30-06 Bren

[Lee Enfield]

I had photos of 2 Inglis drawings dated 1943 in my hands last week,

1st was a detail drawing for machining a Bren body for 30-06.

2nd was a drawing of the 30-06 magazine.

Photos came from CAL during it's closing, other highpoints of the photo collection contained photos of several versions of the SAL/CAL EX1 (kind of a SVT/G43/FN SLEM combination), (FN) Ex1, FN-C1...

Interesting photos from trials between Sten MkII, Sten Mk5 and the Rosciszewski Machine Carbine.

There was a large photo spread of the BSA 1949 EMC sub gun, and manufacturing stage photos of the C1 SMG (Sterling).

Some of the photos were the same as illustrated here at milart, others have I'm sure never been published.
Small Arms Ltd’s Experimental Firearms | MilArt

Information

Warning: This is a relatively older thread This discussion is older than 360 days. Some information contained in it may no longer be current.

[mrclark303]

I had the opportunity to have a close look at at a BSA EMC on Wednesday, a rather interesting SMG.

[Vincent]

Do you have any pictures you can post?

[mrclark303]

Non of the EMC I'm afraid, too busy going into complete sensory meltdown looking at the rest of the pieces in one of our countries finest collections, the SASC Small Arms Collection.

[Lee Enfield]

Do you have any pictures you can post?

Unfortunately not a single one, but I expect to get some in the future.

my friends kept laughing at me for some reason...it was the distracted little kid in candy shop sort of thing, I didn't even bother to look for what I was actually there for.

[Warren]

Here is a Canadian 30-06 Bren mag with a 7.92 Inglis mag for comparison
Attachment 73486Attachment 73487
30-06 Canadian mag along with Canadian EM-2 in 7mm HV and a British EM-2 in 7.62 x51
Attachment 73488

[ZGB]

Are there any 30-06 canadian brens in private hands anywhere or are the only one's left in museums?

[stencollector]

Are there any 30-06 canadian brens in private hands anywhere or are the only one's left in museums?

I work at the RCA Shilo museum. The director recently took an interest in the Brens we have locked up, and noted that two of them did not have any markings. I was just down to the main museum where they are kept, and had a look at the 10 Brens we have. The two with no markings did in fact have some markings, albeit slight. On the flat by the barrel release handle is stamped "30 Cal A" on one, and "30Cal B" on the other. One has had the piston welded into place with no breech block in it, while the other appears unaltered, although it has a mk1 style buttstock on it. I may come across the magazines and bolts one day....pieces like that have been removed in the past to meet security regulations, and languish in an ammo can or box somewhere in the collections.

Aside from the markings on the flat, there are very few markings on these two guns.

I could drag down the camera next time and snap some photos, but aside from the markings I described, they look like an ordinary mk2 gun. I'll have to bring out a couple of empty cases to see if these are 30-06, or 7.62. Seems to me there was a lot of reference to the 7.62 as 30 cal in the early days.

[Kev G]

This maybe a reference to the 30 cal B serial Bren ?

[stencollector]

I spotted that same report in "the Bren Gun Saga". That is the gun that was crudely welded up with a spot of weld to the piston group underneath the area of the barrel nut. I may reverse that. I'll have to check first and see if we have it as a live gun, deactivated, or not on the books at all. If it is as a live gun, then repairs should not be an issue. I'll have to do a bit of a search for the magazines and the breech blocks, but I think I know where we have some Bren Breech blocks stored. I'll also check the barrel serials and see if they match to some of those given on the report. I did check our accession records, and did not find mention of either one of these two guns. They may be hiding in the records under a different name.

I have said it before on this forum: I am only the mechanic, so delving into the gun side of the house is a little out of my proper arcs. But for guns as rare as these, I'll see what I can do.