54R Bren Issues

[djandj]

A "few bucks"??? 54R is .22 per round SHIPPED. Today's price for .303 = .70 per not counting shipping. I'd say at nearly 4 times cheaper, it's still worth fiddling with 54r. Multiple folks have managed to make this work so I don't see why I can't as well. Let's see what Troy says when he gets the parts.

[Vincent]

Yeah! That’s why I want a 54R setup for my Bren. It’s not just a few bucks. At least it’s not to me.

Speaking of $$. Are there any good deals to be had on ZB39 magazines? $60 is a bit steep.

Is your Bren striker or hammer fired?

[djandj]

Yeah! That’s why I want a 54R setup for my Bren. It’s not just a few bucks. At least it’s not to me.

Speaking of $$. Are there any good deals to be had on ZB39 magazines? $60 is a bit steep.

Is your Bren striker or hammer fired?

Sorry - no help with the ZB-39's I got mine many years ago. But 60.00 for a mag that size is still cheap when I'm paying 70-80 for a single 10 round HK45 mag.
My Bren is striker fired (I believe) as I haven't run into anything that looks like a hammer.

[Peter Laidler]

Why the need for ZB39 magazines? Is it something to do with the 762x54 ammo requirement or lack of 303 magazines? Just interested/puzzled

[Brit plumber]

ZB39 mags are cheap in the UK at about £8-£10 each so $15 -$20

[Peter Laidler]

And so they might be (BP, thread 34).....,., but why the specific need? Is it something to do with being better for 762x54? Are they cheaper than 303 Bren mags with some 3.8 million being churned out

[Vincent]

Joe H is the man to answer that question, Peter. IIRC, it’s something about the curvature of the magazine.

[Peter Laidler]

Ah, yes I remember the thread now...... Last few 762x54 jamb in a Bren mag. BIG problem if you were in a trench in Korea but not life threatening if you're shootin' a semi auto in your back garden.

Have a nice rest of the day. Warm and sunny here and I'm just assembling bren butt slides for pocket money!

[Brian Dick]

Bren butt slides. Imagine that!

[djandj]

And so they might be (BP, thread 34).....,., but why the specific need? Is it something to do with being better for 762x54? Are they cheaper than 303 Bren mags with some 3.8 million being churned out

Yep - it's the curvature of the .303 mag and the rimmed 54R cartridge. If you try to stuff 54R into a .303 mag, you are only going to get 10 or 12 in there before the rimmed casing force the shells into a much steeper curve than the .303 mag has and you simply won't get that many in. And if you do, they will jam (and not necessarily on the last few in the mag.) Kind of sucks to have a 23 lb MG with a huge mag on top with only 10 rounds in it. So we use the ZP39 mags which have a different angle to them so we can get as many as 20 to 25 in them.

---------- Post added at 10:42 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:41 AM ----------

ZB39 mags are cheap in the UK at about £8-£10 each so $15 -$20

Great - you just let us know the website where we can order them then. Because Google knows nothing about it so far.