Off center front sight

[Peter Laidler]

Thanks for that Tom, very interesting bits of info.

[MGMike]

Somebody please explain to an ignoramus (me) why the MPI should be established an inch to the left. Is this to compensate for some tendency of the Bren to drift to the right when fired in bursts? If so, does that mean it should be zeroed an inch to the right for a left-handed shooter?

M

[Peter Laidler]

Nothing to do with that Mike and your question is good and valid. I suspect quite a few Forumers were wondering that too but held back thinking that is was a daft Q!. The Bren is zeroed 1" to the RIGHT of the aiming mark because the back and foresight are 1" to the left of the mechanical bore of the gun. So if you are shooting/zeroing at 25 or 100 yards the MPI of the group MUST fall 1" to the right of the PoA.
If you think about it........ Zero in at 100yds and zero the gun so the MPI to converge onto the PoA, then AT THAT POINT the bullets are actually crossing the line of sight (the LoS) from right to left (barrel is to the right of the LoS don't forget.....). The bad news is that the bullets will continue to go left until at 200 yards they'll be to the left of the PoA, 300 yards and they'll be even further and so on unbtil at 400 yards or so, they'll be off the fig11 target!

That is when the gun is zeroed at 100 yards. Just think of the deflection error if you were to zero in the gun like this at 25 yards. It'd already be 4" off at 100 yards - increasing the azimuth or deflection error as the range increased. SO, keep it zeroed 1" to the right of the PoA and it's correct for all ranges.

This sort-of brings out another point. The old soldiers will tell you that the trusty Bren gun is as accurate as any sniper or match rifle. I won't call that statement a load of bollxxxs but it's totally incorrect as a quick glance of the Base standard accuracy standard will confirm. But if the crunchies are told of its legenbdary accuracy, reliability and simplicity, then he won't ask for anything else

[jmoore]

In reply to previous query: Front sight offset 0.110" to the right. Couldn't move much more without having to modify the sight's base! But it was fine last time I ran the thing.

[Gopher]

So yours is opposite of mine almost exactly. I haven't had mine back out yet to adjust per Peter's instructions. I think I'll probably do as TactAdv suggested and find a welder to make the modification.

[Vincent]

I spoke to Len about this shortly after I got the gun and never got a resolution.

Good to know.