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There......., another useless bit of Bren info that you probably already knew!
Nope. And long may your 'useless' bits of info continue. 
Nature and nature's laws lay hid in night;
God said "Let Newton be!" and all was light.
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07-15-2016 08:13 AM
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Maybe someone who's computer literate could photograph the mag loading tool in the box and highlight the bits/recesses I mention.
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Contributing Member
I recently managed to obtain a MK2 (aluminium) Bren mag loader from a dealer in Bulgaria; quite how it got there I've no idea. Although I now have a digital camera, as yet, I haven't worked out how to use it and so unfortunately I am unable to help with pictures at the moment. Was the recess intended for the MK1 loader as it doesn't appear to be of much benefit to fitting the Mk2 in the chest?
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Are you SURE its actually a real BREN mag loader??
There have been a lot, recently, of Bulgarian ZB-39 8x56R cartridge mag loaders up for sale on the usual internet sites.....they look very close via cursory inspection.
They aren't interchangeable unfortunately.......
-TomH
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CHEST, Bren, .303” MG Mk1 and Mk1*. Part number C1/BE 6231. DD(E) 1822 2-10-36 Introduced with the gun in August 1938, every Bren machine gun came from Ordnance Stores in a chest together with the CES. The Mk1* chest was modified under the authority of LoC B-3618 in June 1940. The modification consisted of a slight alteration to the internal fittings of the chest in order to accommodate the Mk2 hopper type magazine filler in place of the Mk1 charger loading type. As the modification is completed by Armourers locally, the chest becomes known as the Mk1* pattern.
So you probably have an unmodified Mk1 chest. But be advised that your mag filler might not be a UK
variant designed to fit in the chest. Ours were cast by QUALCAST in Birmingham, Birmaloy and their mark is cast into the housing. Cast by them but finished by Berridge. If my memory serves me right, the basic squad test for mag filling by hand was 40 seconds. Time to clear a jammed up mag loader, 5 minutes!
Incidentally, the chest was designed to take the rifle and bayonet of the No2 of the gun team while he was acting in that role. Yet another useless bit of Bren info you all probably knew....
You beat me to it Tom...... Well put. But I'm sure one would look good in the chest. Like a fake Omega - until you need to tell the time
Last edited by Peter Laidler; 07-15-2016 at 01:19 PM.
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Legacy Member
Originally Posted by
Flying10uk
I recently managed to obtain a MK2 (aluminium) Bren mag loader from a dealer in Bulgaria; quite how it got there I've no idea. Although I now have a digital camera, as yet, I haven't worked out how to use it and so unfortunately I am unable to help with pictures at the moment. Was the recess intended for the MK1 loader as it doesn't appear to be of much benefit to fitting the Mk2 in the chest?
Easiest way to tell is if it has a number I.e "No11234", the ZB39 loaders had numbers that matched the gun. The British Mk2 was devoid of a serial number.
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Thank You to Brit plumber For This Useful Post:
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Contributing Member
Yes Brit plumber, it has a number "No11234" as you suggest, so is it a ZB39 loader then??? A standard British .303 mag fits onto it ok but as it is only to go with a deac Bren I haven't actually tried using it. One of the problems I found was obtaining any information on them even trying to get hold of pictures is no easy task.
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For a deact display, ZB-39 loader?......probably actually a MUCH better choice as they are markedly cheaper and easier to acquire......
From a few inches away, they are very, very close in appearance........unless you're having a show with people from this board over, I seriously doubt anyone would ever notice!! Run with it......
Note also......not to send you running out again on a wild goose chase.....buy you're not quite done with the mag loader selections if you want to collect the whole set. There is also a BREn mag loader that rather than load from loose rounds into the inserted magazine, loaded the mags from inserted Enfield Rifle stripper clips. They are probably even harder to locate alive and above ground now....
Jerry Prasser here has had one he's been trying to unload for ever:
Bren mag loader with magazine very rare : Class 3 Parts Accessories at GunBroker.com
This one. as you can see, is WELL oxidized......nothing that couldn't be redone. He's been asking stupid money for it for a long time which is why it hasn't sold. If anyone "over the pond" wants this one, I'd be happy to pluck it from him and send it.......unless there is an issue getting into the UK now?
-TomH
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Thank You to TactAdv For This Useful Post:
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Contributing Member
It was about £120 or so that I paid for the loader. In picture 7 the ali casting looks as if it's been broken then glued? back together again?
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OK, I give up - Exactly WHAT is the difference between the Mk I & Mk I* mags? I've got at least 10 or 12 mags for my Mk I but I have No idea what the difference is that you are talking about!
How about a photo or something??? Maby I've got a gold mine in mags????????????
Sarge
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