BREN 8MM ZB Magazines

[Daan Kemp]

The Namibia one was in 1914... German South West Africa then. Before ZB and Bren.

I can research in our archives but have to start with place and date.

[HKARAK]

To use ZB 26/30 mags in Bren, how much metal needs to be removed to allow mag rear to clear and be seated? And then does this affect use of standard Bren mags after mods? Thanks!

[Joe H]

HK,

Very little material has to be removed. Just a little in the bottom rear corners. I did mine with a micro air pencil grinder,

It will not affect the fit of any other mags.


Joe

[Peter Laidler]

Joe is right. It's just sufficient to allow the rear of the mag to rotate and click into place. What did you do about the magazine catch?

[tr63]

What cal. are we trying to use in the Bren Gun ? A .308 NATO using a South African barrel and a 8mm Mauser mag. .

[TactAdv]

Thanks Guys,

I'm in the USA working with a semi reweld. Thanks for the info. Looks like using the ZB mag should be very feasible.

Joe

I did not have to modify the ZB39 mags at all to use. That said, I again note that as mentioned before my gun is a factory original ‘42 Daimler-built original, unaltered as-issued machine gun.

The more I read here the more this aspect grossly affects (and effects) usefully answering questions that relate to things being used in re-manufactured semiauto guns here in the USA.

To the extent then such an answer matters, my gun is able to fit and function with ALL ZB39 parts I have tried to date as plug-and-play items. Ivan mount ZB39 barrel, bolt, and magazine and reliably fire the original Bulgarian caliber......in a British receiver. As stated here before, I use the ZB magazine with a SA DENEL 7.62NATO BBL using a .303 bolt and 7.62 extractor and it runs flawlessly at full cyclic rate.

The one issue I have running the 7.62 NATO ammo in the ZB mags is the the cartridge rim diameter is too small to reliably catch the bolt stop so a small amount (~.120”) of the magazine follower tab must be lowered/removed to fully expose the cartridge rim.
-TomH

[Peter Laidler]

We had to lower the magazine in the body to mount the rifle magazine. The A2 guns had the magazine lowered a bit more too and that's why they had to have magazine lip rib strengthening inserts fitted.

[HKARAK]

Yes- plan to use SA 7.62 x 51 barrel and extractor swap. Semi auto. I read that the ZB 26/30 mags would work, but somehow missed that metal removal in receiver was necessary. When I insert mag it looks like more than a little needs to be removed, so have reservations. My mag well length is factory spec. Anyone have pics showing post metal removal? Side note. I have used the ZB 39 mag with small tab added to front of mag for secure fit and it functioned well.

[tr63]

I would be very leery of removing any receiver metal as it can not be replaced . The back side of the mag. body would be the area I would alter to make it fit the curve in the receiver . If that fails you only ruin the mag. . I use the ZB 30 mag. in 8x56r in my semi-auto with the SA .308 barrel and did not have to make any changes to the receiver body ,only to add a extension to the tip of the mag. to get a better lock up as is noted in this tread earlier on .

[TactAdv]

I would be very leery of removing any receiver metal as it can not be replaced .

Agreed! Since we’re talking about setting up a combination of non-standard parts only to be able to shoot .308/7.62 NATO ammo I seriously question why any discussion is taking place about modifying anything to use 8mm ZB/Bren mags just to fire .308???

When there is wide availability of the ZB39 mags which almost always reliably fit a std Bren receiver as-is, reliably hold and feed .308 cartridges, and require zero adaptation to do so I do not get the attraction of attempting a harder route to the same end result. Besides that, they also hold the full 25rds of .308 to the ZB26/30 mags capacity of only 20 cartridges.

There is no compelling reason in my mind to try and use the 8mm mags if all you are looking to do is shoot .308.
-TomH