Inglis 7.92mm Bren

[Kev G]

Peter,1st pics are mine,bit crap as not too good on flash.



This one is from the US , I will request a full length photo and post back.Only have 2 half photos at the momment that I can find.




This is a post sample working gun that was purchased from Collectors Corner now I believe Ohio Ordnance ?

Mine is available for any non dustructive test .......no bloody great hacksaws !!! LOL

atb Kevin

[Kev G]

MGMike,thank you for the update regarding the documentation.
You mention that some guns were believed to have gone for a calibre conversion ? Would this have been to 7.62 NATO ?

Any members here who live around the corner from the Canadian War Museum ? Any chance of popping in and taking a few photos of their two examples ?
I have been intouch myself but they charge to much for photographs for my short arms and deep pockets !

atb Kevin

[Kev G]

Chris you'll find one (or three) ......but you will probably be skint when they turn up :-)
Yes I am aware who the buyer is and will be contacting him for details,this is the 3rd one in the last couple of months that I am aware of.The serial number is usually near or partialy cut through unfortunatly but you can often make it out , the number on the top of the body forward of the barrel nut is not affected.

ATB Kevin

Edited to amment to 2 in number in the last month ,I thought the one linked to was an addition but have been corrected by a buyer (thanks)

Kev, How do you do it? Finding 3 7.92s? I havn't even seen 1 in the UK yet! You lucky so and so!!

Did you see this one, what a pitty.

Bren , 7.92 , 8M/M, MK1 cut receiver #1 : Parts Kits at GunBroker.com


ATB, Chris.

[MGMike]

...
You mention that some guns were believed to have gone for a calibre conversion ? Would this have been to 7.62 NATO ?
...

atb Kevin

Kevin: I do not know. 7.62mm NATO is the only caliber that makes a modicum of sense, but even then the chamber would have to be sleeved and the bore is still oversize. Presumably it was desired not to alter the bolt or magazine, which rules out 7.62x54mm.

M

[Kev G]

Thanks Mike,
Could you check to see if the GB bodies are on your list or an addition please ?



These are serial numbered 2-4922 and 1-0714 and follow previous formats of no inspection,ordnance or makers marks and have a number stamped forward of the barrel nut.

ATB Kevin

[MGMike]

Kevin: Here are the numbers. It turns out that I counted multiple entries. There were 23, not 26 guns. 2-4459 was transferred three times, 2-3224 twice, presumably for the barrel project. The cut bodies you pictured are not among them. M

1-5343
5435
5759
5840
6862
8308
8341
9953

2-0000
0461
0490
0512
3022
3160
3224
3251
3292
4459
4577
4579
4963
5949
8045
end

This won't format properly here, so note: Upper group are all 1-prefix; lower group are 2-prefix.

[Kev G]

Mike,
Many thanks indeed for sharing the serial numbers you have of complete guns,that's quite a haul ......now filed away.

I have another serial number of a cut body in the US , 2-0853. Is there anyway of tracing these body only guns ?

Not being familier with US law or firearms regulations is there any reason why just the bodies/recievers are sold on their own ?

ATB Kevin

[MGMike]

Traceable only if you are the registered owner of that receiver in the U.S.; then, a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to BATF may produce some background on previous registrations, but the names will be redacted.

If the receiver is in the U.S., the likelihood is that it was stripped for parts, and the unregistered receiver was torched because intact it would constitute a firearm by itself, and there is no legal way now to register it.

M

[WallyG.]

The three cut bodies that Kevin has listed in his two posts have all come to market in the US in the last 12 months... the mystery is if they are relatively recent imports as complete demil parts kits... evidenced by the torch demil cuts... or are they some old inventory that was parted out & demiled long ago with the left over receivers just now bubbled to the surface... The recent source could be either in the US or Canada... but none were marketed/sold as "rare" items so I tend to think that they may have been random inclusions in whatever source was mined for the parts kits that were imported into the US since 1986. Only those in the specific import businesses in the US could elaborate as to what was imported when and from where. The registered MG community in the US certainly would have been a good market for the stripped parts since 1986... primarily the bolts and barrels... and they would have paid a premium to have them.

[Peter Laidler]

I have mentined many times on this forum of the fact that the UK stockpiles of Inglis 7.92mm Brens were used to formulate the EX10 and L4 series of 7.62mm converted Mk2 and 3 Brens.

Well, lo and behold, this morning I opened a new packet of 7.62mm L4 extractors in order to replace one with a badly chipped claw. Only to find that all 5 were JI manufacture and marked 7.92mm. Clearly these were removed from the scrapped 7.92 Brens,re-packaged and returned to Ordnance to be used as spare parts for the L4 Brens later. As indeed one was today!

I've found several 7.92mm locking shoulders plus these extractors so I'll have to look at the breech blocks a bit more carefully from now on.

Waste not, want not as thay say!