Mk1 Bren magazine

[blitzkrieg]

If anyone is after an early mk1 Bren mag, I have one for sale in good condition for £100+ postage.
PM for details.

Information

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[Flying10uk]

I am not interested in purchasing it but would be interested in seeing a couple of pictures of it, please, if possible.

[blitzkrieg]

I am unable to post pics however if you PM your email address I can send pics that way.

[Sarge]

I'm curious -
What is it about this Bren mag that makes it so valuable???
I can buy Bren mags here in the US for closer to 1/3 of what you're asking.
Sarge

[Brit plumber]

The Mk1 mag was the original mag, it was later modified to 1* and new mags manufactured as MkII and beyond. These Mk1 mags are now scarce. The BGS estimated there was only a small number in existence but they are turning up all the time. I'd now estimate there to be at least 100. I have at least 10 and I know many collectors have similar amounts.

[peregrinvs]

I've had three pass through my hands and currently have two. Two of them were found within about 10 minutes of each other on different stalls at the War & Peace Show some years back. They cost £3, £5 and £15 - but that was just 'knowing what the dealer didn't' luck. Strangely, all three had olive green paint on them.

[Flying10uk]

Could the Mk1 mags have "recently" come out of storage in Greece? That source did yield significant numbers of MK1 combination tools a while back of which I have 2.

[skiprat]

The ones I picked up from war n peace show, over the last couple of years...came out of Ireland ( along with the 6 mag/reloading tool boxes)

[blitzkrieg]

I am not interested in purchasing it but would be interested in seeing a couple of pictures of it, please, if possible.

Have replied to your email as requested.

[Peter Laidler]

The magazine loading tools were another one of those things that really did, well........., nothing. Even loading magazines was a bit hit and miss! The problem, according to the official papers at the small arms school was that there were Two TYPES, supposedly to cater for the two types of either boxed/loose or bandlier ammunition issued. To make it all work, the uit would have BOTH sorts of mag loaders in equal measure. That's because the unit didn't know whether the ammo would come in bandoliers or loose in boxes. You could bet that if you had a loose/trough type mag loaders you'd get your ammo in chargers. Charger Bren mag loaders, you'd get ammo in loose form. And unless you had a stout table of lorry tailboard handy, where did you clamp the (expensive) loaders? Ity couldn't even be successfully clamped onto the Bren chest! It was quickly learned that if you just grabbed a handful of ammo, you could hand-load a magazine as quickly as you could with the jamb prone machines.

Loaders were soon abandoned and hand loading the magazines was soon incorporated into the TOET's (training tests)........... and guess what.........? Yep, the timings were 'on average' just as quick as using the machines. They were never officially withdrawn so far as I could tell but were just sent into obsolescence.....

But even today, the last vestiges of the magazine loading tools is visible in the early Bren chests. Look into the left hand side where the cross-piece block lifts out. That recess on the underside and the half-moon recess in the rear of the chest is where one of the magazine loaders could be clamped.

There......., another useless bit of Bren info that you probably already knew!