Thanks Peter, Again I think you are right, I don't think that method of fire was going to win in the ergonmic sense, it does feel quite awkward. Perhaps it was purely an Australianicon war time adeptation for jungle fighting. When I was looking at WW2 Bren images anything relevant I found from the European theatres had the Bren supported under the folded bipod exactly how you mention (not held by the locked barrel handle). One exception was an image of an English soldier kneeling with a Bren at the hip and holding the barrel handle in the locked open position, the only catch with this one was the Bren was fitted with a 100 round drum, so one would imagine the gun had just been removed from a tripod in an AA role. In the Pacific theatre though most Australian images of hip shooting I found showed the gun supported from the locked barrel handle. It would appear there was a difference in training method (can anyone confirm?) Out of interest when was the forward Pistol grip introduced? I've never seen one in Oz, did it see active service? Was it Britishicon Issue only or was it issued by /to other commonwealth forces as well?

Regards

DOD