh yes our sergeant major had fought with the KNIL in the Indonesian jungle with the Bren and knew exactly what could and could not be done. By thinking of it I have a big smile on my face.
My Dad drove a Bren Gun Carrier in 1949 during the Malaya Emergency. A type of mini tank with a Bren strapped to the front! He had utmost respect for it's accuracy and power.
Sure, there are pros and cons both to top-mounted magazines, but they were used by more than just a few guns, and by some pretty good ones. The ZB/Bren series was one of the most successful and popular LMGs ever made. The Madsen was another very long-lived gun, and the Nambu was limited in scope but a quite good gun as well.
Was a crew serviced weapon. No 1 and No 2. No 2 carried spare ammo in Boxes plus own weapon. Change empty mags and also the barrel when required. Fired this 303 in training and also the 7.62 version when posted to regiment.Loved it and it was my favorite weapon.
The lack of changeable barrels was a major hindrance to the BAR, since it prevented the gun from being effectively used for sustained fire. Any air-cooled gun will eventually overheat, and swapping barrels allows you to keep shooting. As for AA fire, everything was used in this role at one point or another - I have more than a few photos of men using bolt action rifles to shoot at aircraft.
@@krakenburger56 Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! _Browning _*_Automatic Rifle_* ... not machine gun. If you want to be stupid about that - I can't stop you but just because it was USED as a light machine gun - doesn't mean it was one. For example - you can use a monkey wrench as a hammer (and I have) - but - that doesn't mean it IS a hammer. .
@@BobSmith-dk8nw first of all, if you are one of those people who think AR stands for Automatic Rifle it doesnt. It stands for Armalite. The definition of the term Automatic rifle is a self loading rifle capable of automatic fire. Second of all, "As a heavy automatic rifle *designed for support fire* , the M1917 was not fitted with a bayonet mount and no bayonet was ever issued" Finally, "For its day, though, it was a brilliant design produced in record time by John Browning, and it was bought and used by many countries around the world. It was a standard *squad light automatic* of the U.S. infantry during World War II, and saw use in every theatre of war."
@@krakenburger56 Uh ... no. The "AR" in BAR - stands for Automatic Rifle ... not Armalite. Where the hell did you come up with that? If you are thinking of the AR-15 (which became the M-16) or AR-18 - those are completely different weapons. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ArmaLite_AR-18#Background It was NOT designed for Support Fire - it was designed to go in with the assaulting troops. Thus all the mention of the tactic of using "walking fire" which was one method of assault, other methods including "fire and movement". Also - the BAR was the M1918 - not the M1917 - that was a water cooled machine gun. And - the correct method of using quotes - is to use the quote and THEN cite it's source. As in: "The BAR was designed to be carried by infantrymen during an assault ... advance while supported by the sling over the shoulder, or to be fired from the hip. This is a concept called "walking fire"-thought to be necessary for the individual soldier during trench warfare." "The stock rest was dropped from production in 1942, while the M1918A2's bipod and flash hider were often discarded by individual soldiers and Marines to save weight and improve portability, particularly in the Pacific Theater of war. ... With these modifications, the BAR effectively reverted to its original role as a portable, shoulder-fired automatic rifle." Both quotes are from he following article. "M1918 Browning Automatic Rifle" en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M1918_Browning_Automatic_Rifle Ha! Ha! Are you a troll? You are either and idiot or a troll - take your pick. .
I'm traveling from the future, back to Ye Olde CZcams days to early Gun Jesus videos, and the editing on this one makes me nostalgic for a simpler time, with bad audio, random female voices, and odd cuts.
My grandad served with the Duke Of Cornwalls Light Infantry 2nd Battalion,,seeing action at Dunkirk,North Africa and Monte Cassino in Italy during WW2.He carried and used the bren gun during his service and told me it was a fantastic weapon.He was a brave man indeed,sadly no longer with us,R.I.P.
ThuleanPerspective: They can be blamed for NOTHING! They defended democracy and helped to protect us from right wing extremism. I gather that you thing that was a bad thing so I am not surprised at your comment. Fortunately, people like you are in a minority..
Tyke - One of those was my personal weapon when I was assigned to my Pl after basic, instead of the SMG; we had them until 1993 in the RMP(v) (that's the Royal Military Police in the British Territorial Army, the British Army's volunteer reserve, a bit like the US National Guard in several respects) - I was our Armoury Storesman when we changed to the L85/L86 (two crates from the LonDist arsenal, one bedford truck, and two full-crewed landies as escort. Those were the days!) It was a very sorry day when we back-loaded them. Regarding over-accuracy: Spot on, literally. One of the weird things was indeed the accuracy - no beaten zone to speak of, so you were told to "shuffle it around a bit" when on automatic. And controlling the burst size was easy - very low RoF for an LMG. One really odd thing I remember was that prone, you had to 'lean back', that is, pull the weapon back on its' bipod, or it'd fold up, resulting in the barrel eating the ground. Not good, especially if the RSM was looking in! Ian - thanks for posting, good site, good vids, keep it up!
Lmg was not that accurate you normaly shot two figure twelves side by side the bren would do fist sized holes I shot literally thousands of rounds in the 80s in 7.62 you had to push into it the bipod only folds when you push the legs together and fold them forwards
I am in awe of the Bren. Not because of its ability as a LMG, but because it was used by the soldiers of the British Army. I have been fortunate enough enough to shoot clays in England with many soldiers who served with the British Army in many theatres during WW2, and as a warrior creed they are second to none. The Bren was one of thier weapons.
When I served up-country in Aden there was a young chap called Bowyer who was 18 years oldbut built like a brick outhouse. His post on guard a sanger on the perimeter of the gun battery. It was very reassuring to hear him 'double tapping' with the Bren whenever we were attacked... You brought back memories - thank you!
I missed the bren in the Irish army when they replaced it with the fn mag. The bren had exceptional accuracy at any distance and we used it as a sniper role very often.
The Holek brothers had the advantage of a decade's more experience when they designed the ZB (which became the Bren), while Browning was breaking new ground in many ways. The evolution of the BAR (into the FN model D) made it a far better gun, but the US military decided to stick to the old version. As for .30-06 versus .303, it's totally irrelevant in this context. They both do the job just fine.
I served in the Australian Army from 77-86 as infantry and we still had L4A4 7.62 Bren's on loadout for no1 riflemen for additional firepower. On single shot they were almost as accurate as the SLRs and produced confusion for enemy groups expecting an MG on the opposite flank. At times the Been was a little too accurate as an MG requiring a wiggle of the weapon to give a better spread of the beaten zone. A great weapon with a long service record. I think the Brits had some in the Falkland Island War.
Yes , it was used by the British army in N.Ireland, The Falklands and it was still being used during the first "Gulf war" in 1991 along with the "Gimpy" (G.P.M.G.).
The British army was still using the Bren up until the mid to late 80’s, was recalibrated to 7.62mm I only ever carried it in Northern Ireland on patrols.
Great video. In my day in the Army we used an FN variant as an LMG, the Canadian FN C2. Only got to fire the Bren once-a local cadet corp had a Mark Two and I was helping on the range. It was a sweet shoot. My dad was a Bren Gunner with the 1st Canadian Parachute BN in WW2, so having the opportunity to handle one was a privilege.
My dad operated a Bren on D-Day also. He was a paratrooper in the 6th Airborne, and was part of the attack force on the Merville Gun emplacement. I'm writing about it RIGHT NOW , listening to this post!
In 1954 I was called up for National Service but signed up for 5 years in the R.A.F., during basic training we were introduced to the Lee Enfield .303 rifle and the Beaut Bren Gun, we were trained on the Bren Gun as a two man crew, No 1 fired the Bren and removed the empty Mag while the No 2 laid up the left side and fitted full Mags, also the No 2 was responsible for adjust the four position Gas Valve in the event of a stoppage, the gas external adjustment slots on the gas valve were just the right width to enable adjustment by inserting projectile (Bullet) of a round into the valve slot and turning the Gas Valve. Apparently the early Bren Guns were fitted with semi circular Butt Plate that fitted into the shoulder,but were soon discarded as it was found that the Butt Plate was too restrictive and unnecessary as the Bren had virtually no recoil. The Bren was a bit heavy to hump around but the Webbing strap fitted to the front and back strap points made it easier to hump also the strap could be adjusted for firing from the hip as in Jungle Warfare. Very accurate and a pleasure to fire and was easy to maintain.
Got to fire one of those, the Australian army kept a stock of them until the early 90's....I found it very accurate and one of the cool things was you could interchange magazines with the L1A1 SLR rifle....
Back in 1967/68 our cadet unit was still using the Bren. The magazine got hot so it was removed by smacking it forward. Sleeves were always rolled up to above the elbow to avoid the hot shell shuffle. The order of stripping was barrel, bi-pod, body pin, butt, and piston. There were 4 stoppages, overheated barrel, magazine jam due to the rimmed .303 cartridge, closed ejection port, and blocked gas regulator. The body pin was pushed out using the point of a .303 round. It was funny how it walked away from you when you fired it. A wonderful weapon and possibly too accurate for a machine gun.
I served in a British Army infantry regiment of the line during the Cold War and being a Corporal was in charge of the three man Bren gun team within the infantry section of ten men total. Being a reasonable rifle shot I was considered quite good with the Bren. Each member of the ten man section carried four magazines, two in each pouch of 30 rounds totalling 1200 rounds. It was a good reliable weapon as long as it was keep reasonable clean but importantly the ammunition also otherwise separated cases would be a problem. My only slight criticism would be that the rate of fire of 600 rounds per minute could have been a bit greater. But the standard at the time on automatic was short bursts of 2 to 3 rounds, which did maintain good accuracy. Larger bursts could be very accurate if the bipod was held firm to the ground or on the fixed lines tripod. Happy days!
A truly excellent gun for its day. Hard wearing, quick barrel change, and you would not want to be on the end of this weapon. In the Normandy campaign a small British unit was left behind not realising there had been an order to retreat. Facing very much larger numbers of Panzer Grenadiers they had a couple of Brens but knew they needed even more fire power against a mass all out attack. Collecting Brens and ammunition from dead comrades they put down such a murderous rate of fire that they held off the German troops, inflicting substantial casualties until with only a few allied soldiers left and vanishing ammo they themselves withdrew.
As I was watching this video in 2020, I was remembering this exact same story! I first heard it from one of the survivors a few years ago in one of those remembrance programmes on TV. What are the chances?
Note about the tripod. The 3 legs articulate around a single metal threaded pin, effectively a bolt with a bend in it. That allowed for fast deployment and was good on uneven terrain. After the war was over, the design was adapted into a medium to heavy weight camera tripod, and you can still buy them new from a company called “Benbo” which is short for “ Bent Bolt”. Much loved by seashore wildlife photographers, the legs are telescopic and the bottom half slides over the top half, not the other way round, so salt water does not get into the cylinder.
Me ol china plate, as a cadet I ended up as LMG gunner with an old bren. Years later as Airborne assault I experienced it in 7.62 straight mag. I always loved this weapon. Thanks for the great vid. Dave
Where the Royal Navy has the field gun race, in the cadets in the early 80's we had the Bren gun race and seeing you strip that thing down Ian, that really brought back memories, very happy days. Thank you.
Same here Dennis. Fortunate to be able to fire the Bren at Singleton in the early 1960's. Very accurate on the pop up targets to 200 metres and demolishes targets and fence posts at 300 plus metres.
I like that tripod that converts to an AA mount. Very clever. You can tell that it was a successful design as it lasted in service w-a-y beyond it's contemporaries.
Both , in training as an alternative weapon AWT & the 7.62mm LMG was available for use in Northern Ireland when I was on tour there. I would say because it is very accurate , heavier firepower that won't hit innocent parties.
In service with quite a few units - as Sappers my Regt had four per troop (for mounting on each of our sections FV432's) until 1991 when we swapped our SLR and LMG for the SA80 and LSW - we still retained out three GPMG's for our Spartans though.
My Great uncle spent his whole adult life with this gun. His first BREN was left, along with its universal carrier on the beach at Dunkirk. He went on to fight with his 'BREN gun carrier' all through Egypt and Tunisia against the Afrika corp, then the landings into Italy before being recalled to England for the D-day landings, where he was killed on D-day plus 4 when he was assaulting the SS panzer corp south of Bayer, on the push to take Caen. From a 18 year old private to a 24 year old Sergeant he was never far from his BREN. My personal hero and great Uncle I never got to meet.
I did my army training on the 7.62mm converted Bren is 1964and came out as a skilled handler. Part of the test was a barrel change for which (from memory) we were allowed 12-14 seconds. Adjusting the gas ring (using the tip of a live 7.62 round) was also part of the test and had to be done in under 10seconds. One thing about the Bren, however, was its weight - not something you'd want to hump around all day. As Brian Hunter says below, there was always a number 2 man on the Bren. At the end of my training the GPMG started to come into service and for the Bren its days were numbered.
Back in the 70s my high school ran an army cadet battalion We were supported by the army reserves and regular army reserve suport group We used the bren lmgs 3 times a year at range days The units we used were of second world war manufacture i forget the exact years Never had any problem's or stoppages except when the mags weren't loaded properly Very accurate With the brens our targets were balloons tied to stakes on the 100 yard butts As a regular shooter i enjoyed an advantage over a lot of other cadets and took great satisfaction in poping other balloons as well My last year in cadets the reservists supplied 2 m60 gmps These had been heavily used quiet possibly Vietnam and we had so many stoppages we didn't want to use them Could I suggest a forgotten weapons episode on the F1 aussie submachine gun Love the channel
The title of the show makes me smile, if only my old Dad was still here to see it...” Forgotten!? What do you mean forgotten !? “ and proceeds to tell loads of Bren stories from Salisbury Plain 1942 to Germany 1945. Both gone but never to be forgotten. Here’s a favourite story of dad’s : After the surrender dad and a pal were off duty and out in the German countryside taking pot shots at rabbits on a hillside. A British officer in a staff car was driving by and stopped to see what was going on. After hearing dad’s explanation the officer, in the finest tones of the English public schoolboy, spluttered “ Sergeant, one does not shoot wabbits with a fucking Sten gun ! “ and promptly drove away. Dad loved telling that one! I still have his diaries from turning eighteen and joining up in ‘42 through to his demob in ‘47.
My Dad, Joe Race was a Bren Gunner with the KSLI (Kings Shropshire Light Infantry), he was wounded at Anzio, February 24th, 1944. He was medically discharged after being evacuated to Algeria and bore the scars for the rest of his life.
IAN, I AM AN INDIAN, 80 YEARS OLD. I HAVE WATCHED QUITE A FEW OF YOUR VIDEOS. I LOVE GUNS BUT OUR INDIAN LAWS MAKES IT NEARLY IMPOSSIBLE TO OWN ONE, LET ALONE FIRE ONE. HOWEVER, WHEN I WAS 16 AND IN COLLEGE I HAD JOINED THE "NATIONAL CADET CORPS". IN JUST TWO YEARS, TWO PARADES A WEEK AND ONE CAMP OF 15 DAYS A YEAR, YOU MIGHT NOT BELIEVE, WHAT I HAD LEARNED ABOUT THE BREN GUN, EVEN TODAY I CAN DISASSEMBLE ONE AND REASSEMBLE ONE. BOTH THE 0.303 LEE ENFIELD RIFLE AND THE BREN GUN USING THE SAME BULLET, WERE SUPERB PIECES OF ENGINEERING AND A PLEASURE TO FIRE.
Finally I know! As a 13 year old cadet in the UK CCF I ran over miles and miles of sand dunes carrying one of these. I never got to fire it, just carry it. They are heavy by the way. We even had a cut away Bren in our armoury for lectures. As a 13 year old it didn't get better than a #4 and #8 Lee Enfield which we could shoot. What a pleasure to watch. Not as heavy as a GMPG, but I was older (and dumber) when I had to run with that ;)
This clip is from 2011. It’s extraordinary how the clips have improved since then. When we stripped and reassembled the LMG in cadet days, the barrel went in, then the receiver, then the bolt, on my the basis that an accidental discharge was impossible without the bolt. The LMG, the 7.62 Bren cousin, as I recall was clean and simple and very accurate on the range.
I was trained to use this weapon. We were taught to fire bursts of three rounds. Probably the most accurate LMG ever produced. A lovely weapon and loved by all those that used it. Wish I owned one....
Very true, but firing single rounds on automatic required a very light touch. We had a near calamity in 1961 at Rhyl when live ammunition was drawn in lieu of blanks for a 'not the way to do it ' demonstration for the CCF, only averted by a casual remark by one of the two gunners who had been instructed to shoot at each other firing from the hip at short range. This was known as the 'Audie Murphy Method' probably unjustly.
Ironically, the tripod mounted Bren was generally considered too accurate by the British military. The bipod was usually preferred because it produced a beaten area that was more likely to result in the maximum number of enemy casualties. Small groups look great at the range but in combat experience tells us you only have to kill an enemy soldier once.
Great to see the Bren gun again.I used it the British Army during the early 1970's. Loved it. We never expected to need to change the barrel we never carried that many rounds. Great at longer ranges, never let me down. Thanks.
My old man was RN but served in combined ops with no4 Commando the Bren was very popular for light support in house clearing. one Bren in support one Tommy gun and two Enfields with grenades seemed to be the most popular arrangement.in the mob he was attached to
I did my Basic Training in 1980, the Bren was what we trained on for the LMG roll. If you made a mistake you had to run around the training area holding the Bren above your head. Great accurate weapon
It's so nice seeing the Bren again, I first fired it when my father who was a weapons instructor in the RAF Regiment took me together with his trainees for a day shooting,about 1964. I also fired the Sten and Stirling the same day. Thanks for the video
I had the honour to use this beautiful weapon whilst serving in H.M. Forces (British Army) in the late 1970's up until the mid 1980's. Throughout it's service in all three branches (British Army. Royal Navy and Royal Air Force) it was known as the " Most Accurate " weapon in service for all of the years that we had the luck to come across this marvelous gem of a gun and put it to use for the freedom and well-being of millions upon millions of people worldwide. I'ts been through so many battles over the years, but kept on producing the goods (hardly any faults, even under sustained heavy fire and use) by defending it's operators. their fellow troops and many, many innocent civilians. Although you have shown it as a forgotten weapon, I can guarantee that anyone who has used a Bren Gun will never forget it as we all hold it dear to our hearts, for as long as we live.
This most excellent gun does not belong in a presentation entitled "Forgotten Weapons." I fired these guns during my service training, and also previously when I was in the Cadets at High School. Trust me, no serviceman who used a Bren Gun ever "forgot" it.
Hi Jason X, I was told a story in my younger days about the Bren from somone who knew the gun, an ex WO. He said that when they first tested the bren down range onto a target at 100 yards, they couldn't understand why there was only one hole in the target. They had another go (full mag by the way) and same result. They then realised that mounted fixed, it was too accurate, with all the rounds through the same hole. The answer apparently, was to put the belling on the end of the barrel to give the rounds some spin on exit. True or not I don't know, but makes sense.
@@cdkmonkey2699 wtf? It's Czech designed made by British. But one Google search can fix that. So how ignorant do you have to be to say such a stupid statement?
Takes me back to cadet days, we fired at Niagara-on-the-Lake with a reserve unit that had an original .303 Bren, Long Branch arsenal, that piece of kit was still deadly accurate 30 years after the war.
There is a scene in the British film Carry On Seargent, where Bob Monkhouse is asked during a lecture where he hasn't been paying attention, to reassemble a BREN. He then does it fast and perfectly, but admits 'I worked at the place that built them'. He actaully did work at BSA for a time.
the British Empire & then the commonwealth used these for years, I joined a Scottish regiment in Newzealand in 1997, the bren had been replaced the year before by the GPMG. (also my mess tin had made in sheffield 1937 stamped on it lol)
Biggest 23 I joined the Australian Army in 1988. We still had Brens...and my field cutlery set was stamped 1942 lol. We initially trained on the SLR and after Kapooka we got Austeyrs...sad I preferred the SLR
As a Royal Marine we used to do 1000 yard Run Downs with the Bren, that was a bit knackering, especially over a pebble beach. We would also set it up to fire on fixed lines at night , with every 5 th Round being a Tracer. It was fascinating to lay alongside it and press that trigger, knowing that nothing would be coming across that road junction. At first it was .303, but later adapted to 7.62, which then made it more capable to our needs, but then the GPMG came in.
To strip the Bren gun correctly. It is in order of: piston, barrel, butt, body bi-pod. I learned to fire and maintain this weapon when I was 14 years old. I served in the Australian Army for 25 years, and still remember the sequence for striping today. I am now 68 years old.
Sweettooth37 You are wrong the Vertical magazine meant that the spring wasn't fighting against gravity to feed rounds, gravity in fact helped, thus it was WAY more reliable than the usual "up" feeding (bottom mounted) magazines, with later rimless 7.62mmm NATO round the Bren was incredibly reliable It also, kind of like the Sten/Sterling meant you weren't bothered by lying down, height from ground under you. The Bren's offset sights were set at side and are *easy* to use when lying down, you also get less of the glare/dust etc as you would with sights directly over the barrel. And crucially, it made magazine changes extremely fast, 2 or 3 seconds people complaining about belt feed is better note the overheating issue, mag changes help ease that out and in later years the Bren would take British S.L.R. (UK's version of the FN FAL) 20 round magazines as well as it's own 30 round magazines, so entire squad could support it. They should never have gotten rid of the Bren, just update it, the replacement was a piece of crap and belt feeds just too damn heavy/awkward to have many of them. My 2 pennies ;)
We used this in the Royal Marines longer than the Army as we used it in arctic Norway on our regular winter deployments due to it being mag and not belt fed. We also carried it in the Falkands and perhaps this was its last operational use in 1982. A fine weapon. The 30 round mag also fitted on our SLR.
Sorry Chris, I carried one on a tour in 1988, I loved it! You can't beat it. The UDR had a mount for it for the IWS but my weapon didn't have one. The 30rd mag theoretically could be used for the SLR but the mag had a "W" spring as is was supposed to be gravity assisted. The lads in the Paras had a SLR mag spring welded to a smaller "W" spring for the LMG(Bren) which looked quite effective. The only snag was it was TOO accurate for a section weapon but I never cared, you never missed with one of these. Best bit of kit I used in the Army. If you had a section with one of these and a "Gimpy" you had quite a bit of firepower. Apparently they used the barrel for the sniper rifle(the one before the Accuracy International) because it was that accurate and heavy enough.
@@chrissheppard5068 Sorry mate, I wasn't trying for a bit of "one upmanship", I joined in1986 so I'm a little bit after you and most of my mates were bootys. Not bad for a percy eh?
Finest LMG ever, both my Father and my late Uncle were Bren Gunners, my Uncle was a Chindit and he and his muckers loved it and he said he owed his life to its reliability. Outstanding engineering and highly accurate. Thanks for sharing. All the best from Scotland. Garry
I just watched the Seige of Jadotville where 150 Irish Army Rangers defeated a force of 3000. In it the Bren was used to take out a guy at 1000 yards and 7sed successfully to take down an aeroplane.... l was lucky enough to use one on a range in '79. An awesome weapon and the fact it was used for over 50 years and is still manufactured in India tella everyone all you need to know about it.
I fired a bren when I was a boy in the '60's. A family friend served with the Cape Breton Highlanders, and smuggled one home- don't ask me how! It will chew the living shit out of a fence post, right some jeezly quick!
I got to fire a Bren when I was 14 years old and in my high school's Army Cadet group. It was still in use by the Canadian Reserves and Militia in the mid 60s. The bolt is so heavy that the gun has more kick forward then backward and will walk away from you on a bipod. Damn accurate, but ultimately too accurate, its cone of fire was too small for a machine gun.
Well I have just viewed the Lewis and the Bren and very much enjoyed what you offered, so my thanks. No doubt I will have lots more to view so please keep them coming.
During the 70s I worked at RSAF Enfield for QAD(LW). In that time I proofed, inspected and test fired 100s of the 7.62mm version of the BREN. It was an extremely reliable weapon, well made and, once it was closed, very resistant to stoppages from ingress of dirt and muck. Because of its accuracy in earlier versions, tolerances of barrel dimensions were opened very slightly to give a bigger group, however the weapon retained very good accuracy - almost an automatic rifle.
In the early 1970's I was trained on a Brengun in it's later form known in the British army as the LMG. Chambered to 7.62 NATO it was, in effect, the same weapon. It was in standard use by non-infantry/armoured units with a 30 round mag. And because of it's standard NATO cal. it was possable to use SLR (FN) 20 round rifle mags on it. I truly enjoyed using this weapon. Single shot it was more accurate than the rifle. I was saddened when they finally took it out of service in the late 80's
Good catch of the gas piston and bolt assembly when you stripped the guts out Ian, maybe next time you might want to allow the working parts forward under control before disassembly, that way you don't have to worry about them flying across the range propelled by the recoil spring. Been 29 years since I last handled this Bren and even I know that. The weapon actually had inaccuracy built into it to allow the rounds to spread and give a beaten zone, when it was initially trialled it was deemed too accurate and the War Ministry wanted it to be an area effect weapon. One of the best weapons I ever fired and the recoil more comfortable than the Enfield No.4 rifle.
I first learnt how to strip and fire the Bren when I was 13 years old as a cadet at school; some 70 years ago. It really is very easy to strip, also easy to clear stoppages, no problem to shoot and keep on target but a bit on the heavy side for teenagers. I seem to remember there was a gas control port to compensate for sub standard ammo. The large pin.securing the receiver to the but is the “body locking pin” or maidens delight ( very risqué for 13 yr old). Later marks had a different rear sight, which was easier to adjust. The Bren was still in use with the British army during the first gulf war, chambered for 7.62 NATO, according to my late son-in-law. I very much enjoy your channel Ian and hope you find and your subscribers find it of interest.
I met the armourers who brought the Bren into service at Fort Houmet ranges Guernsey on holliday years afterwards.They said they had made the parabola of the bursts to fall as a cone of fire around 400 to 600yds to hit anybody therein.They were very proud of their fine work .The Bren was probably the best L.M.G. ever made ,extremely accurate in the right hands.It served untill relatively recently as a front line weapon.
Normally when people ask questions like this I can't answer, because I can't usually predict when I will get my hands on a particular gun. But I actually own a Vickers myself, and have been planning to make a video on it for a while. I should have it done within the next 2 months (even though I own it, it's still a bit of a hassle to drag all its accoutrements out to the range).,.
The Nambu LMGs look like the Bren, but function differently. I do have one sourced that I plan to use for a compare-and-contrast with a Bren at some point.
A Rolls Royce of an LMG. My father landed on D-Day armed with one of these and his respect for this weapon was immense. To put the record straight, the British Bren gun operator did have a number 2 who carried extra magazines etc. Unfortunately, my dad's number 2 was killed immediately after landing at Queen beach on D-Day. My father lost sight of him when they hit the beach - and never see him again after that. The next time he was close to him was when he was standing over the man's grave in France when he and I journeyed back there in 1989. A very emotional experience for him and me too. R.I.P. Cpl Stares. And R.I.P. to my dad. x
Brian Hunter so was he the platoon gunner and did the other guys really value the gun so much that they each carried an extra mag or two as some say?
God bless your dad.I had relatives who landed with the Cameron Highlanders and Gordon Highlanders.They didnt make it.
Brian Hunter My Clan lost 4sons that war
I feel for you my friend.
+Brian Hunter wouldnt it have been @Gold, Juno or Sword beach that he landed at in 45?
IMO, a top mounted magazine is preferable to a side-mounted one, especially on an LMG. Top-mounting aids feeding and ejection, and doesn't unbalance the weapon the way a 30-round mag of rifle ammo on the side would.
True. Then those pesky belt fed GPMGs came along and ruined it for everyone.
@@adzthesaint should’ve gone with Stoner 63
The Bren was the first LMG I ever fired, at 15 years of age, as a Royal Canadian Army Cadet.
It's a very stable weapon, and unlike some, it's recoil will actually pull the weapon forward, and not give a punishing rearward kick like the FNC1A1. Later, as an instructor, we always had the gunner dig his toes into the ground to help hold the weapon back. There were cases of lightweights actually being pulled forward as he fired.
Quick bursts of 3 to 4 rounds were the norm, and accomplished by a very quick utterance of SOB as you quickly squeezed and released the trigger.
The mags held 30 rounds of .303 rimmed ammo that must be loaded with each successive round's rim ahead of the last, otherwise it would jam.
You only loaded 28 rounds into the mag because using the full 30 gave excessive magazine spring compression, and could lead to an immediate jam at a most inopportune time.
There were 2 IA's or Immediate Actions.
First IA was to change mags.
Second IA was to release the barrel and slide it forward, and using the head of a round, use it to turn the gas regulator to the next larger hole, to ensure that carbon deposits hadn't jammed the hole and was preventing the recocking and reloading of the next round.
As I said, I first learned this, at 15 years of age, and then later became an instructor. To this day, I can still recite all of the specs for that weapon, including such things as the weight of filled mags, 2/34 pounds, and gun weight, 19 pounds.
I'm now 2 months short of 77. It kind of sticks with you. lol
Thank you for your service mate.
You always get cool tidbits of personal history on these kind of channels, thanks for sharing, very interesting for a young 24 year old lol.
Thanks for sharing :)
We got to fire them here in New Zealand in the fifth form in High School after the 303 it was great to be pulled forward instead of having a badly bruised shoulder. The stripping reminded me of that we had to do this blindfolded.
The best of British Czechnology.
2 years later you made my day!
I'm going to be chuckling about that for a while
THEfamouspolka me too
Vz.26....construction Vaclav Holek.
Why invent the wheel
The Brits really did improve it. The original wasn't that good.
The Bren was finally axed from British Army service in 2006. Not a bad record... And its still in production in India
I was talking to guys in indian army ..(.here we call it LMG.) Why are still using it ...they said its very accurate you can practicality empty whole mag into a window from 100 mts....which is very important in fighting in urban area that also 7.62 mm..
A lot of them were converted to 7.62 NATO and had strait mags
@@fredriley8959 thats the one im talking about
Ruined the menacing look of them a bit.
I was trained on this around the same time here in Ireland in the reserves, i think it was the last year it was in service here as well. There were plenty of jokes about its age but truth be told we freakin' loved the thing.
I used the Bren when I was in the Irish Reserve in 80's. On a firing range in Cork there were over 20 Bren's firing at the same time. An awesome sight and sound
Eight years man. It’s been a long time, and to be certain, camera quality has come quite a long way.
8 years used to be a lifetime, another world
Now its a blink of an eye
I love how the intro effects are straight from a 90s PBS documentary.
Content is still first rate. As always.
And the wind noise has gone down
Hi Ian, there was also a 100 round drum magazine also, often used in the vehicle pintle mount. Very effective to fire from the "hip assault position". In 1996 at the ANZAC Day celebration in the Sergeants Mess, I watched a 70 year old WW2 veteran strip the BREN in 12 second blind folded, with a gap of fifty years since he last handled the BREN. His only comment, "My sergeant would have kick my arse for being so slow, I used to do this in 9 seconds." Thousands of repetition training drills stores the physical action in your brain forever. The L4a1 is the 7.62mm NATO version. Thanks Greg
+Greg Summers I have some video of the Bren drums. They are really finicky.
+Forgotten Weapons it looks like the type 99 with the mag on top of it
And that's why it weighs 20+ lb. Designed and built properly to withstand the daily use & abuse of men using it.
Andy Elkins there is a difference between the Type 99 and Bren, one won the war and the other didn't.
Greg Summers That reference doe
In the Army Cadets we were awarded a shoulder badge for stripping a Bren blindfold in under a minute. (The true contest was sub-10-second, though.) It was a huge honour to be permitted to fire the thing. I remember the crack-crack-crack of rounds passing over my head in the target butts, closely followed by the chug-chug-chug of the muzzle reports. Hair-raisingly, we used it loaded with wooden bullets on live exercises: the wooden bullet created enough gas pressure to operate the action, and was smashed by a baffle mounted on the end of the barrel. From memory the wooden ball was coloured purple, to distinguish it from jacketed ball. We actually fired at each other at fairly close range using this arrangement. God only know what would have happened if the bullet masher had fallen off or if someone had loaded the thing with live ammo by mistake. A light and very accurate gun, tough as hell, easy to maintain and use. The only drawback was that the barrel would overheat after a couple of magazines and the accuracy could then become erratic. You learned to be very careful about which parts of it you touched when it was hot. An excellent video - thank you for rekindling old memories.
Tim de F I will always remember Carry on Sergeant, which has a scene where Bob Monkhouse has to strip and then reassemble a Bren - it's not something you see every day.
+Tim de F By the time I was in the cadets the Bren was unfortently long gone, however did get to have a go with an L86 lmg suppose it's a strange/interesting gun like the Bren. Quite the upgrade from the Lee Enfield no.4 chambered in .22 I trained with.
+Tim de F Can't remember doing it blindfolded in the cadets. But I do remember we did speed stripping, reassembly, and firing at the range. Literally you stripped it down. 4-5 seconds was normal for speed. We did leave the regulator in for this I remember. You then reassembled and had to get a round on target. Anywhere between 30 -45 seconds was great, but under a minute all up was considered a pass. IA drills at the range were fun too. What to do when the gun stops firing.
This guy does some great videos but he's clearly never handled a Bren before this shoot.
A fair few of the carry on cast had military service during or post war i believe that Monkhouse had both
If only Faxon could makes some stress relieved barrels for brens/L4 conversions, &/or similar modern production standards and processes applied to this excellent LMG design for a revised improved L4**-LMG-ISW - keep the GPMG as a HMG.
|I have seen many comments regarding the magazine capacity of the Bren , its primary use was designated as a section support weapon an Infantry section consisting of 6-7 riflemen a gunner and his assistant. their job was to provide fire support to the section and the recommended method was 3-4 round bursts we were taught to say " fish and chips " to time the burst mobility and ease of use were the Brens strengths .
The mag only held 28-303, jam 30 in it and it would not function. The 7.62 mags held 30.
My grandad was issued a Bren LMG during his National Service (deployed to Berlin and Hong Kong in the 1950s).
He said if you were shooting at a brick wall, you could knock out individual bricks. It was that precise
Many years ago, I knew an old guy Named Tom who served as a Bren gunner during the Korean War. He told us that the Chinese troops would try to get them to fire so much that the first barrel wouldn't have cooled sufficiently by the time the second barrel overheated, and when the Chinese judged that they had two hot barrels they would charge the Bren's position.
What they didn't know was that Tom & his sideman had "acquired" (I.E. stolen, in the finest tradition of the British Army ;) a THIRD barrel, whose weight they cursed when lugging the Bren around, but Tom said he owed his life to it, as it gave a number of Chinese a final & permanent surprise. I think he regarded the extra barrel as a form of rather dark practical joke.
Kevin McAspurn having had the 7.62. Variant as my personal weapon during the 80s you can also piss on the barrels to cool them! Bugger of a stink but it would save your life!!
Bet they were glad they lugged that sucker around after that!!!
Old guy Geordie Brown at my work told me that the spare barrel was quite good for caving in a chinamans head as well. Quitest nicest and most honest guy I have ever met. I was very suprised by that story.
Mac 73 the old guys were classy and quiet but often hard as hell. Never underestimate the quiet guy
Gary Mitchell . Never heard of military intelligence mate. Do you honesty believe that the Chinese wouldn't have studied captured weapons or fallen enemy soldiers. One of the oldest civilizations on earth have remained through using their brains , not shooting off their mouth.
My grandfather served with the Canadian Commando's from 39 to 46 and he used this very gun for all 7 years of his service
Bet he was built like a brick shithouse
@@iatsd yeah that was my bad, I meant to type out Paratrooper not Commando. Proof reading isnt my strong suit
My great uncle was the English version for the same period. Hip fired mostly. RIP Arthur you were a real one
my grandfather carried one of these during ww2. he couldnt say enough good things about it.
What about the weight?
I like the doctrine of British grunts having at least two Bren mags on them to help the gunner lay down the hate on the enemy.
I was with the ADF in the 80's and our main platoon firepower was the M-60 GPMG, it was mandate at the time in our unit for all platoon members to carry 100 or 200 rounds each for the gun along with their own 140 rounds for their SLR, depending on the mission, so about 25 to 30 troops would haul between 2,500 to 6,000 rounds for the M-60.
czcams.com/video/LLd0Px2Q8E0/video.html
Think they did the same in WW1 with the lewis.
My Grandad who has now passed away he was a Bren Gunner in the British Army and thought in Burma and at Normandy was great to see his gun in action. He never did speak about the Wars he didn't have too as you could tell by his eyes the things that he must have seen I would never want to see. Cheers Grandad always looking down to guide me ;)
As mine was too also a Bren Gunner. I joined the RAF in 1984 and also used one (as the 7.62 mm LMG, but was stamped BREN 1942)
That is one of the *coolest* guns in history.
Warms me that it is Czech.
Thanks for the excellent Bren demonstration . I trained and used the Bren 53 years ago ! when I was in the British Territorial Army (almost equivalent of US National Guard ) .I seem to remember there was some times a need to change the size of the gas hole found at the Bi pod end .This could be done by using the bullet end of a 303 round as a wrench .One summer day about twenty of us were laying in a circle and in the middle was a Bren .Our instructor an Irish Sargent started the demo by saying " This is is the Bren Light machine gun , It IS the finest light machine gun in the world , It has a 30 round box magazine and a handle on the side " fur ter cock it with " so saying he then kicked the cocking handle to the rear with his boot ! . In the late 1970s I was in the Rhodesian army and came across the Bren gun again . still in use on active service .This time re chambered for the 7.62 NATO round .
stormywindmill aye the gas regulator is adjusted with the tip of a round. Genius.
Piston Barrel Butt body by pod you can piss on the barrel but not on the bloody by pod Dis mantel order Piston removed to the right replaced to the left to even spring wear
It's good to see my BREN again. In 1975-1976 I was assigned as a conscription infantry sergeant with a territorial unit in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. My unit was the successor of the KNIL or the Royal Dutch East Indies Army, a colonial armed force in what is now Indonesia. We had the weapons of the KNIL, including Browning High Power pistol, Garand M1 rifle, M1 Springfield carbine, 2 "infantry mortar and the Bren machine gun. In December 1975 we still had far too much ammunition left and that ammunition had to be used up. At the infantry shooting range Harskamp, our Sergeant-Major had a nice idea .. 4 men, each with a Bren at a shooting point at 300m from the bullet trap. The rest of two infantry groups had to fill the containers, 5 normal rounds and then 1 tracer round untill full. You understand that It turned out to be a party. This time we were allowed to shoot from the hip. It turned out to be quite possible to hit the target in this way, actually to my surprise. Oh yes our sergeant major had fought with the KNIL in the Indonesian jungle with the Bren and knew exactly what could and could not be done. By thinking of it I have a big smile on my face.
My Dad drove a Bren Gun Carrier in 1949 during the Malaya Emergency. A type of mini tank with a Bren strapped to the front! He had utmost respect for it's accuracy and power.
My old mate talks about his Bren more than his wife and kids. He's nearly 90. He wants to be buried with one.
Sure, there are pros and cons both to top-mounted magazines, but they were used by more than just a few guns, and by some pretty good ones. The ZB/Bren series was one of the most successful and popular LMGs ever made. The Madsen was another very long-lived gun, and the Nambu was limited in scope but a quite good gun as well.
Was a crew serviced weapon. No 1 and No 2. No 2 carried spare ammo in Boxes plus own weapon. Change empty mags and also the barrel when required. Fired this 303 in training and also the 7.62 version when posted to regiment.Loved it and it was my favorite weapon.
The lack of changeable barrels was a major hindrance to the BAR, since it prevented the gun from being effectively used for sustained fire. Any air-cooled gun will eventually overheat, and swapping barrels allows you to keep shooting. As for AA fire, everything was used in this role at one point or another - I have more than a few photos of men using bolt action rifles to shoot at aircraft.
And here I was, going along, appreciating all the comments that didn't compare a machine gun to an assault weapon ...
.
@@BobSmith-dk8nw the BAR is an LMG
@@krakenburger56 Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! _Browning _*_Automatic Rifle_* ... not machine gun. If you want to be stupid about that - I can't stop you but just because it was USED as a light machine gun - doesn't mean it was one.
For example - you can use a monkey wrench as a hammer (and I have) - but - that doesn't mean it IS a hammer.
.
@@BobSmith-dk8nw first of all, if you are one of those people who think AR stands for Automatic Rifle it doesnt. It stands for Armalite. The definition of the term Automatic rifle is a self loading rifle capable of automatic fire. Second of all, "As a heavy automatic rifle *designed for support fire* , the M1917 was not fitted with a bayonet mount and no bayonet was ever issued"
Finally, "For its day, though, it was a brilliant design produced in record time by John Browning, and it was bought and used by many countries around the world. It was a standard *squad light automatic* of the U.S. infantry during World War II, and saw use in every theatre of war."
@@krakenburger56 Uh ... no. The "AR" in BAR - stands for Automatic Rifle ... not Armalite. Where the hell did you come up with that? If you are thinking of the AR-15 (which became the M-16) or AR-18 - those are completely different weapons.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ArmaLite_AR-18#Background
It was NOT designed for Support Fire - it was designed to go in with the assaulting troops. Thus all the mention of the tactic of using "walking fire" which was one method of assault, other methods including "fire and movement".
Also - the BAR was the M1918 - not the M1917 - that was a water cooled machine gun.
And - the correct method of using quotes - is to use the quote and THEN cite it's source. As in:
"The BAR was designed to be carried by infantrymen during an assault ... advance while supported by the sling over the shoulder, or to be fired from the hip. This is a concept called "walking fire"-thought to be necessary for the individual soldier during trench warfare."
"The stock rest was dropped from production in 1942, while the M1918A2's bipod and flash hider were often discarded by individual soldiers and Marines to save weight and improve portability, particularly in the Pacific Theater of war. ... With these modifications, the BAR effectively reverted to its original role as a portable, shoulder-fired automatic rifle."
Both quotes are from he following article.
"M1918 Browning Automatic Rifle"
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M1918_Browning_Automatic_Rifle
Ha! Ha! Are you a troll? You are either and idiot or a troll - take your pick.
.
I'm traveling from the future, back to Ye Olde CZcams days to early Gun Jesus videos, and the editing on this one makes me nostalgic for a simpler time, with bad audio, random female voices, and odd cuts.
tehanteh I was thinking the exact same thing as I watched this ‘early work’ a minute ago
a random female voice telling him what to do.
Yeah - the receiver alone started as a 38.5 pound block of steel and took 247 machining operations to complete.
My grandad served with the Duke Of Cornwalls Light Infantry 2nd Battalion,,seeing action at Dunkirk,North Africa and Monte Cassino in Italy during WW2.He carried and used the bren gun during his service and told me it was a fantastic weapon.He was a brave man indeed,sadly no longer with us,R.I.P.
yeah he fought for what he thought he was fighting against, that's really sad
Lol, we always watch the same videos, it appears.
ThuleanPerspective: They can be blamed for NOTHING! They defended democracy and helped to protect us from right wing extremism. I gather that you thing that was a bad thing so I am not surprised at your comment. Fortunately, people like you are in a minority..
Tyke - One of those was my personal weapon when I was assigned to my Pl after basic, instead of the SMG; we had them until 1993 in the RMP(v) (that's the Royal Military Police in the British Territorial Army, the British Army's volunteer reserve, a bit like the US National Guard in several respects) - I was our Armoury Storesman when we changed to the L85/L86 (two crates from the LonDist arsenal, one bedford truck, and two full-crewed landies as escort. Those were the days!) It was a very sorry day when we back-loaded them.
Regarding over-accuracy: Spot on, literally. One of the weird things was indeed the accuracy - no beaten zone to speak of, so you were told to "shuffle it around a bit" when on automatic. And controlling the burst size was easy - very low RoF for an LMG. One really odd thing I remember was that prone, you had to 'lean back', that is, pull the weapon back on its' bipod, or it'd fold up, resulting in the barrel eating the ground. Not good, especially if the RSM was looking in!
Ian - thanks for posting, good site, good vids, keep it up!
Lmg was not that accurate you normaly shot two figure twelves side by side the bren would do fist sized holes I shot literally thousands of rounds in the 80s in 7.62 you had to push into it the bipod only folds when you push the legs together and fold them forwards
One of the finest and most accurate LMG’s ever designed, Cheers 🍻!
I am in awe of the Bren. Not because of its ability as a LMG, but because it was used by the soldiers of the British Army. I have been fortunate enough enough to shoot clays in England with many soldiers who served with the British Army in many theatres during WW2, and as a warrior creed they are second to none. The Bren was one of thier weapons.
Britain needs men like them now.
When I served up-country in Aden there was a young chap called Bowyer who was 18 years oldbut built like a brick outhouse. His post on guard a sanger on the perimeter of the gun battery. It was very reassuring to hear him 'double tapping' with the Bren whenever we were attacked... You brought back memories - thank you!
I missed the bren in the Irish army when they replaced it with the fn mag. The bren had exceptional accuracy at any distance and we used it as a sniper role very often.
Tomas Kelly I saw that in the excellent movie, "The siege of Jardotville" about a company of your fellow Irish soldiers.
IiRC, the reserves used it 'til 2005.
Tomas Kelly at least it was replaced with another outstanding machine Gun, I would love to one day fire a Bren gun.
The accuracy was one of the reason it wasn’t used as a section machine gun in Australia. As an area weapon the beaten zone was too small.
The Holek brothers had the advantage of a decade's more experience when they designed the ZB (which became the Bren), while Browning was breaking new ground in many ways. The evolution of the BAR (into the FN model D) made it a far better gun, but the US military decided to stick to the old version.
As for .30-06 versus .303, it's totally irrelevant in this context. They both do the job just fine.
I served in the Australian Army from 77-86 as infantry and we still had L4A4 7.62 Bren's on loadout for no1 riflemen for additional firepower. On single shot they were almost as accurate as the SLRs and produced confusion for enemy groups expecting an MG on the opposite flank. At times the Been was a little too accurate as an MG requiring a wiggle of the weapon to give a better spread of the beaten zone. A great weapon with a long service record.
I think the Brits had some in the Falkland Island War.
Yes , it was used by the British army in N.Ireland, The Falklands and it was still being used during the first "Gulf war" in 1991 along with the "Gimpy" (G.P.M.G.).
I trained with Bren Guns and .303 Lee Enfield Service Rifle.
Superb weapons - rugged and accurate.
The British army was still using the Bren up until the mid to late 80’s, was recalibrated to 7.62mm I only ever carried it in Northern Ireland on patrols.
I've had the pleasure of shooting the Bren gun and its a brilliant British LMG!
Great video. In my day in the Army we used an FN variant as an LMG, the Canadian FN C2. Only got to fire the Bren once-a local cadet corp had a Mark Two and I was helping on the range. It was a sweet shoot. My dad was a Bren Gunner with the 1st Canadian Parachute BN in WW2, so having the opportunity to handle one was a privilege.
My dad operated a Bren on D-Day also. He was a paratrooper in the 6th Airborne, and was part of the attack force on the Merville Gun emplacement. I'm writing about it RIGHT NOW , listening to this post!
In 1954 I was called up for National Service but signed up for 5 years in the R.A.F., during basic training we were introduced to the Lee Enfield .303 rifle and the Beaut Bren Gun, we were trained on the Bren Gun as a two man crew, No 1 fired the Bren and removed the empty Mag while the No 2 laid up the left side and fitted full Mags, also the No 2 was responsible for adjust the four position Gas Valve in the event of a stoppage, the gas external adjustment slots on the gas valve were just the right width to enable adjustment by inserting projectile (Bullet) of a round into the valve slot and turning the Gas Valve.
Apparently the early Bren Guns were fitted with semi circular Butt Plate that fitted into the shoulder,but were soon discarded as it was found that the Butt Plate was too restrictive and unnecessary as the Bren had virtually no recoil. The Bren was a bit heavy to hump around but the Webbing strap fitted to the front and back strap points made it easier to hump also the strap could be adjusted for firing from the hip as in Jungle Warfare.
Very accurate and a pleasure to fire and was easy to maintain.
We were issued these when I was an army cadet on the early '60s, it was really exciting when we got to fire it on range days.
Got to fire one of those, the Australian army kept a stock of them until the early 90's....I found it very accurate and one of the cool things was you could interchange magazines with the L1A1 SLR rifle....
...once it had been converted to 7.62 rimless!
Back in 1967/68 our cadet unit was still using the Bren. The magazine got hot so it was removed by smacking it forward. Sleeves were always rolled up to above the elbow to avoid the hot shell shuffle. The order of stripping was barrel, bi-pod, body pin, butt, and piston. There were 4 stoppages, overheated barrel, magazine jam due to the rimmed .303 cartridge, closed ejection port, and blocked gas regulator. The body pin was pushed out using the point of a .303 round. It was funny how it walked away from you when you fired it. A wonderful weapon and possibly too accurate for a machine gun.
I served in a British Army infantry regiment of the line during the Cold War and being a Corporal was in charge of the three man Bren gun team within the infantry section of ten men total. Being a reasonable rifle shot I was considered quite good with the Bren. Each member of the ten man section carried four magazines, two in each pouch of 30 rounds totalling 1200 rounds. It was a good reliable weapon as long as it was keep reasonable clean but importantly the ammunition also otherwise separated cases would be a problem. My only slight criticism would be that the rate of fire of 600 rounds per minute could have been a bit greater. But the standard at the time on automatic was short bursts of 2 to 3 rounds, which did maintain good accuracy. Larger bursts could be very accurate if the bipod was held firm to the ground or on the fixed lines tripod. Happy days!
A truly excellent gun for its day. Hard wearing, quick barrel change, and you would not want to be on the end of this weapon. In the Normandy campaign a small British unit was left behind not realising there had been an order to retreat. Facing very much larger numbers of Panzer Grenadiers they had a couple of Brens but knew they needed even more fire power against a mass all out attack. Collecting Brens and ammunition from dead comrades they put down such a murderous rate of fire that they held off the German troops, inflicting substantial casualties until with only a few allied soldiers left and vanishing ammo they themselves withdrew.
what battle was this?
see movie a hill in korea to see the brens rate of fire on you tube
Kohl43, an excellent weapon full stop....reliable, accurate & portable
As I was watching this video in 2020, I was remembering this exact same story! I first heard it from one of the survivors a few years ago in one of those remembrance programmes on TV. What are the chances?
Note about the tripod. The 3 legs articulate around a single metal threaded pin, effectively a bolt with a bend in it. That allowed for fast deployment and was good on uneven terrain. After the war was over, the design was adapted into a medium to heavy weight camera tripod, and you can still buy them new from a company called “Benbo” which is short for “ Bent Bolt”. Much loved by seashore wildlife photographers, the legs are telescopic and the bottom half slides over the top half, not the other way round, so salt water does not get into the cylinder.
Me ol china plate, as a cadet I ended up as LMG gunner with an old bren. Years later as Airborne assault I experienced it in 7.62 straight mag. I always loved this weapon. Thanks for the great vid. Dave
Where the Royal Navy has the field gun race, in the cadets in the early 80's we had the Bren gun race and seeing you strip that thing down Ian, that really brought back memories, very happy days. Thank you.
A great gun. I used it as a young teenager in our school cadets here in Australia. A accurate reliable gun. Loved it.
Same here Dennis. Fortunate to be able to fire the Bren at Singleton in the early 1960's. Very accurate on the pop up targets to 200 metres and demolishes targets and fence posts at 300 plus metres.
I like that tripod that converts to an AA mount. Very clever.
You can tell that it was a successful design as it lasted in service w-a-y beyond it's contemporaries.
The Bren was modified to take NATO 7.62 ammo and served into the 1980s and was used in the Falklands War
This weapon was used into the early 90's ...used one ( British Army ) in 1992 , better than the SA80 LSW !
Was that in service or just pottering about with targets?
Both , in training as an alternative weapon AWT & the 7.62mm LMG was available for use in Northern Ireland when I was on tour there. I would say because it is very accurate , heavier firepower that won't hit innocent parties.
In service with quite a few units - as Sappers my Regt had four per troop (for mounting on each of our sections FV432's) until 1991 when we swapped our SLR and LMG for the SA80 and LSW - we still retained out three GPMG's for our Spartans though.
My Great uncle spent his whole adult life with this gun. His first BREN was left, along with its universal carrier on the beach at Dunkirk. He went on to fight with his 'BREN gun carrier' all through Egypt and Tunisia against the Afrika corp, then the landings into Italy before being recalled to England for the D-day landings, where he was killed on D-day plus 4 when he was assaulting the SS panzer corp south of Bayer, on the push to take Caen. From a 18 year old private to a 24 year old Sergeant he was never far from his BREN. My personal hero and great Uncle I never got to meet.
I did my army training on the 7.62mm converted Bren is 1964and came out as a skilled handler. Part of the test was a barrel change for which (from memory) we were allowed 12-14 seconds. Adjusting the gas ring (using the tip of a live 7.62 round) was also part of the test and had to be done in under 10seconds. One thing about the Bren, however, was its weight - not something you'd want to hump around all day. As Brian Hunter says below, there was always a number 2 man on the Bren. At the end of my training the GPMG started to come into service and for the Bren its days were numbered.
The first machine gun I trained with and shot during my army time.
It was in 7.62, but still a great gun.
Back in the 70s my high school ran an army cadet battalion
We were supported by the army reserves and regular army reserve suport group
We used the bren lmgs 3 times a year at range days
The units we used were of second world war manufacture i forget the exact years
Never had any problem's or stoppages except when the mags weren't loaded properly
Very accurate
With the brens our targets were balloons tied to stakes on the 100 yard butts
As a regular shooter i enjoyed an advantage over a lot of other cadets and took great satisfaction in poping other balloons as well
My last year in cadets the reservists supplied 2 m60 gmps
These had been heavily used quiet possibly Vietnam and we had so many stoppages we didn't want to use them
Could I suggest a forgotten weapons episode on the F1 aussie submachine gun
Love the channel
The title of the show makes me smile, if only my old Dad was still here to see it...” Forgotten!? What do you mean forgotten !? “ and proceeds to tell loads of Bren stories from Salisbury Plain 1942 to Germany 1945. Both gone but never to be forgotten. Here’s a favourite story of dad’s : After the surrender dad and a pal were off duty and out in the German countryside taking pot shots at rabbits on a hillside. A British officer in a staff car was driving by and stopped to see what was going on. After hearing dad’s explanation the officer, in the finest tones of the English public schoolboy, spluttered “ Sergeant, one does not shoot wabbits with a fucking Sten gun ! “ and promptly drove away. Dad loved telling that one! I still have his diaries from turning eighteen and joining up in ‘42 through to his demob in ‘47.
My Dad, Joe Race was a Bren Gunner with the KSLI (Kings Shropshire Light Infantry), he was wounded at Anzio, February 24th, 1944. He was medically discharged after being evacuated to Algeria and bore the scars for the rest of his life.
Bravo! Nice job, thanks for posting. Always good to hear the BREN firing. :)
I've been using an HD camera for over a year now; this is just one of my older videos.
A forgotten, Forgotten Weapons episode.
IAN, I AM AN INDIAN, 80 YEARS OLD. I HAVE WATCHED QUITE A FEW OF YOUR VIDEOS. I LOVE GUNS BUT OUR INDIAN LAWS MAKES IT NEARLY IMPOSSIBLE TO OWN ONE, LET ALONE FIRE ONE. HOWEVER, WHEN I WAS 16 AND IN COLLEGE I HAD JOINED THE "NATIONAL CADET CORPS". IN JUST TWO YEARS, TWO PARADES A WEEK AND ONE CAMP OF 15 DAYS A YEAR, YOU MIGHT NOT BELIEVE, WHAT I HAD LEARNED ABOUT THE BREN GUN, EVEN TODAY I CAN DISASSEMBLE ONE AND REASSEMBLE ONE. BOTH THE 0.303 LEE ENFIELD RIFLE AND THE BREN GUN USING THE SAME BULLET, WERE SUPERB PIECES OF ENGINEERING AND A PLEASURE TO FIRE.
Finally I know! As a 13 year old cadet in the UK CCF I ran over miles and miles of sand dunes carrying one of these. I never got to fire it, just carry it. They are heavy by the way. We even had a cut away Bren in our armoury for lectures. As a 13 year old it didn't get better than a #4 and #8 Lee Enfield which we could shoot. What a pleasure to watch. Not as heavy as a GMPG, but I was older (and dumber) when I had to run with that ;)
Fired them in army cadets in early 70s.Better LMG than the FNC2 we had in the forces.
This clip is from 2011. It’s extraordinary how the clips have improved since then.
When we stripped and reassembled the LMG in cadet days, the barrel went in, then the receiver, then the bolt, on my the basis that an accidental discharge was impossible without the bolt.
The LMG, the 7.62 Bren cousin, as I recall was clean and simple and very accurate on the range.
Correct
I made a similar comment.
I was trained to use this weapon. We were taught to fire bursts of three rounds. Probably the most accurate LMG ever produced.
A lovely weapon and loved by all those that used it. Wish I owned one....
Very true, but firing single rounds on automatic required a very light touch. We had a near calamity in 1961 at Rhyl when live ammunition was drawn in lieu of blanks for a 'not the way to do it ' demonstration for the CCF, only averted by a casual remark by one of the two gunners who had been instructed to shoot at each other firing from the hip at short range. This was known as the 'Audie Murphy Method' probably unjustly.
Ironically, the tripod mounted Bren was generally considered too accurate by the British military. The bipod was usually preferred because it produced a beaten area that was more likely to result in the maximum number of enemy casualties. Small groups look great at the range but in combat experience tells us you only have to kill an enemy soldier once.
My granddad, when talking about the Bren, always mentions how accurate it was! He liked it so its good for me!
Great to see the Bren gun again.I used it the British Army during the early 1970's. Loved it. We never expected to need to change the barrel we never carried that many rounds. Great at longer ranges, never let me down. Thanks.
You said you liked the Bren, and had a big smile on your face. Well just imagine how much fun that was for a 13 year old boy in the Army cadet force!
I carried one in the 1980's in 7.62, the L4A1. A good, reliable, accurate weapon.
My old man was RN but served in combined ops with no4 Commando the Bren was very popular for light support in house clearing. one Bren in support one Tommy gun and two Enfields with grenades seemed to be the most popular arrangement.in the mob he was attached to
And after a spell of house-clearing, the Bren gunner was excused night sentry duty. No ear protection in those days...
An amazing piece of artillery. So versatile. Never knew they existed.
I did my Basic Training in 1980, the Bren was what we trained on for the LMG roll. If you made a mistake you had to run around the training area holding the Bren above your head. Great accurate weapon
Always dreamed of having one of these.
It's so nice seeing the Bren again, I first fired it when my father who was a weapons instructor in the RAF Regiment took me together with his trainees for a day shooting,about 1964.
I also fired the Sten and Stirling the same day. Thanks for the video
I had the honour to use this beautiful weapon whilst serving in H.M. Forces (British Army) in the late 1970's up until the mid 1980's. Throughout it's service in all three branches (British Army. Royal Navy and Royal Air Force) it was known as the " Most Accurate " weapon in service for all of the years that we had the luck to come across this marvelous gem of a gun and put it to use for the freedom and well-being of millions upon millions of people worldwide. I'ts been through so many battles over the years, but kept on producing the goods (hardly any faults, even under sustained heavy fire and use) by defending it's operators. their fellow troops and many, many innocent civilians. Although you have shown it as a forgotten weapon, I can guarantee that anyone who has used a Bren Gun will never forget it as we all hold it dear to our hearts, for as long as we live.
This most excellent gun does not belong in a presentation entitled "Forgotten Weapons." I fired these guns during my service training, and also previously when I was in the Cadets at High School. Trust me, no serviceman who used a Bren Gun ever "forgot" it.
I loved the Bren!
Btw this MG (developed by Czechs) was the only weapon in history "accused" by soldiers to be "too much accurate"
Hi Jason X, I was told a story in my younger days about the Bren from somone who knew the gun, an ex WO. He said that when they first tested the bren down range onto a target at 100 yards, they couldn't understand why there was only one hole in the target. They had another go (full mag by the way) and same result. They then realised that mounted fixed, it was too accurate, with all the rounds through the same hole. The answer apparently, was to put the belling on the end of the barrel to give the rounds some spin on exit. True or not I don't know, but makes sense.
Your wrong Brit design made by cz
@@cdkmonkey2699 wtf? It's Czech designed made by British. But one Google search can fix that. So how ignorant do you have to be to say such a stupid statement?
Takes me back to cadet days, we fired at Niagara-on-the-Lake with a reserve unit that had an original .303 Bren, Long Branch arsenal, that piece of kit was still deadly accurate 30 years after the war.
There is a scene in the British film Carry On Seargent, where Bob Monkhouse is asked during a lecture where he hasn't been paying attention, to reassemble a BREN. He then does it fast and perfectly, but admits 'I worked at the place that built them'. He actaully did work at BSA for a time.
the British Empire & then the commonwealth used these for years, I joined a Scottish regiment in Newzealand in 1997, the bren had been replaced the year before by the GPMG. (also my mess tin had made in sheffield 1937 stamped on it lol)
New Zealanders don't tend throw anything out that's still doing what it was made for. Doesn't feel right.
same with us canadians. just a little earlier than that. the c6 gpmg has a lot of similarities to the BREN
There's something to be said of a provendesign, well made in quality materials.
Why try to re-invent the wheel?
My dad took part in the Gulf War in 1991 and the canteen cup they issued him said 1945 on the bottom lol
Biggest 23 I joined the Australian Army in 1988. We still had Brens...and my field cutlery set was stamped 1942 lol. We initially trained on the SLR and after Kapooka we got Austeyrs...sad I preferred the SLR
'One of the best LMG's?' Pah! The best :)
As a Royal Marine we used to do 1000 yard Run Downs with the Bren, that was a bit knackering, especially over a pebble beach. We would also set it up to fire on fixed lines at night , with every 5 th Round being a Tracer. It was fascinating to lay alongside it and press that trigger, knowing that nothing would be coming across that road junction. At first it was .303, but later adapted to 7.62, which then made it more capable to our needs, but then the GPMG came in.
To strip the Bren gun correctly. It is in order of: piston, barrel, butt, body bi-pod. I learned to fire and maintain this weapon when I was 14 years old. I served in the Australian Army for 25 years, and still remember the sequence for striping today. I am now 68 years old.
Sweettooth37 You are wrong
the Vertical magazine meant that the spring wasn't fighting against gravity to feed rounds, gravity in fact helped, thus it was WAY more reliable than the usual "up" feeding (bottom mounted) magazines, with later rimless 7.62mmm NATO round the Bren was incredibly reliable
It also, kind of like the Sten/Sterling meant you weren't bothered by lying down, height from ground under you.
The Bren's offset sights were set at side and are *easy* to use when lying down, you also get less of the glare/dust etc as you would with sights directly over the barrel.
And crucially, it made magazine changes extremely fast, 2 or 3 seconds
people complaining about belt feed is better note the overheating issue, mag changes help ease that out and in later years the Bren would take British S.L.R. (UK's version of the FN FAL) 20 round magazines as well as it's own 30 round magazines, so entire squad could support it.
They should never have gotten rid of the Bren, just update it, the replacement was a piece of crap and belt feeds just too damn heavy/awkward to have many of them.
My 2 pennies ;)
We used this in the Royal Marines longer than the Army as we used it in arctic Norway on our regular winter deployments due to it being mag and not belt fed. We also carried it in the Falkands and perhaps this was its last operational use in 1982. A fine weapon. The 30 round mag also fitted on our SLR.
chris sheppard Hi, don’t forget that the SLR mag also could be used on the Bren! Not ideal, but useful in a pinch.
Sorry Chris, I carried one on a tour in 1988, I loved it! You can't beat it. The UDR had a mount for it for the IWS but my weapon didn't have one. The 30rd mag theoretically could be used for the SLR but the mag had a "W" spring as is was supposed to be gravity assisted. The lads in the Paras had a SLR mag spring welded to a smaller "W" spring for the LMG(Bren) which looked quite effective. The only snag was it was TOO accurate for a section weapon but I never cared, you never missed with one of these. Best bit of kit I used in the Army. If you had a section with one of these and a "Gimpy" you had quite a bit of firepower. Apparently they used the barrel for the sniper rifle(the one before the Accuracy International) because it was that accurate and heavy enough.
Ok you black catted me!
@@chrissheppard5068 Sorry mate, I wasn't trying for a bit of "one upmanship", I joined in1986 so I'm a little bit after you and most of my mates were bootys. Not bad for a percy eh?
@@sticks5614 Being a pongo who has bootneck oppos you must be one of the few perce to have learnt to use soap.
Finest LMG ever, both my Father and my late Uncle were Bren Gunners, my Uncle was a Chindit and he and his muckers loved it and he said he owed his life to its reliability. Outstanding engineering and highly accurate. Thanks for sharing. All the best from Scotland. Garry
I just watched the Seige of Jadotville where 150 Irish Army Rangers defeated a force of 3000. In it the Bren was used to take out a guy at 1000 yards and 7sed successfully to take down an aeroplane.... l was lucky enough to use one on a range in '79. An awesome weapon and the fact it was used for over 50 years and is still manufactured in India tella everyone all you need to know about it.
I fired a bren when I was a boy in the '60's. A family friend served with the Cape Breton Highlanders, and smuggled one home- don't ask me how! It will chew the living shit out of a fence post, right some jeezly quick!
Dan B I
I got to fire a Bren when I was 14 years old and in my high school's Army Cadet group. It was still in use by the Canadian Reserves and Militia in the mid 60s. The bolt is so heavy that the gun has more kick forward then backward and will walk away from you on a bipod. Damn accurate, but ultimately too accurate, its cone of fire was too small for a machine gun.
Alan Macphail Used to enjoy my ‘walks’ with the Bren on the range too, loved it’s accuracy!
Well I have just viewed the Lewis and the Bren and very much enjoyed what you offered, so my thanks. No doubt I will have lots more to view so please keep them coming.
During the 70s I worked at RSAF Enfield for QAD(LW). In that time I proofed, inspected and test fired 100s of the 7.62mm version of the BREN. It was an extremely reliable weapon, well made and, once it was closed, very resistant to stoppages from ingress of dirt and muck. Because of its accuracy in earlier versions, tolerances of barrel dimensions were opened very slightly to give a bigger group, however the weapon retained very good accuracy - almost an automatic rifle.
In the early 1970's I was trained on a Brengun in it's later form known in the British army as the LMG. Chambered to 7.62 NATO it was, in effect, the same weapon. It was in standard use by non-infantry/armoured units with a 30 round mag. And because of it's standard NATO cal. it was possable to use SLR (FN) 20 round rifle mags on it. I truly enjoyed using this weapon. Single shot it was more accurate than the rifle. I was saddened when they finally took it out of service in the late 80's
Good catch of the gas piston and bolt assembly when you stripped the guts out Ian, maybe next time you might want to allow the working parts forward under control before disassembly, that way you don't have to worry about them flying across the range propelled by the recoil spring. Been 29 years since I last handled this Bren and even I know that. The weapon actually had inaccuracy built into it to allow the rounds to spread and give a beaten zone, when it was initially trialled it was deemed too accurate and the War Ministry wanted it to be an area effect weapon. One of the best weapons I ever fired and the recoil more comfortable than the Enfield No.4 rifle.
I first learnt how to strip and fire the Bren when I was 13 years old as a cadet at school; some 70 years ago. It really is very easy to strip, also easy to clear stoppages, no problem to shoot and keep on target but a bit on the heavy side for teenagers. I seem to remember there was a gas control port to compensate for sub standard ammo. The large pin.securing the receiver to the but is the “body locking pin” or maidens delight ( very risqué for 13 yr old). Later marks had a different rear sight, which was easier to adjust. The Bren was still in use with the British army during the first gulf war, chambered for 7.62 NATO, according to my late son-in-law. I very much enjoy your channel Ian and hope you find and your subscribers find it of interest.
I met the armourers who brought the Bren into service at Fort Houmet ranges Guernsey on holliday years afterwards.They said they had made the parabola of the bursts to fall as a cone of fire around 400 to 600yds to hit anybody therein.They were very proud of their fine work .The Bren was probably the best L.M.G. ever made ,extremely accurate in the right hands.It served untill relatively recently as a front line weapon.
Normally when people ask questions like this I can't answer, because I can't usually predict when I will get my hands on a particular gun. But I actually own a Vickers myself, and have been planning to make a video on it for a while. I should have it done within the next 2 months (even though I own it, it's still a bit of a hassle to drag all its accoutrements out to the range).,.
The Nambu LMGs look like the Bren, but function differently. I do have one sourced that I plan to use for a compare-and-contrast with a Bren at some point.
Wow just watched this. Late to the channel but my god how it’s changed. I really enjoy the videos. Thanks.
A lovely piece of engineering which I have fond memories of being taught how to break down, refit and fire.
That's awesome, when and why did you do that?