Bren L4 / .308 build

[Peter Laidler]

Great to see plus the magnificent workmanship too. Really made my day. My old boss used to tell me the the old Bren was at its best in the 7.62mm L4 role, as the 70's section light machine gun. I used to disagree, saying that it was at its best as the .303 gun where it would just piop and pop along all day. But they were both my bread and butter and now I say that I prefer the L4 versions

[cal50]

Great to see plus the magnificent workmanship too. Really made my day. My old boss used to tell me the the old Bren was at its best in the 7.62mm L4 role, as the 70's section light machine gun. I used to disagree, saying that it was at its best as the .303 gun where it would just piop and pop along all day. But they were both my bread and butter and now I say that I prefer the L4 versions

The L4 seems to have more recoil impulse when fired semi , the 303 is just smoooooth.
Its easier to find or load 7.62 and most of the 303 surplus is drying up or decades old.

I have several hundred rounds of MKVII 303 that is just a tad short of cycling my gun. Experimenting adding a full heavy crimp to bump up the pressure / impulse a bit.
Pulling the bullet and reloading with modern propellant does work 100%.

[browningautorifle]

Pulling the bullet and reloading with modern propellant does work 100%.

As much work as it was, that was what I did regularly. Primers are a problem too so they would at least get new primers if the propellant looked OK. Some, I would need to change both. Then they were perfect.

[cal50]

Stripped everything down to parts , parked the receiver , barrel , small parts and everything else. I wanted parkerizing on all the internals since its impossible to paint some things. Shot a light coat of black epoxy paint on the fresh parkerizing. I plug the bore and happy my plugs did not pop out.
Not really concerned about the bore but my chamber has a nice polish and I don't want to etch it with park solution.

Welds did show a heat line in the parkerizing , black appliance epoxy paint baked @ 400F will be the final finish.
There are a lot of various small parts for the tripod pins , barrel handgrip , stock hardware , etc. Some of these things have not been apart in decades.

I wanted some finish under the magazine supports before I rivet in place. Cut rivets to the needed length and used my press to seat them. Check mag fit and now I can apply the finial finish.


Fresh park~




I like clean rivets.

[browningautorifle]

Welds did show a heat line in the parkerizing

Not surprised, we did from time to time have a case of welds not showing. That was a surprise.

[dcollector]

Really fantastic job, and great thread to follow.

As I gather it, not a terrible thing to show the weld lines, proof of re-manufacture, should that scenario ever play out.

Regardless, great machine work and nice thread.
I wish the guy I had do my Bren's had been so diligent.

[cal50]

Never fails when you are in the position to put things back together you always run into something that sets you back.

Cant find the barrel nut retainer / top dust cover spring , stole the one from my last parts set. I will forget to get a replacement and do it again when I build my last Bren. Always some crap in the holes after blasting , park, paint. Cleaned out holes and put in the parts and no surprise. Plungers work nice.

I just found out I have a standard MKII dust cover , one that is not cut for clearance for the L4 magazine adapter. Never fails after its parked and painted.
Easy job in the mill but between missing springs , wrong cover and I am not done yet its a good example to NOT to get in a hurry.


A few light coats of black appliance epoxy paint baked @ 400F , it matches the lower sliding dust cover black paint quite well.
I was going to lay it on heavy to cover the weld line but looks OK to use and not be embarrassed.




I had the dust cover on and installed the L4 magazine adapter to learn the cover did not close , no side clearance.






Clearance cut in the mill~

[Peter Laidler]

Don't worry about the top mag cover. They were ALL simply conversions of the original covers. It is these little tricks that made the conversions so simple. Same as the shrouded bipod sleeve attached to the original .303 sleeve. Mind you, that was a disaster for us Armourers as the were easily bent and distorted as the gin tipped over to the left (or was it the right?). So after being repaired a few times, the bipod sleeve was beyond repair and had to be replaced. The backsight slide should also be polished to show the numbers clearly. The original backsight slides were also conversions of the old .303 slide. Ground clean and re machine engraved to reflect the longer ranges. But the cursor was always slightly loose.

If my memory serves me right, there is a bit more to do to your top cover to get it to work properly. Shortened at the rear slightly????

Later we were permitted to engrave the gun number along the left side of the butt slide, under and to the right of the change lever. The butt plates were also modified with a sling loop welded at the top. This was to allow the use of the GPMG sling/hook. The Bren sling loop on the side mounted butt sling loop really damaged the wood butt

Mag well inserts working loose were a bit of a problem and a problem to fix too because we couldn't get inside to tighten them. The big workshops had an internal adjustable block that would support the inner part of the rivet as you used a specially shaped punch over the outer part. I never understood why they weren't tig or mig welded. After all, they're there to stay

[cal50]

Hopefully I will have time tonight to put more bits back together.

[42rocker]

Looks Great with the park and paint. So Nice.

Later 42rocker