New Addition: 1957 Mk3 Bren Gun

[Peter Laidler]

Mk3 Brens....... There were two constant maintenance problems on these guns. Bent foresight protectors and the associated stripped 2BA thread and worse....., the flat/right-angled return spring tube nut detent springs that were constantly rusting out. That was because they were constantly wet. Easy to replace but then it was easy to strip the butt plate holes while you were doing it!

[Flying10uk]

peregrinvs, did your example come with a quantity of sand blasting medium thrown in for free as my example did from the same source? I think that my example has had the sides of the body re-sprayed since being deactivated but they are still excellent value for money. Can any-one tell from the serial numbers which examples were likely to have gone to the Irish Defence Force? Do we know how many units the Irish Bren contract consisted of and the dates?

[Peter Laidler]

Irish.........?

[Frederick303]

Kev G is the expert on Irish Brens. Wait till he comes along and I am sure you will get the very best answer.

Capt. Laidler,

I am sure the Irish bought 50,000 of them. I have it on good authority, it was on a small information card that came with wrapped with some gum.....

[Peter Laidler]

Wot........ 50,000 Brens as well?

[peregrinvs]

Update: I've cleaned and re-oiled the butt and pistol grip, swapped the barrel handle grip for a nicer one I had spare, added a 1950's olive green sling and added the repro foregrip after staining and oiling the wood.
Attachment 64522Attachment 64523Attachment 64521

[peregrinvs]

peregrinvs, did your example come with a quantity of sand blasting medium thrown in for free as my example did from the same source? I think that my example has had the sides of the body re-sprayed since being deactivated but they are still excellent value for money.

Yes; the receiver has clearly been stripped to bare metal and then hosed down with Halfords finest satin black car spray paint or suchlike. Not ideal as it scratches very easily, but as you say; you can't grumble too much for the price.

[Peter Laidler]

Later the last Mk3's in Cadet and DP service were modified with a sling loop at the top of the butt plate to save the constant battering to the butt at the side and to take the superior GPMG sling. I'll put pics from the mod instruction up next week plus a copy of the front grip mod - as best I can! The grip mod had to suit all-comers from the biggest 6' plenty nasty Fijian or Maori to the smallest shortarse 5' 4" Gurkha and Malay infantryman.

Been told on good authority that the front grip mod was extended to MELF Forces fighting EOKA in the mountains of 60's Cyprus too.

[Flying10uk]

peregrinvs, I don't know if your example has numerous broad arrow acceptance markings on the metal-work, as my example does, but does any-one know if this indicates that the weapon has had at least some U.K. armed forces service before being potentially exported; or are these markings also found on U.K. produced weapons that have had no use whatsoever by home forces before being exported?

[Peter Laidler]

Scooby-doo raises an intriguing Q in the Wants section. He wants a Mk2 dual return spring set. So I was just about to tell him that he didn't need a SET, he just needed the INNER. I won't go into why it changed from a single spring to a dual set but....... Anyway

So I had a browse through the parts lists from the later Mk1's to the L4's and the actual modification instruction and sure enough, the drawing number of the OUTER spring of the Mk2 SET is different to the drawing number of the plain single Mk1 OUTER spring. But the loading spec, wire dia, coil and free length specs all seem to be the same.

We know the mechanical reason WHY there is a dual spring arrangement but can anyone tell us what the difference between the Mk1 spring and the outer Mk2 spring is.