1942 Inglis Mk1 Bren Gun

[Badger]

I managed to find time to put together a photo montage of my newly arrived 1942 Inglis Mk1 Bren Gun, deactivated, but full cock and click and complete with original Bren Gun transit case marked 9974.

The receiver is marked with original '42 date, but also has 1.51.FTR. above the '42 date, which I believe means "Factory Thorough Repair" in January 1951?.

There were also 3 sets of paperwork with one showing Australian Military Forces form AAF F114 "Inspection of Equipment Document" dated May 1953 and bearing chest ID 9974. This document indicates that the Bren was "Repaired Range Tested and Prepared for Issue".

There is a second Australian Military Forces form AAF F114 "Inspection of Equipment Document" dated the following year, May 1954 and bearing chest ID 9223, which is different from chest 9974 that came with this Bren Gun. This document indicates that the Bren was "Repaired, xxxxx Range Tested & Prepared for Issue". This document is hand written and I can't make out what the word with "xxxx" says, so if anyone else does, I'd appreciate knowing that.

The third document is an Australian Military Forces AAF F114 "Packing Note" D754049 dated Sept 30th, 1957, I think indicating the contents and it says "xxxx Bren Mk1 with Spare Barrel". Again, I can't make out what the "xxxx" says. Any guesses?

As required by Canadian firearms regulations, this piece has been deactivated at some in the past, but it's been done very well showing little visible defacing, plus one can cock and click fire the action. It has two small welds which can be seen in the photo montage and there's a pin driven through the barrel, just a little ways into the breech. The magazine has a small weld to prevent ammunition from being loaded, which I'm not sure why that was done, considering the other deactivation methods performed on the Bren itself.

Here's how she arrived.


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Here's a link to a full 158 pic photo montage.

1942 Inglis Mk1 Bren Gun (Click Here)

Here's a some sample pics from the photo montage including scans of the original documentation that came in the Bren transit chest.

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As I mentioned in my previous post titled It's arrived..., when I was a young trooper back in the early 60's, I trained on first the Sten SMG and Bren Gun, before they switched us over to the Sterling SMG and FNC2. I loved the old Bren and most of the guys I trained with preferred it over the FNC2, hating to see it retired....

However, after 48 years or so, I've forgotten so much about this old girl.

I can't wait to buy Peter Laidler's forthcoming new book on the Bren Gun ......

In the meantime, I'd appreciate as much information as Peter and the many other Bren experts here can provide, based upon the extensive photo montage and detailed close ups, particularly of the various markings and dates on different components. I did figure out that the JI mark meant John Inglis, which appears on many of the parts. There's also a few Australian military markings, indicating some rework done when they obtained it from the Canadian government back in the early 1950's.

To aid people in leaving feedback for everyone's benefit, I've opened up publicly the description area for each individual picture in the photo montage. So, please add you input for any picture and if there's already description text associated with a picture and you have more to include, simply add it to any existing text.

Finally, I'm looking for someone who would be willing to write a Knowledge Library article on the Bren Gun, using this piece and accompanying photo montage as a typical example. If you'd like to take a run at this for the benefit of all our members, send me an email and let me know.

Thanks in advance for any feedback ...

Regards,
Doug

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