Current pricing for a semi auto BREN ?

[tr63]

What is a fair asking price for a semi auto Bren MKII in todays market ?

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.

[limpetmine]

Buying or selling? Maker? Have you seen it run?
All these make a HUGE difference in price.

[tr63]

Looking to buy MKii 303cal. Built by Wise Arms . No have not seen it run . Looks as new . I have been told the some will fire off 20 rounds or so and then bind up when it gets hot .

[limpetmine]

I have one, and I will tell you, you need to see it run 250+ rounds through it before you plop down 3k or more for one.

[ActionYobbo]

average price for a gun and a few mags 3K
my guns all run fine after a bit of tuning and tweaking. My general rule is if it wont run properly on HXP run away or be prepared to do some tuning and tweaking.

now is it a wiselite built gun or a gun built by someone using conversion parts from wiselite? there is a huge difference

they are not that hard to get running and if you do end up with one and need some help

[tr63]

Thank you for your reply . Yes it is a Wiselite MkII . It came with 2 barrels . they will not change out was they should . They need way too much persuasion if you know what I mean .I striped the receiver and cleaned it and could not find any thing in the barrel nut area that looked like it was causing the hard fit . I made up a polishing rod covered with 0000 steel wool and cleaned the area in front of the breach bolt . The barrel nut works very easy and seems to fit in the receiver with no slop .

[WallyG.]

Remember these US semi-autos are re-welds... if the receiver warped during that process then the barrel's gas block in the gas cylinder opening and/or the barrel shank in the barrel socket could be binding as the warped receiver may no longer have them in parallel. I've had a few that loosened up when I polished the offending surface with Emory cloth. Machinists have a great die they use... if applied and the barrel is driven home and then removed... the coated surfaces areas scratched/abraded at the interference fit areas. These high areas can then be gently lowered and potentially resolve the barrels too tight fit.

[ActionYobbo]

Thank you for your reply . Yes it is a Wiselite MkII . It came with 2 barrels . they will not change out was they should . They need way too much persuasion if you know what I mean .I striped the receiver and cleaned it and could not find any thing in the barrel nut area that looked like it was causing the hard fit . I made up a polishing rod covered with 0000 steel wool and cleaned the area in front of the breach bolt . The barrel nut works very easy and seems to fit in the receiver with no slop .

I assume from this that you now own it. if so congratulations.
dont worry to much about swapping barrels. I have had the same barrel in mine for a few years and I dont think I will ever wear it out. I take it out for cleaning and to make it easier to transport. two ways to have a happy bren (1) find the ammo it likes and feed it well (2) work up a load that it likes and enjoy.
There are a few adjustments that can be done to the bren to make it happy the biggest one is getting the ammo sorted out.

for a sticky barrel clean the parallel section that goes in the receiver and coat the area with white board marker of your choice. with out the barrel nut insert the barrel as far as it will go with out forcing it and remove and look to see where the marker is missing/rubbed off. that is the area you will need to polish/remove some metal from either the barrel or receiver. repeat until barrel fits firmly

[Joe H]

Guys,

For binding slides, threads and similar problems on rewelds I've found that Timesavers lapping compound works well. It's a powder you mix with oil. The difference between Timesavers and regular lapping compound is that Timesavers will stop cutting so you don't have to worry about getting every last bit out. It's particularly useful if you can't isolate exactly where the binding is occurring.

Everyone has their favorite method to get those pesky reweld binding problems solved.

Joe

[tr63]

I need to update as the fix for the barrel not falling out the way it should . The problem was found that the gas cylinder on the end of the receiver was out of round and the barrel gas block was binding in the inside the cylinder . The cylinder was replaced with a as new one I purchased from BRP. The old cylinder was removed by drifting out the retaining pin with a proper size punch . the pin came loose on the second blow of the ball pen hammer !! The gas cylinder was drifted out using a brass 1/4'' flat bar stock and a ball pen hammer ,it also came loose on the second blow !! the replacement cylinder was polished using 600 grit wet and dry paper and was driven in,being careful to line the hole for the retaining cross pin . The cylinder was coated with anti-seize before it was inserted to insure I could remove if I needed to for some reason . Before I reinstalled the retaining cross pin I placed the barrel on the gun to check for the Gas regulator fit and the barrel fall out . It was perfect , the barrel slipped on locked down and when the locking handle was raised it slide out when the gun was tilled nose down !! The same retaining pin was reused it fit very tight . I was amazed that I was able to remove the old cylinder and the cross pin with no problems and reinstall the replacement parts and the old cross pin . I have read the horror stories about having to use torches to heat the cylinder and still not being able to get the cylinder driven off! Maybe Peter was looking over my shoulder !