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Bren Tripod Mk1 Anti Aircraft Pole info and dimensions
Well, after WW1 someone had the idea of turning a Bren Tripod on end and adding a front leg and making an anti-aircraft machine gun mount. Put a Bren on top and a gunner behind it and you were ready to go against aircraft. A 2 piece pole was used as the front leg. With the idea of keeping it "simple" they made a 2 piece pole that could be stored in the body tubes of the Mk1 Bren tripods. Fun fact, after a few years the Airplanes got faster and they added more machine guns. The poor guy still had to stand there and shoot at a fast-moving airplane that had more machine guns, that were faster, and some had cannons to shoot at him. Something had to give. At some point in time a lot of the AA poles started getting lost or got bent or something. Good idea that timed out.
So, what does that mean to us. A lot of Mk1 Bren Tripods without the front AA poles. They are out there, someplace. Took me several years and several dollars to find mine. I had offered $300.00 for a set of poles before and was turned down. So what follows is a lot of general information and a somewhat how to build your own info share.
I would like to THANK Kev, Brit plumber, tombear, and anyone else that did postive helping work on sharing Bren Tripod info. Thanks!
Right now I have 1 BSA set and 1 AGE set and do not know if there are CCM marked AA poles. I'm guessing that there are CCM marked poles out there as CCM made around 10,000 Mk1 Bren tripods. Please if you have a CCM marked set please add a pic to this thread.
Top set is BSA and bottom set is AGE.
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Next are the 2 top poles that I own.
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NOTE!!!! Let me say right up front, Using a SMLE No. 1 MK III rifle is sooooo much easier than making a set of poles, might be cheaper also. Looks good also! For a display setup, I'll try to use both.
But, I'm guesing that you have thoughts like I do. I'll either buy or make a set. Because I want my Mk1 Bren Tripod to have a set!
So here we go.
Well, here is a picture of 2 sets of AA poles. From what I can tell, only the top part is marked. I believe that the one set of mine is from the same manufacturer (BSA) due to wear and texture, or rust and the other set of poles are from another manufacturer (AGE) for the same reasons.
Top set is BSA and bottom set is AGE.
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The repaired top pole is the AGE. Note on mine, the AGE is double stamped.
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Top Tube;
Now lets talk about building the top end piece that goes into the Bren Mk1 tripod. First, I know that I and several others on this board can copy and machine the head piece. But!!!! I have always used a rule of, if I can buy it for less than $20. I'll try to buy and NOT make it. I would try to use the top piece of a SMLE No. 1 MK III rifle. My friend Brian at BRP sells numbered nose caps at this time for $12.75 plus S&H, Perfect No, but. If you don't want to go that route then study the pics in this thread and give it a go. Someday I might try to add more dimensions on this top piece. This piece is pressed or soldered or brazed into the hollow middle section.
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The middle section of the top tube is hollow, with the bottom end that goes into the lower tube solid. On the bottom part of the top tube, I believe the the last 2"ish was crimped down to a smaller taper and a 3"ish piece of solid round was turned down in a lathe and then pressed, soldered, or brazed into the end of the tube. If I were making it, I would take about a 7" piece of solid and using a lathe make it into a one piece taper that I would press, solder, braze to the end of the middle section of the hollow tube. Note there was a small taper in the last .25" on one of the tube ends. Not the other.
Bottom Tube; well, crimping is going to be needed, if you want it to look correct. If you just want it to work, a little less crimping will be needed. Then again if I were going to make a correct looking bottom pole than I think I would start with a solid piece of metal round and head to the lathe. Cut on the outside to make it have that crimped in look and then taper away to make the outside look correct. Now drill and cut out the inside for the correct fitting of the top pole. Then solder or braze or press fit into the middle section of hollow tubing. Ok, bottom feet, I would use .125" or 1/8" steel and study the pics and cut and bend and weld away till it looks good.
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Finish; is to drill two holes through the two tubes so that the holes line up with the hold in pins in the tripod body tubes. Really, only one side needs to line up on each tube. There, that should only take a few minutes to make a couple of tubes, right???? LOL Funny after writing this I'm almost ready to try to make a pair of tubes. Maybe not, as I know where there are 4 more pairs of AA tubes for sale here in the USA. PM me if you want details.
Materials;
Outer diameter (OD) of tubing. 1.062" on the top piece and 1.065" on the bottom half. Same size BSA and AGE.
Thickness of metal used making the feet, .125" or 1/8".
Tubing is hollow. Except at the ends.
Length, LOL, well you see the pics of my two sets.... Both different. If making I would be more concerned about making sure that the poles fit into the tripod body tubes and the pins hold the poles in place. But mine are next to the metal 4' ruler so go for it.
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Want to double check some of my measurements? Well I took the big pics with the poles next to an Aluminum ruler so you can scale off from it. How, 2 ways. 1st print two copies and cut out the ruler on one and measure away. 2nd is to use a set of dividers and set them and compare to the ruler. I have opened up a paper clip and made my own dividers while in the field.
Note I'm in the USA and we still don't use metric, yet. If you do, you will need to convert my measurements. I used a Mitutoyo 6" dial caliper for the measurements.
If you have questions about my clear as mud directions or measurements feel free to post in this thread questions or nicely point out problems. Or you are welcome to private message me.
Please if you make one, Please post a pic of it in this thread so we can see how one turned out. I was going to make one but not now, as I bought 2 sets from my friend machine gun Dave at Sarco..
Why? Did I spend the time and energy taking pics and taking measurements and writing this thread, well I wanted more info and even bought a copy of the Bren Gun Sage for $220. Read about every thread on several forums that I could find. Searched for sale ads, good info in some of the IMA ads. Thought that I would like to try to leave a better paper trail for someone that also wants more. Another reason is that we just lost a lot of knowledge with Dolf Goldsmith passing away. A sharing person that I had the pleasure of meeting with several times. So some of "us, YES that's you also" should try to get some of this stuff in writing. Next up, for me is a Bren Mk2 thread, hope within the next two weeks, God and Wife willing.
Well, the mistakes are there for you to find. Enjoy them and the thread.
Later 42rocker
