54R Bren Issues

[Vincent]

Attachment 62355

The striker is from another Historic Arms Bren with issues.

[Peter Laidler]

The actual un-machined block looks too light to be reliable Vince - although I'm just saying how it looks from here of course. I think that I would hollow out that block and weight it with molten lead to give it more inertia to do its job. But it's all making a bit of sense now. You game to solve the 7.62 x54R bren problem once and for all Vince......? Followed by a few beers?

[Joe H]

Attachment 62355

The striker is from another Historic Arms Bren with issues.

Vincent,

What are the issues? 7.62x54R like Djandj's.

Where does the striker spring go. Is it on the return rod or is it a separate spring & rod that bears on the upper striker tab. There is an offset between the upper tab and the face of the lower section but since the upper section is the full width of the striker it's hard to see exactly where upper section hits the FP. It looks like it can't go past the upper projection of the bolt just hitting the FP.

I notice that there are no lands on your striker or on the carrier (see comparison below). The original carrier has lands that run in the grooves in the receiver. I read a write up on HA that indicated that they removed the lands and grooves from one side of the receiver. Are there lands on the other side of the striker & carrier?

Without having the gun in hand it's hard to comment why yours has issues. HA has been
building semi Brens for quite awhile so it's hard to find a flaw, if any, just by looking at parts. Have you questioned Historic Arms about the issues?

Joe

[TactAdv]

The actual un-machined block looks too light to be reliable Vince - although I'm just saying how it looks from here of course. I think that I would hollow out that block and weight it with molten lead to give it more inertia to do its job. But it's all making a bit of sense now. You game to solve the 7.62 x54R bren problem once and for all Vince......? Followed by a few beers?

.....after a few beers in the shop, I'm thinking you pour it full of solid gold. Or DU. ;-)

-TomH

[Peter Laidler]

DU....... there's a thought!

[Vincent]

You game to solve the 7.62 x54R bren problem once and for all Vince......? Followed by a few beers?

I am game, Peter. Double game for the beers.

----------

Joe,

The picture is from this thread Anyone have a Wise lite arms Bren it’s on the second page, but some of the posts on the first page are worth reading.

[WallyG.]

The striker and carrier design used by Historic Arms does not have a left hand side key/land. This feature is part of his denial of full auto parts modifications. The left channels of the receiver are filled with several weld plugs and made flush. The other side of the striker shown in the picture has the key/land machined into the side. As to insufficient inertia... the design uses a very large compression spring which seats into a pocket milled into the rear of the striker and passes over the center recoil rod and terminates against the rear slide wall. Oddly, to maximize the size of the striker spring... but still have enough room for its recoil compressed form - Historic Arms removes all of the slide buffer parts and has the striker spring seat in the pocket that remains after their removal. I've never had a failure to fire for lack of striker force and the extra striker spring seems to compensate for some of the missing buffers recoil absorption. I have not yet crushed a striker spring or battered the slide face.

[djandj]

The actual un-machined block looks too light to be reliable Vince - although I'm just saying how it looks from here of course. I think that I would hollow out that block and weight it with molten lead to give it more inertia to do its job. But it's all making a bit of sense now. You game to solve the 7.62 x54R bren problem once and for all Vince......? Followed by a few beers?

Hey guys, I'd be happy if you could just solve MY 54R problem, much less all of them (lol) And I'd be buying better than beers.

---------- Post added at 09:20 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:19 PM ----------

Attachment 62355

The striker is from another Historic Arms Bren with issues.

Funny, my Historic Arms internals don't look like that. A bit different.

---------- Post added at 09:29 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:20 PM ----------

All,

Below are pics of how I altered the semi striker so that the rifle could not be fired "out of battery". These are pics of my rough prototypes to show how it works. The second pic shows the set up at the instant of firing. The length of the firing pin and tab offset have to be coordinated so that tab cannot hit the FP unless the carrier is in the full forward position. About 1/4" must be left clear to the rear of the tab so that the recoil buffer will work.

Joe

WOW Joe - you are way ahead of me on that. Yes, the gun does blow up usually on the first round of the mag (after manual racking). However, here in CA I can only put 10 round in the mag at a time. I have a wooden dowel in there to take up the rest of the room. Here are some more pics of my innards for you.




But from the damage to the casing (and the mag) I keep thinking that it fired out of battery or something like that. But usually only one out of 60 rounds.

[csmarcher]

The biggest problem is crap 54R ammo.

I've mentioned this before, and I'll say it again, the semi Bren and the full auto Bren run wonderfully on .303 and the L4 series run wonderfully in 7.62x51, so with all due respect I can't see the point in wasting range time trying to reinvent the wheel.

I know there is a fellow on another forum who's been having all sorts of trouble with a Browning 1919A4 while trying to get it to run on 54r and has been told the same thing. Stop wasting your time......

Just because something is cheap (54R ammo for example) doesn't mean its any good.

I've had several of the Historic Arms Bren's through my hands in both 303 and 308, and they all have functioned flawlessly.

Gary

[Peter Laidler]

Yet another few succinct words of wisdom from the CSM that I'm sure we all agree with. I know I always sing the praises of the ferocious 762x54R PKM but it was made and designed with that rounbd in mind - even poorly, cheaply made stuff. And the round is fully supported in the breech. Not so in the Bren of course

Thanks Wally G for the info on the inertia available (thread 77)