FN 51 .303 'Bren' ammo?

[drweiler]

Available locally for 25 cents a round, mixed reviews on other forums. I assume corrosive/berdan/nitrocellulose. Comments please? Cheers, Don

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[Beerhunter]

Available locally for 25 cents a round, mixed reviews on other forums. I assume corrosive/berdan/nitrocellulose. Comments please? Cheers, Don

It depends on what the vendor means by Bren ammo. As far as the British Infantryman is concerned there is no such thing. The Bren magazines were filled from the pouches of the section members and so would have been standard, Mk.VII/Mk.VIIZ.

Any idea what's on then head stamp.

BTW, it is possible to tell from an expended case, whether the round was fired from a Bren or a rifle. The firing pin indention of a Bren is rectangular - as opposed to the round indention of a rifle's firing pin. Almost the first thing that I was taught in the CCF at school. :-)

[Stevo]

Beerhunter, the boxes actually say "Bren" on them.

I have a bit of this ammo. I haven't fired any of it.

[smellie]

Some of this ammo showed up here a number of years ago. It was FN manufacture, packed in 20-round brown cardboard boxes with white labels stating prominently "Pour F.M. Bren - Voor Bren MG": "For Bren Machine Gun" in French and Flemish.

I took a couple of rounds apart and found it to be loaded with a square-flake powder and a boat-tailed bullet which sported a much sharper boat-tail than normal. It must have had a lead core rather than a composite core because it was shorter than a proper British Mark VIII bullet. Bullet weight, if I remember rightly, was about 165 grains, so it wasn't right to the Mark VIII spec. (Neither is the "PPU .303 Mk 8z" stuff: bullet weight is 192!)

Pressures seemed to be 'right up there'. My 1907 Navy Mark I*** didn't like it, so I didn't buy much. Other fellows reported good results, but the Mark I*** was the only .303 I had at that time (apart from a Lee-Metford) and I was working 90 hours a week, so no time to shoot, anyway. I did send a pulled-down round and an empty box to Peter Labbett, so that is my box he shows in his SAA identification book (my sole claim to immortality!!!!).

Priming is with .217" Berdan primers in 2-hole casings. Good brass; just wish Berdan primers were easier to get.

Personally, I would think it safe in a rifle in good condition, same as any other ammo. My only reservation would be in regard to the BT bullet: boattails just do not obturate well in Enfield rifling. If you have a tight bore, though, you just might surprise yourself, so give it a try.
.

[TonyE]

The reason the FN ammo marked for the Bren gun has a shorter bullet than Mark VIIIz is because at 165 grains it is lighter. The Mark VIIIz has a lead/antimony core with no tip filler, so is not a composite bullet, and weighs 175 grains.

I have only used limited amounts of the FN ammo, and it was a few years ago, but it seemed to shoot fine for me.

Regards
TonyE