Just to complicate things further! (But Genuine information)
A good Friend of mine who is also a sec.5 dealer called Mike Priest. Is responsible for the procurement & Deactivating of MANY Hunderends of Brens (As well as a LOT of other Weapons) Mike used to travel on a regular basis to a company that has huge storage capacity. he used to buy between 45-50 guns at a time. They were nearly all made up from componant parts! IE: 'I want fifty Brens, so, Fifty Butts, fifty Butt plates, Fifty of this, fifty of that Etc, Etc. Enough componant parts to make fifty Brens up at a time. So if you have a Bren that has Mike's Name on the Deact Cert. It is a GOOD BET that this is one that he has compiled from spare parts. NOT All new parts either! This was done to satisfy the market demand for this type of weapon. Simply because there were none available ANYWHERE else in the UKicon! It was not done to decieve, simply to construct Brens for sale to any customer who wanted one. Supply & demand if you like. A HELL of a lot of work. but that's Mike all over. He will do his best to procure anything interesting or what will sell. He is finding it VERY difficult at present to source pretty much anything at all for sale! I believe he has had a batch of Yugoicon M53's in & done. But that is just about all. He had two brens in, I waited three days before making a decision to buy one. When I phoned him. Yep, you gussed it, they were both sold! He who hesitates! There are NO Brens live left in the UK in any quantity for sale. ALL sources have been exhausted & cut & sold. This is why (From one of my previous posts) the price of Brens & deacts in general is rising fast! Demand outstripping supply!