That's useful info Son............I have a HT double chest in my loft somewhere, but had never got round to figuring out how the rifles fitted in. The chest came twenty-odd years ago when a pal & I did a deal with the late Bruce Gorton.[COLOR="black"]
---------- Post added at 12:28 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:26 PM ----------
I have a Bren/No.4T transit chest that I'll have to dig out and get some photos of the interior. I got it in Canada many years ago. Stay tuned.
I still have a low and medium mount HT in my collection. I also traded with Bruce Gorton for L42's when I had a glut of them. He already knew which serial numbers he was after before I bought them all!
That's useful info Son............I have a HT double chest in my loft somewhere, but had never got round to figuring out how the rifles fitted in. The chest came twenty-odd years ago when a pal & I did a deal with the late Bruce Gorton.[COLOR="black"]
---------- Post added at 12:28 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:26 PM ----------
When you dig it out, see how many of the baffles are still present. I have diagrams here somewhere of the internals.
One thing I never worked out… there is a short leather strap in the centre of the bottom of the chest. It is attached to the bottom and has a buckle on one end and holes in the other to into the buckle…
Happy to supply more pics of the internals if anyone is interested.
Attached are pictures of the No4T Bren Gun chest conversion that I have, this particular case and the rifle are featured in "The British Sniper" by Steve Houghton on page 90, the rifle and scope are also featured on pages 107, 117 & 118. It would appear that this Bren Gun chest conversion was done from new as there does not appear to be any sign of a Bren Gun ever being fitted to it. It is interesting to note that even though there is a seal around the top of the chest for the lid to close on it also has an additional canvas strip screwed to the hinge side to prevent the ingress of debris.
Awesome this is a good reference Buccaneer, so my friend gave me the dimensions in mm which I converted;
1170 L = 46.06"
240 H = 9.44"
134 W = 5.3"
So does this sound about right I'll have a gecko on the weekend as I'm trading some stuff & a bit of cash to add to my collection from him.
Thank you to all that have taken the time and effort to help with this enquiry.
Regards
CINDERS
Awesome this is a good reference Buccaneer, so my friend gave me the dimensions in mm which I converted;
1170 L = 46.06"
240 H = 9.44"
134 W = 5.3"
Hi CINDERS the measurements quoted are correct to with a couple of mm, after all these chests are rather old and made of wood!!!! if you need any additional information please let me know. Paul
All of the crates in my picture in post #6 have the canvas strip along the hinge side, as does my Lithgow Sniper crate IIRC… I thought it was a satnadard feature
My T is a 1944 vintage M47C unknown when this canvas extra came into it Son unless we can see some B/W WWII pics depicting this feature.
Thanks for the info one and all I'll try and get the pics on the weekend.
Converted Bren chests are rare, at least to me. I purchased the only one I have ever seen, ex-Greek. I do not know if they did it or if it was done in the UK. It has been repainted on the outside without any other markings.
If anyone can translate the paper inside I would really appreciate it as I have never researched it.
Might help a bit.
Buccaneer, your 11th and 12th photos seem to show quite a bit of internal shuffling of fittings over the years. Did I misunderstand that you believe this chest was never set up for the Bren?
Last edited by Surpmil; 01-23-2023 at 11:40 PM.
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Well all things change don't they I went up got the bits I wanted had a look at the No15 chest which had a tiny bit of rot on on end but easy fixed so me old mate said;
"I thought about it and decided I'll clean it up for myself and use for my HT", not sure HT's were dropped from aircraft but wartime being as it was they probably did.
I was disappointed but in hindsight it did not have the correct locking hasps or hinges so for now one of my old school buddies is a cabinet maker with the pics and some drawings I got off this site years ago they give enough detail to build a legit one.
I think Warren had the hinges and locking hasps is this correct or if someone knows who makes them in Aus. TIA
PM
Originally Posted by 
