Unlike the MG 42, which was a specialist weapon. The entire squad was able to use the Bren Gun. In dire situations, and in doctrine the last man standing was on the Bren Gun, hence "he picked up a Bren Gun" .
@@syhaidar7489 attempting to use that weapon in anger is pretty deserving of commendation. I know of at least one VC winner who tried to halt a Tiger advance with a PIAT.
@@syhaidar7489 makes sense. VCs were quite often earned when things went very wrong. And depending on what is in front of you when things go really sideways, you probably need a Bren or PIAT to keep it from going wronger.
I rather enjoyed the anecdote of opening the thing up and "Oh. The spring broke. Interesting. Didn't notice when we were shooting it." If the thing still operates with a broken spring, and a broken lower receiver, it's just about as soldier-proof as it's possible to be.
Ask most soldiers what they want most from a gun and it's reliability. The Bren looks like it's built like a tank and very easy to service and maintain. I love the idea that there are no small parts to lose when you disassemble it.
I used the later 7.62mmNATO British Army version. It was extremely accurate even though you could sit it on its butt plate, hold it by the flash hider, shake it back and forth and feel and hear the barrel rattling loosely. Legend had it that this was deliberately designed in to enable the bullets to spread over a wider area. Judging from the groups you could achieve with controlled bursts...it didn’t work.
Dad always said that (the wartime ones) were too accurate for a machine gun. They taught him to demolish buildings with the Bren by shooting off the corners!
@@briantate7296 Trained and patrolled there in the early 1980's with 1RNZIR ,for 2 years.We also used the Bren in 7.62mm.1RNZIR served there from 1959 to 1989.
I remember learning about the Australian solider and Victoria Cross recipient Bruce Kingsbury in school when I was about 10 years old. He died in combat on the Kokoda Track. His VC citation referenced the Bren gun, so I asked my teacher what a Bren gun was, but unfortunately she didn't know. I'm now a primary (elementary) school teacher, and thanks to Forgotten Weapons, I will know when my students ask me!
When I was in grade 5 my teacher gave me specifically a book on WW2 firearms just because I showed some extra interest in them. He was a swell old guy!
Another VC associated with the Bren - it reads like an over-the-top Hollywood script (shooting the bren whilst standing and then firing a mortar from the hip) but my cousin, Ken Trevor was CO in the battle and attested to it. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Arthur_Knowland
@@73North265 I just read the Wikipedia page that you linked, and feel truly humble as a result: what a man, and as a Brit (who is very proud to have been trained on both the Bren and the SMLE No4 Mk1 in my youth) I feel very strongly that this is exactly the type of history that should be taught in schools today (rather than hushed-up/ignored by the education "professionals" as "Offensive Colonialist/Racist/anti-LGBT+/Jingoistic Rhetoric", as I'm deeply ashamed/disgusted to report that it is...) to hopefully inspire some of the utterly pathetic current generation of Special Little Snowflakes that our Once-Great Nation is spewing-out these days before heroism like this is lost from our history and culture forever...
Shut up and take my time! ^-^ But seriously, a Cadillac of machine guns. Would have been better with a belt feed, but nobody really knew how bad a machine gun relying on box magazines would be. Lessons learned.
My father was a Bren gunner in Burma in the last months of the war. He called the Bren 22lbs. of awkwardness. when asked why he said no matter how you carried it there was some part of it which stuck into you.
That's the fate of every mg soldier in the world. At least he has also the fun, the gunner 2 has to carry all the other heavy shit and can't even go BRRR.
I don't mean to contradict your father, but to be fair to the gun, anything and everything becomes an unspeakable awkwardness to lug around in the jungle. And if I *had* to lug a machine gun around a jungle, it'd probably be the Bren. American gunners who had to haul the M60 and fumble around with 100 round belts in Vietnam can attest.
Having had the "honour" of lugging a Bren (plus 6x30-round magazines of .303 and all my other kit) 25 miles across Salisbury Plain in a day more times than I'd care to remember I empathise deeply with your Father, and am extremely grateful that I didn't have to do that in the intense heat, humidity and mud of Burma while dreading the thought that enemy contact could erupt at any time, and I salute your Father for his Service with enormous gratitude...
What many people don't realize is just how important the Czechoslovakian arms industry was prior to WW2. Once the Germans captured that industrial might, the stage was set for a prolonged fight.
@@muhammadnursyahmi9440 The real blow was the decision of our then-president Havel right after the revolution that overthrew the communist government, to greatly diminish our arms industry. I kid you not, in one of his speeches, he said let´s make love, not guns. Well, plenty of our steel industry was supplying our arms industry. The demand for steel greatly diminished, which made steel companies go bankrupt, which also led to a lot of coal mines closing, and so on, and on, and on. It was one of the major contributors to why the 90s were really bad in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Both our small-arms and general military industry was top of the line, and a hippie messed it all up.
@@muratbalkan3430 Nobody financed him, he lead anti communist revolution. It was just stupid and naive call. He was an actor, not a statesman or economist, or some such.
@@PavelKahun Ok, but it is easier for manipulators to cooperate this kind of figures. İ still give a chance to the probability that he was the chosen one by the X. Anyway, actually i know little about your country except that i have luckily been to prag several days.
In the Army cadets at school in the 1970's I fired Lee Enfield .303's and Brens on many occasions. The rifle had a pretty hefty kick for a puny 15/16 year-old to manage - the Bren was like magic. Its gas powered re-cocking took all the energy from the recoil and meant that the gun actually hopped forward slightly on firing rather than trying its best to bust your shoulder. It was a joy to shoot, and, for a 'machine gun', it was amazingly accurate. I could regularly hit a target at 300 yards in single shot mode. Wish I had one today!
Yes, I think if you needed a 'weapon' to defend yourself/family, short of an 'Avenger Auto Cannon' you couldn't go very far wrong with the Bren Gun or a Lee Enfield .303" rifle. My Grandad was able to shoot out a light bulb/lamp in the Charing Cross Hotel from the 'South Bank' during the 'blackout' in WWII with an .303 rifle, that's no mean feat.
Move to the US, submit your identity papers to the ATF's Form 4, wait for approval. Spend $5-10k and now you can cuddle with your Bren every night. Or you can get collector/museums/dealers license and buy the really cool stuff- but you have to register every item. Crazy system but I've never heard of a $10k gun used in a heinous crime. It's almost😊 always stolen handguns/rifles and shotguns.
"This Czech gun did well, much to everyone's surprise" has been said so many times that people should stop be being surprised by now. The Czech people tend to hit nothing but home runs when they make guns.
Agree. Heck, I think they perfected the CZ75 when they made the P-09/07, which is a 75 design but with a polymer lower frame. My p-09 is a sweet shooting 21+1 handgun that weighs less than a 1911
That was fascinating. I'm not really into guns, but my father drove a Bren gun carrier in WWII, and one of my childhood memories of him (he died while I was still young) was hearing him rave about the merits of the Bren gun. I've associated the name with him ever since, so it was nice to learn more about it. Thanks.
I'm super keen to see a video on the 7.62 NATO L4A2 Bren. I've always been curious as to what changes were necessary to convert the Bren from the rimmed .303 case to 7.62. Also worth noting that the L4A2 Brens were made to accept 30 round L1A1 SLR magazines instead of the traditional curved Bren magazine.
@@mikael7084 Well, I suppose it’s partly “comments for the algorithm”, trying to drive up engagement to help the channel. On a more fundamental level of course, the drive to communicate is arguably what makes us human, and has give us the technology with which to enjoy Ian’s pedagogy. Whilst RUclips comment section is hardly the exemplar of the Socratic method, and Plato believed oral communication more powerful than written language, I think there is always something to be learned from discourse with a fellow human. There is also the question of why you would use your undoubtedly valuable time in responding to what is, if I’m honest, a fairly inane comment of mine. No matter, I am sure we will cross paths again in more congenial circumstances.
@@dentonw6ir0qf15 absolutely! I believe the ease of conversion was possibly due to the work already put into export versions (which fired more modern rimless cartridges) and the original design being in 8mm Mauser. I’m really looking forward to the next few videos! (Edited to change “8nm to 8mm)
I love these videos, the reason I started watching this awesome channel because I wanted to know about the weapons my Dad used in WW2. He was a mortar man in the British Army, 2/7 Queens Royal Regiment. He told me he was trained on all the guns of the time, the Bren gun, Enfield Mk 4 No 1, even a Boys Anti Tank rifle (which he hated.) He ended up with the Enfield. For a time in Italy during the Anzio landings he was equipped with a Thompson the 'Chicago Typewriter' varient. He said he like the Thompson a lot. Bren gun carriers rattled his teeth because they were fast and everything bounced around over the slightest bump. He ended up a POW after a terrible battle during the Anzio campaign where his unit was overrun by a German panzer brigade. Lost most of his unit in 2 days of fighting. He's been gone for 20 years. Proud of the man.
Agree. From a moral stand point i dislike guns but fuck me the brilliance that goes into the engineering and indeed comes from it (like the micrometer) cannot be overstated.
Guns are tools and like all tools they serve to manipulate the world, guns just so happen to specialize in ranged destructive manipulation (and are by extension tools of threat). Hands are required operate guns, and if there's something to loathe it's the kind of hands that get ahold of a gun. You can't loathe the guns themselves unless you think there shouldn't be a tool that empowers someone to kill, but then you'd have to loathe many more things like cars because they can mow people down, hammers because they can bash people's heads in when wielded and even will/premeditation of the kind that allows to kill with or without weapon by deceit (and to loathe that there is the question of if people should kill one another for any end, even not strictly, but still kind of loosely personal ones such as for an administration). One that tries to loathe guns while thinking that people should kill one another for any end including personal and public safety must understand that weapons can also be used purposes that don't involve hurting people such as to hunt for sport or for food (hunting is a whole other can of worms) or for defense against deadly animals and that weapons meant for those uses are of course still going to kill a person if fired at them, war existed before the invention of firearms and that firearms are only used because they are the most efficient means to wage war, with swords and maces preceding the invention and adoption of firearms. Murdering a person can be as simple as bashing their noggin hard enough with a rock, It's true that pulling a trigger is easier on the body and probably also the mind, due to distance from target and the act of pulling a trigger being faster and probably feeling less personal that swinging an object toward someone with ill intent and the distance between attacker and target makes defense harder, but this swings both ways and someone with a firearm can defend themselves or someone in danger with far more ease compared to someone wielding a cold weapon. This of course comes back to the weapon being a tool and requiring hand and will to wield and the will being what ultimately decides if the weapon will cause harm against the harmless or cause harm against the aforementioned wielder to defend the defenseless. This whole tangent of course assumes that the person judging and potentially loathing isn't a notionist who bases their decisions on "barrel shroud/muzzle compensator/box magazine/forward grip/fully automatic/any other weapon characteristic is scary!!" of course I don't mean that there aren't weapons that shouldn't be used but causing unnecessary suffering along with causing harm necessary to act as a weapon is a whole other thing, without forgetting that a weapon can and often is very efficient while causing plenty suffering and even a knife can cause unnecessary suffering if you make some hundred shallow cuts on the victim and wait for their body to ever so slowly give in or, with a gun, shoot arms and legs of the victim, shoot holes in their ears, feet and hands and wait for them to bleed out. Of course these examples wouldn't be the slightest bit efficient at anything but pleasing a sadist or masochist, a better example of an efficient weapon causing copious suffering would be mustard gas killing everyone who inhales it through 3 days straight of hellish blistering illness certainly was, as seen is WW1. Watch RUclips delete the comment I spent all this time writing, which I think likely.
You should be loathing the people that use guns in ways you dislike, not the guns themselves. Many people owe their lives to guns in more ways than one. Our family grew up as poor as you could be, but we survived off supplemental wild game my father was able to provide by hunting. You sound like every other elitist in our society today who has had it too damn easy.
In about 1966, I was sent to near Nadzab (near Lae, New Guinea) as a School Cadet instructor. I was also tasked with uncrating a brand-new Bren. The wooden box was marked with 1942. This gun was a little harder to assemble than the well-worn guns I had used with school cadets in Charters Towers and Mt Isa (Queensland, Australia). My platoon was then tasked with setting an ambush against an "enemy" patrol consisting of SAS specialists. One of the boys in my platoon was carrying the Bren, and asked if he could try it on "Auto". I said "yes, but set the gas port on 4" (the biggest port - one would usually start with the smallest -1). In this ambush, this Bren fired at least 5 rounds in Auto before "running out of puff". The SAS fellows began screaming out (well this is the polite version) "Abort, abort, this was not supposed to be a live exercise."
"The British were using cordite because they just had to be a little different" - We are not even remotely sorry. Also - Ian, mate, please, and I do believe that I am talking for the majority, take all the time you like. There is no such thing as a 'too long already' Video on this channel!
This takes me back over 60 years to my school cadet "service". Thank you for the memories. I really liked the Bren but my great love was the Vickers MMG. On weekend manoeuvres I had to carry the tripod because I was a tall bugger. Damn it was heavy.
I used this as a cadet, fantastic to shoot, very accurate and had more of a pull forward than a recoil which is surprising in .303. I also used it in the blank firing format, there was a "masher" on the end of the barrel that broke up the projectiles which were made of wood! Painted blue as I recall for identification.
Note to Ian, all Bren tripod catches are tight. The Tripod is a work of art in itself, also capable of AA deployment, extra bits stored inside the legs. .There was also a twin AAmount and a drum magazine feed for AA use.
This is a real cool weapon to fire! I fired this several times in the early 1970's. It had a very close bullet spread when fired at a target. I remember the Army training to strip this weapon was in this order - Piston, Barrel, Butt, Body, Bipod. Procedure reversed for assembly. When firing laying on the ground using the Bipod, your left hand would clasp the Butt, just behind the Rear site, and you would pull the Butt into your shoulder and hold it while firing. We were told this keeps it more stable and it did! When fired the Bren had a tendency to "pull" forward because of the Bipod.
The hook that goes over your shoulder and the handle you pull down on with your left hand was useful. They even added the same feature to the L86 light support weapon. The hook prevents you pulling the weapon too far down and keeps it perfectly sat in your shoulder when firing. especially when prone. You just have to maintain pressure with your left hand. Its remarkably stable. In the cadets in 1992 we had both a Bren (7.62 NATO) and a brand new L86 and I got to fire both.
I fired a heavy barrel R1, which was the South African version of the FN FAL. It also had a plate on the butt that folded out to rest on the top of your shoulder, and it really helped a lot to stabilise the weapon.
@@SoWhat1221 I saw where he did a comparison between the 1860 Henry and the Spencer and tried to say the Henry was a better battlefield weapon. He's allowed to have his wrong opinion of course, but it made me dubious about his tests.
@@jfcard0055 You dont think that the Henry is better than the Spencer? Ian and Karl did a whole series of video about it and certainly believe thats the case.
When I was a kid, we used to strip and reassemble the Bren while blindfolded, as part of our school cadet training. They also had SMLE in .22 LR, to train us in marksmanship on the cheap and without to much recoil for 12 year olds.
I’ve never shot .303 British, but maybe it’s due to American tradition but at 12 I could handle 12 gauge high brass or .308 fine… but I can definitely see the cost thing. .22lr bricks are the same price as 20 .308 😂
In India, we used SMLE until 1960's and Bren LMG into 1990's. I heard that they trained college students with these 2 in the mid to late 60's in case of a war with PRC/Pakistan.
@@Zeunknown1234 hi Arush, one of my ambitions is to get a 7.62 Bren, I’d also love a Mk 1, as a curio, but the 7.62 as a gun to shoot. I think the 7.62 is still used in India, at least for Reserve Units. I did my time in the Army, by then the Bren had been phased out, but we had some in the Regimental Museum, I worked over the Christmas break one year, only about 40 men in the whole base. One of those remaining had a range officer certification. So we would go to the range daily, one day we took one of the 7.62 Berns, I loved it, at that time my only comparison was the Pig M60. We must have put about 20,000 rounds down range over that Christmas. I know that it improved my weapon handling and accuracy immensely. A few years later I went on my Corp promotion course and the 100 students on the course had a shooting competition, in which I outscored the nearest to me by 300%, so it did some good. I’d like to see how it would stack up tactically with a Negev 7.
im a former royal marines commando and used both the gpmg and the bren or as we called it the lmg, the geeps was great as it had a spread pattern of fire, the bren however was considerably more accurate which really was its demise as a light maching gun, i used the bren in norway ski ing as it was easier to use, i also carried the gpmg which was heavy and awkward when ski ing down a mountain. i did however prefer the lmg when patrolling in northern ireland. fyi the mod tried to make the bren a spread pattern weapon by using cartridges with different powder loads but it wasnt effective.
Great weapon. Carried and used it as a .303 and a 7.62mm weapon. Very easy to clean. Used to grip the stock with the left hand and rest the cheek on your hand. Would jump slightly forward. Properly sandbagger you could put two rounds through the same hole.
@@denistardif6650 The whole point of a general purpose machinegun is that it can be used as a light machinegun: ditch the tripod, load an assault drum and you are good to go.
@@denistardif6650 _and this is usually done with the method of walking fire_ Walking fire was thing for a brief period during WWI and was quickly abandoned after that (for good reasons). _unlike the MG42 needing to be entrenched and stable_ You can shoot the 42 from the same position you would shoot almost any other light machine gun of the era. _you are not shooting a MG42 from the hip without being the biggest liability on your team lol_ See _Heeresdienstvorscrhift 130/2a_ it is the official field manual for the infantry, and contains the proper procedure as to how to correctly employ light machineguns like the 34 and 42 in the assault role, firing from the hip. It was still taught in the Bundeswehr until very recently. You can also fire it from the shoulder, as the following video demonstrates: youtu. be/nFuv5BQ8w5Y?si=8jyX3Ug8Y8cbLGNC&t=67 As for the rest, we are running in circles: by definition, a general purpose machinegun has to be able to be employed in the light machinegun role to be considered as such.
@@denistardif6650 _would love to see the sorry sucker who as to fire and carry the ammo gun alone is 25 pounds one belt is 22 pounds fired in less than a minute poor man who will be lugging all that ammo and gun lol_ Everyone did it? All the men in the German infantry squad were supposed to carry ammunition for the machinegun. And it was not a German thing, the Britis did it too, and so the Japanese, etc.
Fun fact. The British choice of .303 inch seems odd. Why the extra 3 thousanths? Why not go .30 like the yanks?. Reason is that .303 is Imperial speak for 7.7 mm. Yep the Enfield bores have been metric since the 1880s. When Brno had to change to .303, they were actually going from 8 mm to 7.7 mm. They stayed metric. The real challenge was switching from rimless to rimmed. Then the design had to be adjusted so that it could be manufactured on British machine tools.
This thing was actually still in service in Ireland until fairly recently, trained on it in the reserves in the late 2000's (ish) As hilariously outdated as it was, I have a lot of great memories of it, was a joy to fire, crazy accurate for a (light) machine gun.
@@ninaakari5181 it was big and heavy (lighter than its replacement the GPMG though), you got 12 mags in a steel box which the no 2 could carry or could be split between a couple of the section. But it was a great weapon, the slings we had helped a lot to spread the weight (sling over my shoulder, weapon on my magazine pouches across my body) I used them in 0.303" and in 7.62mm
@@paddyhickey1135 To be honest it would have been great it we'd had it in Afghanistan, lighter than GPMG and exceptionally accurate suppressive 7.62 fire out to 1000 metres would have been very useful, far more so than the Minimi...
There's a couple of pics of Brens in use by British reservists in the first Gulf War. My friend that served in the RN also used them up to the end of the eighties.
Thank you for an excellent summary of the function and use of this superbly designed machine known affectionately as the Bren. In my younger days, I used this machine in shooting competitions between counties at Bisley in England, and over a thousand yards had to fire ten rounds every hundred yards at targets which were ten inches diameter, with a backpack filled with housebricks to slow me down, running on loose pebbles, adjusting the sights for range , and by the end of the competition, out of breath, it was one of many competitions which included Le Enfield .303, and 38 calibre pistols. Watching the disassembly of this fine gun was nostalgic, and fascinating. Brilliant eloquence in the script, and great to hear this short lecture from an informed and enthusiastic professional.
A British army squad was supposed to have 2 Bren guns to a squad, 1 per section for the rest of the squad to operate around (Instead of the German's 1 mg42 per squad.) which I think was a better idea. They rarely had enough though according to many veterans of that war.
@@godlovesyou1995 Certainly, it was good but not better, it had issues with bolt bounce and it was very dangerous if the bolt bounced and the cartridge discharges
Just in case anyone was wondering about the value of the licence fee: "If you want to compare the value of a £3 0s 0d Commodity in 1937 there are four choices. In 2019 the relative: real price of that commodity is £195.00 labour value of that commodity is £528.60 income value of that commodity is £889.10 economic share of that commodity is £1,257.00" 1£=1,41$=1,16€
My Grandfather used this in the Korean War. They held a famous hill and kept the north from advancing on high points. He told me one late night they came under small arms and mortar fire. He was firing the bren at enemies to the point of changing a barrel out. Several minutes passed, one barrel change and 6 mags later they ran out of ammunition... he then ran down the backside of the hill stopping in bushes as north Korean fighters were sneaking by. Trying to take positions on them. He runs from one concealment to the next then runs to another fallback point trench he could hear more of them coming so he grabs two large ammo boxes and proceeds back up the hill in the same fashion as mortar barrage started again falling all around his approximate vicinity. After dodging hell on earth he reaches the top to find his brother's in arms and allies holding it down like hero's with grease guns and other infantry rifles. He jumps into the gunners nest opens the 1st ammo box with haste rocks a mag in and that night for what felt like an eternity was a successful half hour to 40 minute engagement. The morning rolled around and after the sun was high enough to illuminate the valley the aftermath of the enemy was devastating. The 100s of enemies kia was a surreal sight. Some of the North Koreans fell victim to friendly mortar fire and sustained lethal wounds from the large caliber that was fired from the bren. It was years later that the hill was documented in films as one of the most brutal theatre engagements among my Grandfathers regiment (CAD PPCLI) since WWII.
May God forever Bless the Princess Patricias Canadian Light Infantry! I had the opportunity to see them in action with the Canadian Brigade (2 Battalion) when I was stationed in the then West Germany in the US Army. Some tough suckers the PPCLI!
I know this is probably a movie quote (not sure which movie) but it seems like unless a LMG in general is a bad tool for the job (like if you need a concealed carry gun,) there aren't many weapons more practical than that.
For some reason I was under the mistaken impression that large scale production of the Bren had begun four or five years earlier than it did. Now I understand why so many merchant ships, home guard units, etc, were still using Vickers and Lewis guns for the first years of WWII.
I fired the Bren while I was in National Service 1st. intake 1958 at Anzac Rifle range. They were remarkably accurate, easy to use. Easy to pull apart and reassemble. I had to adjust the gas occasionally and to do so they made us lay on our side and not to raise our head. Also change the barrel when it got hot.
Thats correct Jay, I've used the .303, the piston operation tends the push the gun forward rather than back, you have to pull it back into your shoulder.
Excellent video! I love this machine gun. In Rio de Janeiro,police utilized the Madsen until 2019. Since you mentioned the weapon. I say this because,for me,weapons of the past were fantastically manufactured. Thank you.
@@bob_the_bomb4508 This clip cuts the ending “I used to work in the factory where they made these things...” as 51WCDodge says Bob Monkhouse did work at Enfield. ruclips.net/video/-QIO_G9gs0A/видео.html
My Dad loved his Bren. He said it was too accurate and that you could get two bullets into the same spot and the Army considered this uneconomical, so they shortened the barrel by two inches. Most likely just something he heard but it does attest his faith in the Bren. He was an excellent shot though, even in his 70's.
Don't think he mentioned that we used the .303 round to adjust the gas regulator and shove through the body locking pin ,handy to manually empty the mag as well
I was a member of an Army Cadet unit in Dorset in the 1960s and we went to a training camp in Cornwall, where we were introduced to the Bren. They would not allow us to shoot the thing, but a young second lieutenant got into a small trench on the range and proceded to blast away with it, minus any sandbags. Much to the amusement of the cadets it slowly dragged him out of the trench, such was the forward movement of the gun.
Just noticed you passed 2MILLION subs!!! Congratulations....Wow, that happened quick, didn't it? Couldn't happen to a better person!!! I've learned Soooo much, thanks
During my last days in the RAF I had the chance to fire an LMG (Bren 7.62 ) , only being 9 stone at the time had to hang on for dear life to stop it getting away from me but what a great gun to fire , managed to destroy the wooden post the target was mounted on , very accurate
The mechanics of the bolt/extractor etc. are beautyful. Thy show that trere is no need for multiple parts to have a nice functioning device. Also, the replaceable locking shoulder shows the difference of a device built to work from a device made to sell. Easy repairs make an already great gun into an invaluable asset.
My mother who was from Czechoslovakia and arrived in England in 1939 was a Bren gun inspector during WWII in Redditch where she met my Dad who was in a hydraulics firm.
It’s a real testament to the design that the gun still ran with broken recoil springs and a busted receiver. The Czechs really know how to make a bangstick
My paternal grandfather could have had a hand in the manufacture of this particular Bren as he was employed by RSA Enfield on the production line for the Bren in the late 1930's before enlisting in the Middlesex Regiment at the outbreak of WW11. I visited RSA Enfield and museum in the mid 1970's as a cadet with the Air Trainjng Corps. I later served in the RAF and was trained to use the Bren converted NATO 7.62mm which was still in use during the late 1970's and early 80's as an LMG. Strangely the Lee Enfield Rifle was still in very limited use during the 1970's. Carry on the great in interesting work
If you're referring to the loss of the Mars climate orbiter, that was less a mistake in conversion than an assumption that Lockheed martin would provide navigation data in SI units so there was no conversion. And the lesson they learned from that is we should all use the same system!
@@sergarlantyrell7847 the contract stipulated that data should be provided in SI units, Lockheed failed to meet the conditions of the contract (granted NASA failed to properly check). As an aside, it wasn't a length mistake, it was something like lbs/sqrinch instead of Pascals.
Fun fact: In CZ, original automatic version costs just slightly more (some 700 USD) than semi-auto AK or VZ-58. Trick is, almost noone is allowed to own it. ;)
My favorite LMG, when I was 13 to 16 years old and in the ACF [Army Cadet Force]. Ruddy easy and very quick to take apart and service and repair [the Body Locking Pin was referred to as The Maiden's Delight] - can change barrels and mags in about 5 seconds each. Best fired in short bursts or single shot - extremely accurate at ranges up to 800yds, at ranges over 800yds it largely comes down to just how zeroed the gun is to the shooter, and how good the eyesight and steadiness of said shooter. Belt fed Vickers were retained for fixed and sustained shooting [until the advent of the GPMG], but for mobility, especially as a two man team, it is fantastic. During WWII, my dad shot down a low flying Me109 near Tobruk, while using a Bren mounted on an AA tripod [it went off trailing smoke and crashed a few miles away]. [As for the BAR that was mentioned, well the underslung magazine can be an issue in low prone positions - other than that, a good weapon.]
Cadets for me down under in Melbourne in the early seventies. Striped down Bren guns, fired slrs and Owens guns on the range. I remember thinking what a cool design the Bren was to take apart. Never thought I’d relive that experience, thanks to this channel...all those years ago.
When I first join the Army (British) in 1964 they were slowly transitioning from the Bren to the GPMG. We had 7.62 Brens for about a year. When the Brens went we kept the 7.62 mags as they fitted perfectly on our 7.62 FN's with the extra bonus of a 30 round magazine. Very handy in South Arabia.
This was the weapon my grandfather used during his service in the Royal Marines Commandos in World War 2, and in his journals he writes so highly of this beautiful machine. One day I hope to fire this beautifully crafted weapon!
Thank you Ian for this detailed explanation of the origins and workings of the BREN gun. This weapon was used to great effect during WWII by our Australian Soldiers. I fired a Bren Gun during my school cadets days in the early 70s. We had only 20 rounds in the magazine. It was a terrifying experience to have this massive piece of metal firing .303 bullets on semi-auto and automatic. The smell of a hot gun with the cordite smoke was enough to make you not want to be on the receiving end of the fire.
Loved my Bren if it was not for the wide shoulder sling I would have died. If we had no sniper support on our section we would take the magazine off remove the gas regulator insert one round and it become a very accurate sniper rifle. We removed the gas regulator as if it was left in you got kick before the round left the barrel. If we was in a fixed position and had a tripod it was bloody accurate sniper gun. Happy memories got me and my section out of the shit so many times then we got issued the General purpose machine gun. Still missed the Bren. My grandad used the Bren in WW II he could not believe we was still using it in the 70’s but he said why change it if it’s not broken.
Excelent thorough coverage of the Bren MK 1. My favourite weapon during my military service were the MK 1 & 2. Accuracy was amazing & was one of the factors in it's demise when spraying a target area, (rather than putting automatic fire in too concentrated an area), became the new norm. Stripping & reassembly blindfolded quickly & succesfully, was part of the training programs. 👍
So the British actually sort out weapons procurement to the point they find a gun that is very effective in the hands of the Tommy, and _actually want it too._ A rare find indeed
To be fair the British military were very good when it came to small arms. Lee Enfield, Webleys, Lewis' and Vickers in WW1 was the best lineup of small arms any nation fielded. Even after WW2 they ended up with the SLR, GPMG, Sterling, Hi-Power and L4 Bren and its very hard to fault that line-up. It was only 85 onwards when things went a little wrong. But even then from 2000 onwards with the L85A2, Minimi, GPMG, L86A2, L129, Sig Sauer's then Glocks they're in a decent position. The biggest oddity was the failure to embrace 40mm grenade launchers (apart from small numbers of M79) until the 2000's when the UGL and GMG arrived in numbers, particularly given the UK's liking of small mortars and grenades for the preceding decades.
FYI just in case anyone is interested, the blaster that the Mandalorian character Cara Dune uses a Bren modified with an MG42 dual drum mag. Take a close look and you will see the tell tale marks of the Bren.
My dad was a bren gunner in the blackwatch he loved the Bren he served in Palestine Crete North Africa and Burma. I also trained with the Bren back in the late 1970s . He gave me lots of tips on firing and servicing the weapon. I enjoyed my time with it .
During my time in SADF a Bren gun was opened to clean and shoved closed. The magazine was still in place and a round was discharged. It hit a fellow soldier in the groin. He lost his leg I believe, as a result.
Great video, I thought I would try to challenge my 93 year old dad (who had a mini stroke 5 weekks ago) as to the origin of the BREN gun. Almost 100% recall of what he learnt doing his UK national service in the early 1950s where he got to have a go with one!. I did score a point over the Enfield inch, something he hadn;t heard of Also the fact that the BREN gun was in service into the 1990s says something about the design. A bit like the longevity of the B52
Used the LMG version (a BREN in all but name and calibre) for years. Super accurate, super reliable and super easy to maintain but the crossover sling was a pain.
I trained both on the GPMG and the Bren. As an absolute chopper, of course, the GPMG gets the prize. As something you could love, something that was almost too accurate for an LMG, something you could carry anywhere that would never let you down- well the Bren.
Fun fact: During operation market Garden, luftwaffe ground force personnel were using Zb.26s and simply picked up actual BRENs because allies kept dropping ammunition to the wrong team.
Ian, when stripping the Bren the bi pod was always the last thing to be taken off the receiver body, this was so the main body and the slide assemble stayed off the ground and could be field stripped while prone. It also first thing back on as it makes it easier when assembling as it acts a third hand.
I would like to see the look in Misses McCollums face when Ian comes back from a Tour with a duffle bag full of stuff. "You didn´t buy another machine gun? Did you?" "Honey, first of all. you look great in these clothes."
A whole series on the BREN? I'm going to enjoy this! And speaking of BREN gun carriers, there's one on display at a memorial nearby in Thunder Bay Canada. When you look at how small they were, and how exposed the men would be, you can appreciate their bravery. Thanks for another fabulous video Ian.
Thanks Ian I have learned a number of things about the Bren and it's development that I have not heard before, even though I have quite an extensive library of books devoted to WW2 British weapons. I look forward to watching the rest of your videos on the Bren gun.
Have you ever noticed just how much love there is for the Bren amongst people who used it? Firearms aren't toys to a soldier, they are a tool to get the job done. And I never hear ANYTHING bad about the Bren (or the LMG) from anybody that ever carried one. Nothing.
Not going to read a couple of thousand comments to check if already mentioned so apologies for duplication, if already mentioned. When stripping, you should remove the barrel, the remove the working parts, as the bipod will hold the weapon for you while you take them out. When reassembling, put the bipod on, then replace the working parts.
"You can see moustaches twitching in excitement" - the best visual of an English officer ever. I am sure that a few "What what" and "Mmmmm quite" were quoted as well. Jolly good show chap keep up the good work.
*British Army:* Here in your _incredibly_ ungainly, awkward, uncomfortable but effective MG *Also British Army:* We're sending you to jungle and/or desert forever. Byee 👋
And then in 1939 Vickers introduced the VGO . A drum fed system of great reliability intended for mainly aircraft ( as drums are not affected by G forces like belts or magazines ) but was notorious mounted in pairs and singles on jeeps used by the SAS in France , often along with a 50 BMG for clearing snipers in trees and buildings as the front line moved forward . These were also to be used at Arnhem by the Paras but never made it into action . 100 rnd drum was standard with 600 rnds being available with a 650 rpm rate of fire .
This gun is so amazing, that the British Empire didn't need an assault rifle or an automatic rifle in the war. The only weird criticism we hear, 'its too accurate. ' lol 😆 Great video.
@@johnwildy4872 rubbish. There's a video of Bloke and Ian discussing this point about the Bren. Suggest you watch it before spreading any more "false facts"
@@howardchambers9679 Bolloxs Mr Chambers, I did NOT spread false information but what was in accordance with my early training and experience even if it was over sixty-five years ago. Given that I have turned eighty years of age, I have no reason to utter or write bullshit. I was trained in radio and radar during my service in the RAF but still had to go through weapon training and chemical warfare which took place over a period of eighteen months. The gun shown differed somewhat from the one that was once familiar with so there are some components that I do not recognize. Of course, I saw the video, or how do you reason that I wrote the post? I find your comment to be downright rude.
@@howardchambers9679 Have you ever fired one of these? I have a number of times. Have you ever dismantled and reassembled one? I have, again, a number of times. Have you ever served in a military capacity and underwent military training? I have. I note that your ill-considered insulting post remains.
The 7.62mm version remained a section weapon for support arms (in my case the Royal Corps of Signals) until replaced by the SA80 so in my case I am very familiar with this weapon. The proper stripping order is to unlock the barrel and remove. Take out the gas plug, placing it in the v of the carry handle (so you can find it in the dark). Leave the bipod on, and unlock the rear of the body. Withdraw the trigger group about 6", and eject the slide and breech block using the cocking lever. Remove the bipod and trigger group. Even ended up with one as my personal weapon in the 70s when my SLR was off for a refurb. When changing the gas setting when it is hot, you would use a bullet to rotate the plug.
My understanding is that although the Bren was assembled at Enfield, the parts were made by BSA factories and the design was perfected by BSA. My father was a senior official at BSA and got friendly with the eleven, I believe, Czech technicians who came to Britain to set up production. One of them gave me some Czech coins as a memento. One of them, called Vessily, eventually became the head of BSA Guns. My father explained to me how it worked. I was about ten years old.
BSA did the UK FALs, if I recall correctly. The "Enfield Inch" varied by about 0.0003" from the proper one. Not even Swiss prototypes are built to those limits.
Also produced at Lithgow Small Arms Factory in Australia (effectively Mk 1 Modified) and Ishapore and Kanpur Arsenals in India (I don't know of the particular models...)
The sheer amount of Victoria Cross citations that start with "he picked up a Bren gun" is stupendous, like a WW2 cheat code.
Unlike the MG 42, which was a specialist weapon. The entire squad was able to use the Bren Gun. In dire situations, and in doctrine the last man standing was on the Bren Gun, hence "he picked up a Bren Gun" .
Or "he picked up a PIAT"
@@syhaidar7489 attempting to use that weapon in anger is pretty deserving of commendation.
I know of at least one VC winner who tried to halt a Tiger advance with a PIAT.
@@syhaidar7489 Or in the case of Major Cain "he picked up the 2in mortar"
@@syhaidar7489 makes sense. VCs were quite often earned when things went very wrong. And depending on what is in front of you when things go really sideways, you probably need a Bren or PIAT to keep it from going wronger.
I rather enjoyed the anecdote of opening the thing up and "Oh. The spring broke. Interesting. Didn't notice when we were shooting it."
If the thing still operates with a broken spring, and a broken lower receiver, it's just about as soldier-proof as it's possible to be.
Ask most soldiers what they want most from a gun and it's reliability. The Bren looks like it's built like a tank and very easy to service and maintain. I love the idea that there are no small parts to lose when you disassemble it.
@@jrd33
That's coz people keep breaking their guns in the weirdest ways possible
@@kennydoggins1712 It was a good mentality for weapon design particularly in the age of mass conscription.
But is it fizzy drink proof? Can it match the Galil?
I had that happen to me on my CMP M1 at a rifle match. The spring fell apart when I went to clean it.
I used the later 7.62mmNATO British Army version. It was extremely accurate even though you could sit it on its butt plate, hold it by the flash hider, shake it back and forth and feel and hear the barrel rattling loosely.
Legend had it that this was deliberately designed in to enable the bullets to spread over a wider area. Judging from the groups you could achieve with controlled bursts...it didn’t work.
Dad always said that (the wartime ones) were too accurate for a machine gun. They taught him to demolish buildings with the Bren by shooting off the corners!
My Dad ,eight army, said they were too accurate at times and you had to wobble the to spread fire.
The same for me in Malaysia 67/68.
Having the magazine over the barrel makes it more balanced when firing, if you don't do this they will tend to climb up under recoil.
@@briantate7296 Trained and patrolled there in the early 1980's with 1RNZIR ,for 2 years.We also used the Bren in 7.62mm.1RNZIR served there from 1959 to 1989.
I remember learning about the Australian solider and Victoria Cross recipient Bruce Kingsbury in school when I was about 10 years old. He died in combat on the Kokoda Track. His VC citation referenced the Bren gun, so I asked my teacher what a Bren gun was, but unfortunately she didn't know. I'm now a primary (elementary) school teacher, and thanks to Forgotten Weapons, I will know when my students ask me!
That's cool
When I was in grade 5 my teacher gave me specifically a book on WW2 firearms just because I showed some extra interest in them. He was a swell old guy!
Another VC associated with the Bren - it reads like an over-the-top Hollywood script (shooting the bren whilst standing and then firing a mortar from the hip) but my cousin, Ken Trevor was CO in the battle and attested to it.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Arthur_Knowland
@@73North265 awesome. massive respect to him
@@73North265 I just read the Wikipedia page that you linked, and feel truly humble as a result: what a man, and as a Brit (who is very proud to have been trained on both the Bren and the SMLE No4 Mk1 in my youth) I feel very strongly that this is exactly the type of history that should be taught in schools today (rather than hushed-up/ignored by the education "professionals" as "Offensive Colonialist/Racist/anti-LGBT+/Jingoistic Rhetoric", as I'm deeply ashamed/disgusted to report that it is...) to hopefully inspire some of the utterly pathetic current generation of Special Little Snowflakes that our Once-Great Nation is spewing-out these days before heroism like this is lost from our history and culture forever...
Ian- “ this video is getting a little long already”
Everyone else- “so what!”
What if we pledged one bottle of Lagavin per hour of video, Ian's choice?
@@haroldellis9721 “I’m easterriot and I support this message”
Shut up and take my time! ^-^
But seriously, a Cadillac of machine guns. Would have been better with a belt feed, but nobody really knew how bad a machine gun relying on box magazines would be. Lessons learned.
@@jeromethiel4323 bad ?
@@dave_h_8742 Nien!
"This Czech gun did great at tests!"
it ticked all Czechboxes
Underrated comment 😂
..........Yep ,not bad ,not bad ...................
Sigh
You better bloody leave! 🤣
Ahhhhh... this hurts.
Nah, its good fam, just kidding :D
My father was a Bren gunner in Burma in the last months of the war. He called the Bren 22lbs. of awkwardness. when asked why he said no matter how you carried it there was some part of it which stuck into you.
That's the fate of every mg soldier in the world. At least he has also the fun, the gunner 2 has to carry all the other heavy shit and can't even go BRRR.
I don't mean to contradict your father, but to be fair to the gun, anything and everything becomes an unspeakable awkwardness to lug around in the jungle. And if I *had* to lug a machine gun around a jungle, it'd probably be the Bren. American gunners who had to haul the M60 and fumble around with 100 round belts in Vietnam can attest.
Having had the "honour" of lugging a Bren (plus 6x30-round magazines of .303 and all my other kit) 25 miles across Salisbury Plain in a day more times than I'd care to remember I empathise deeply with your Father, and am extremely grateful that I didn't have to do that in the intense heat, humidity and mud of Burma while dreading the thought that enemy contact could erupt at any time, and I salute your Father for his Service with enormous gratitude...
Miytch
My uncles squad(rce) would take turns packing it. Too heavy to pack thru the cold mud of Holland and Germany every day .
What many people don't realize is just how important the Czechoslovakian arms industry was prior to WW2. Once the Germans captured that industrial might, the stage was set for a prolonged fight.
I think the Czech are still very important in small arms development today. However, they had been overshadowed by the giant arms industry of Germany
@@muhammadnursyahmi9440 The real blow was the decision of our then-president Havel right after the revolution that overthrew the communist government, to greatly diminish our arms industry. I kid you not, in one of his speeches, he said let´s make love, not guns. Well, plenty of our steel industry was supplying our arms industry. The demand for steel greatly diminished, which made steel companies go bankrupt, which also led to a lot of coal mines closing, and so on, and on, and on. It was one of the major contributors to why the 90s were really bad in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Both our small-arms and general military industry was top of the line, and a hippie messed it all up.
@@PavelKahun You should track back who financed him. İt probably was not a random coincidence.
@@muratbalkan3430 Nobody financed him, he lead anti communist revolution. It was just stupid and naive call. He was an actor, not a statesman or economist, or some such.
@@PavelKahun Ok, but it is easier for manipulators to cooperate this kind of figures. İ still give a chance to the probability that he was the chosen one by the X.
Anyway, actually i know little about your country except that i have luckily been to prag several days.
In the Army cadets at school in the 1970's I fired Lee Enfield .303's and Brens on many occasions. The rifle had a pretty hefty kick for a puny 15/16 year-old to manage - the Bren was like magic. Its gas powered re-cocking took all the energy from the recoil and meant that the gun actually hopped forward slightly on firing rather than trying its best to bust your shoulder. It was a joy to shoot, and, for a 'machine gun', it was amazingly accurate. I could regularly hit a target at 300 yards in single shot mode. Wish I had one today!
Yes, I think if you needed a 'weapon' to defend yourself/family, short of an 'Avenger Auto Cannon' you couldn't go very far wrong with the Bren Gun or a Lee Enfield .303" rifle.
My Grandad was able to shoot out a light bulb/lamp in the Charing Cross Hotel from the 'South Bank' during the 'blackout' in WWII with an .303 rifle, that's no mean feat.
@@defender1006 grandad’s a badass 💪🏻
@@richthofen0005 Thank you, he was a brave man, but so kind too. In WWI he served in the 'Kings Troop Royal Horse Artillery' .
Move to the US, submit your identity papers to the ATF's Form 4, wait for approval. Spend $5-10k and now you can cuddle with your Bren every night. Or you can get collector/museums/dealers license and buy the really cool stuff- but you have to register every item. Crazy system but I've never heard of a $10k gun used in a heinous crime. It's almost😊 always stolen handguns/rifles and shotguns.
Me too as the converted lmg. Kings own yorkshire light infantry army cadet force
Me: Sir, my BREN's broken
Colour Sergeant: No it isn't
Colour Sergeant: Change magazine and keep shootin no matter what...!
"This Czech gun did well, much to everyone's surprise" has been said so many times that people should stop be being surprised by now. The Czech people tend to hit nothing but home runs when they make guns.
Remember Skoda and Semtex too.............Bless..................
Try the CZ-100 and come back to talk about nothing but homeruns. :D But yeah, our engineers were and still are among the best.
Agree. Heck, I think they perfected the CZ75 when they made the P-09/07, which is a 75 design but with a polymer lower frame. My p-09 is a sweet shooting 21+1 handgun that weighs less than a 1911
@@calebnation6155 The CZ 125 got me to work every day.
and pretty much anything else.
That was fascinating.
I'm not really into guns, but my father drove a Bren gun carrier in WWII, and one of my childhood memories of him (he died while I was still young) was hearing him rave about the merits of the Bren gun.
I've associated the name with him ever since, so it was nice to learn more about it.
Thanks.
Me: Ooh, Bren gun *smashes like button*
Ian “welcome to the first in a series of videos on the Bren”
Me: hell yes!
why did you write your comment like this? if you like the content just say so, no need to write a blog about it
@@mikael7084 why are you such a downer
I'm super keen to see a video on the 7.62 NATO L4A2 Bren. I've always been curious as to what changes were necessary to convert the Bren from the rimmed .303 case to 7.62. Also worth noting that the L4A2 Brens were made to accept 30 round L1A1 SLR magazines instead of the traditional curved Bren magazine.
@@mikael7084 Well, I suppose it’s partly “comments for the algorithm”, trying to drive up engagement to help the channel.
On a more fundamental level of course, the drive to communicate is arguably what makes us human, and has give us the technology with which to enjoy Ian’s pedagogy.
Whilst RUclips comment section is hardly the exemplar of the Socratic method, and Plato believed oral communication more powerful than written language, I think there is always something to be learned from discourse with a fellow human.
There is also the question of why you would use your undoubtedly valuable time in responding to what is, if I’m honest, a fairly inane comment of mine. No matter, I am sure we will cross paths again in more congenial circumstances.
@@dentonw6ir0qf15 absolutely! I believe the ease of conversion was possibly due to the work already put into export versions (which fired more modern rimless cartridges) and the original design being in 8mm Mauser. I’m really looking forward to the next few videos!
(Edited to change “8nm to 8mm)
I love these videos, the reason I started watching this awesome channel because I wanted to know about the weapons my Dad used in WW2. He was a mortar man in the British Army, 2/7 Queens Royal Regiment. He told me he was trained on all the guns of the time, the Bren gun, Enfield Mk 4 No 1, even a Boys Anti Tank rifle (which he hated.) He ended up with the Enfield. For a time in Italy during the Anzio landings he was equipped with a Thompson the 'Chicago Typewriter' varient. He said he like the Thompson a lot. Bren gun carriers rattled his teeth because they were fast and everything bounced around over the slightest bump. He ended up a POW after a terrible battle during the Anzio campaign where his unit was overrun by a German panzer brigade. Lost most of his unit in 2 days of fighting. He's been gone for 20 years. Proud of the man.
Love or loathe guns, you can't help but lovingly appreciate the engineering that goes into producing them.
Agree. From a moral stand point i dislike guns but fuck me the brilliance that goes into the engineering and indeed comes from it (like the micrometer) cannot be overstated.
Guns are tools and like all tools they serve to manipulate the world, guns just so happen to specialize in ranged destructive manipulation (and are by extension tools of threat). Hands are required operate guns, and if there's something to loathe it's the kind of hands that get ahold of a gun. You can't loathe the guns themselves unless you think there shouldn't be a tool that empowers someone to kill, but then you'd have to loathe many more things like cars because they can mow people down, hammers because they can bash people's heads in when wielded and even will/premeditation of the kind that allows to kill with or without weapon by deceit (and to loathe that there is the question of if people should kill one another for any end, even not strictly, but still kind of loosely personal ones such as for an administration). One that tries to loathe guns while thinking that people should kill one another for any end including personal and public safety must understand that weapons can also be used purposes that don't involve hurting people such as to hunt for sport or for food (hunting is a whole other can of worms) or for defense against deadly animals and that weapons meant for those uses are of course still going to kill a person if fired at them, war existed before the invention of firearms and that firearms are only used because they are the most efficient means to wage war, with swords and maces preceding the invention and adoption of firearms. Murdering a person can be as simple as bashing their noggin hard enough with a rock, It's true that pulling a trigger is easier on the body and probably also the mind, due to distance from target and the act of pulling a trigger being faster and probably feeling less personal that swinging an object toward someone with ill intent and the distance between attacker and target makes defense harder, but this swings both ways and someone with a firearm can defend themselves or someone in danger with far more ease compared to someone wielding a cold weapon. This of course comes back to the weapon being a tool and requiring hand and will to wield and the will being what ultimately decides if the weapon will cause harm against the harmless or cause harm against the aforementioned wielder to defend the defenseless. This whole tangent of course assumes that the person judging and potentially loathing isn't a notionist who bases their decisions on "barrel shroud/muzzle compensator/box magazine/forward grip/fully automatic/any other weapon characteristic is scary!!" of course I don't mean that there aren't weapons that shouldn't be used but causing unnecessary suffering along with causing harm necessary to act as a weapon is a whole other thing, without forgetting that a weapon can and often is very efficient while causing plenty suffering and even a knife can cause unnecessary suffering if you make some hundred shallow cuts on the victim and wait for their body to ever so slowly give in or, with a gun, shoot arms and legs of the victim, shoot holes in their ears, feet and hands and wait for them to bleed out. Of course these examples wouldn't be the slightest bit efficient at anything but pleasing a sadist or masochist, a better example of an efficient weapon causing copious suffering would be mustard gas killing everyone who inhales it through 3 days straight of hellish blistering illness certainly was, as seen is WW1.
Watch RUclips delete the comment I spent all this time writing, which I think likely.
You should be loathing the people that use guns in ways you dislike, not the guns themselves. Many people owe their lives to guns in more ways than one. Our family grew up as poor as you could be, but we survived off supplemental wild game my father was able to provide by hunting. You sound like every other elitist in our society today who has had it too damn easy.
@@drcornelius8275 I kinda figured everybody in this comment section would be MAGA. Jesus Christ you're all the same.
@@adamnouiguer3430 Hammers weren't invented to murder people. That's why those comparisons don't work.
In about 1966, I was sent to near Nadzab (near Lae, New Guinea) as a School Cadet instructor. I was also tasked with uncrating a brand-new Bren. The wooden box was marked with 1942. This gun was a little harder to assemble than the well-worn guns I had used with school cadets in Charters Towers and Mt Isa (Queensland, Australia). My platoon was then tasked with setting an ambush against an "enemy" patrol consisting of SAS specialists. One of the boys in my platoon was carrying the Bren, and asked if he could try it on "Auto". I said "yes, but set the gas port on 4" (the biggest port - one would usually start with the smallest -1). In this ambush, this Bren fired at least 5 rounds in Auto before "running out of puff". The SAS fellows began screaming out (well this is the polite version) "Abort, abort, this was not supposed to be a live exercise."
"The British were using cordite because they just had to be a little different" - We are not even remotely sorry. Also - Ian, mate, please, and I do believe that I am talking for the majority, take all the time you like. There is no such thing as a 'too long already' Video on this channel!
"What the f*ck was that?"
"Well that was the Bren Gun!"
😄
mans fucking disrespecting the bren gun
@@sam8742 it's a quote from lockstock and two smoking barrels
@@Number12lookslikejoe
ah
"Don't you think you could've brought something a little bit more practical?"
Will everyone stop getting shot?
Me dad tells me that Bren training was the best part of his service in the early 50s.
Can't see me ever doubting him
Not much has changed, my training day on the fn minimi was one of the top days of my military time.
In training I consistently won the field strip and assembly comps. Whatever ... but firing the BREN many times was sure fun. 🇭🇲
This takes me back over 60 years to my school cadet "service". Thank you for the memories. I really liked the Bren but my great love was the Vickers MMG. On weekend manoeuvres I had to carry the tripod because I was a tall bugger. Damn it was heavy.
I used this as a cadet, fantastic to shoot, very accurate and had more of a pull forward than a recoil which is surprising in .303. I also used it in the blank firing format, there was a "masher" on the end of the barrel that broke up the projectiles which were made of wood! Painted blue as I recall for identification.
Yes.
Yeah same
First machine gun I fired. 200 yard run down at Pirbright. Sad moment when you empty the magazine.
Yep fired this in the ACF in the 80's - brilliant stuff
If held correctly, the Bren would scarcely move or maybe walk forward slightly.
Note to Ian, all Bren tripod catches are tight. The Tripod is a work of art in itself, also capable of AA deployment, extra bits stored inside the legs. .There was also a twin AAmount and a drum magazine feed for AA use.
This is a real cool weapon to fire! I fired this several times in the early 1970's. It had a very close bullet spread when fired at a target. I remember the Army training to strip this weapon was in this order - Piston, Barrel, Butt, Body, Bipod. Procedure reversed for assembly. When firing laying on the ground using the Bipod, your left hand would clasp the Butt, just behind the Rear site, and you would pull the Butt into your shoulder and hold it while firing. We were told this keeps it more stable and it did! When fired the Bren had a tendency to "pull" forward because of the Bipod.
The hook that goes over your shoulder and the handle you pull down on with your left hand was useful.
They even added the same feature to the L86 light support weapon.
The hook prevents you pulling the weapon too far down and keeps it perfectly sat in your shoulder when firing.
especially when prone. You just have to maintain pressure with your left hand.
Its remarkably stable.
In the cadets in 1992 we had both a Bren (7.62 NATO) and a brand new L86 and I got to fire both.
I fired a heavy barrel R1, which was the South African version of the FN FAL. It also had a plate on the butt that folded out to rest on the top of your shoulder, and it really helped a lot to stabilise the weapon.
Love the competition between the Bren and the BAR done by R Lee Emery. Bren won hands down.
Yep....he had gritted teeth when he accepted defeat...God Rest his Soul.!
Sadly I can take any "documentary" type work done by that man seriously, after the whole katana vs longsword nonsense.
It was killing him to admit the bren was better than his beloved BAR ! I miss the old Gunny what a great character ! RIP
@@SoWhat1221 I saw where he did a comparison between the 1860 Henry and the Spencer and tried to say the Henry was a better battlefield weapon. He's allowed to have his wrong opinion of course, but it made me dubious about his tests.
@@jfcard0055 You dont think that the Henry is better than the Spencer? Ian and Karl did a whole series of video about it and certainly believe thats the case.
When I was a kid, we used to strip and reassemble the Bren while blindfolded, as part of our school cadet training. They also had SMLE in .22 LR, to train us in marksmanship on the cheap and without to much recoil for 12 year olds.
Best. School. Ever.
Same with the bren, but we had .303 Lee Enfield rifles for skill at arms and target shooting. Softy .22s for indoor winter shooting. 🤠
I’ve never shot .303 British, but maybe it’s due to American tradition but at 12 I could handle 12 gauge high brass or .308 fine… but I can definitely see the cost thing. .22lr bricks are the same price as 20 .308 😂
In India, we used SMLE until 1960's and Bren LMG into 1990's. I heard that they trained college students with these 2 in the mid to late 60's in case of a war with PRC/Pakistan.
@@Zeunknown1234 hi Arush, one of my ambitions is to get a 7.62 Bren, I’d also love a Mk 1, as a curio, but the 7.62 as a gun to shoot. I think the 7.62 is still used in India, at least for Reserve Units. I did my time in the Army, by then the Bren had been phased out, but we had some in the Regimental Museum, I worked over the Christmas break one year, only about 40 men in the whole base. One of those remaining had a range officer certification. So we would go to the range daily, one day we took one of the 7.62 Berns, I loved it, at that time my only comparison was the Pig M60. We must have put about 20,000 rounds down range over that Christmas. I know that it improved my weapon handling and accuracy immensely. A few years later I went on my Corp promotion course and the 100 students on the course had a shooting competition, in which I outscored the nearest to me by 300%, so it did some good. I’d like to see how it would stack up tactically with a Negev 7.
im a former royal marines commando and used both the gpmg and the bren or as we called it the lmg, the geeps was great as it had a spread pattern of fire, the bren however was considerably more accurate which really was its demise as a light maching gun, i used the bren in norway ski ing as it was easier to use, i also carried the gpmg which was heavy and awkward when ski ing down a mountain. i did however prefer the lmg when patrolling in northern ireland. fyi the mod tried to make the bren a spread pattern weapon by using cartridges with different powder loads but it wasnt effective.
Its demise as a machinegun was its outdated design. Nobody is gonna complain about a gun being "too accurate" That is nonsense
Salesman: *Slaps top of Bren* This bad boy can fit so many features in it.
British army: Shut up and take my money!
Then systematically removes all those features.
@@yugster78 Options are optional.
Great weapon. Carried and used it as a .303 and a 7.62mm weapon. Very easy to clean. Used to grip the stock with the left hand and rest the cheek on your hand. Would jump slightly forward. Properly sandbagger you could put two rounds through the same hole.
Tacticool Bren
I bet bloke on the ranges laptop is having a bad day
Ian: The Best Light Machine Gun of World War Two
Lindybeige: *heavy breathing*
This comment was enjoyed greatly
Well the topic doesn’t qualify it but he did in the video. Only compared to other magazine fed bipod light machineguns,
@@denistardif6650 The whole point of a general purpose machinegun is that it can be used as a light machinegun: ditch the tripod, load an assault drum and you are good to go.
@@denistardif6650 _and this is usually done with the method of walking fire_
Walking fire was thing for a brief period during WWI and was quickly abandoned after that (for good reasons).
_unlike the MG42 needing to be entrenched and stable_
You can shoot the 42 from the same position you would shoot almost any other light machine gun of the era.
_you are not shooting a MG42 from the hip without being the biggest liability on your team lol_
See _Heeresdienstvorscrhift 130/2a_ it is the official field manual for the infantry, and contains the proper procedure as to how to correctly employ light machineguns like the 34 and 42 in the assault role, firing from the hip.
It was still taught in the Bundeswehr until very recently.
You can also fire it from the shoulder, as the following video demonstrates: youtu. be/nFuv5BQ8w5Y?si=8jyX3Ug8Y8cbLGNC&t=67
As for the rest, we are running in circles: by definition, a general purpose machinegun has to be able to be employed in the light machinegun role to be considered as such.
@@denistardif6650 _would love to see the sorry sucker who as to fire and carry the ammo gun alone is 25 pounds one belt is 22 pounds fired in less than a minute poor man who will be lugging all that ammo and gun lol_
Everyone did it? All the men in the German infantry squad were supposed to carry ammunition for the machinegun.
And it was not a German thing, the Britis did it too, and so the Japanese, etc.
When your calculations are wrong, just invent your own measurement standard to fix it!
Fun fact. The British choice of .303 inch seems odd. Why the extra 3 thousanths? Why not go .30 like the yanks?. Reason is that .303 is Imperial speak for 7.7 mm. Yep the Enfield bores have been metric since the 1880s. When Brno had to change to .303, they were actually going from 8 mm to 7.7 mm. They stayed metric. The real challenge was switching from rimless to rimmed. Then the design had to be adjusted so that it could be manufactured on British machine tools.
That's a fairly good description of the British industrial revolution!
Britain still uses a mixture of imperial and metric and even stone for weight, like what the hell make up your mind
@@sneakysnake7695 Where's the fun in that? We like confusing people, including ourselves :)
@@sneakysnake7695 I think I speak for everyone in Britain when I say: NEVER!!
This thing was actually still in service in Ireland until fairly recently, trained on it in the reserves in the late 2000's (ish) As hilariously outdated as it was, I have a lot of great memories of it, was a joy to fire, crazy accurate for a (light) machine gun.
Was used in the British Army until c 1990 so not that hilarious!
How was it to carry during exercises? Or did you have to carry it or just had a pleasure to shoot with it?
@@ninaakari5181 it was big and heavy (lighter than its replacement the GPMG though), you got 12 mags in a steel box which the no 2 could carry or could be split between a couple of the section.
But it was a great weapon, the slings we had helped a lot to spread the weight (sling over my shoulder, weapon on my magazine pouches across my body)
I used them in 0.303" and in 7.62mm
@@paddyhickey1135 To be honest it would have been great it we'd had it in Afghanistan, lighter than GPMG and exceptionally accurate suppressive 7.62 fire out to 1000 metres would have been very useful, far more so than the Minimi...
There's a couple of pics of Brens in use by British reservists in the first Gulf War.
My friend that served in the RN also used them up to the end of the eighties.
Thank you for an excellent summary of the function and use of this superbly designed machine known affectionately as the Bren. In my younger days, I used this machine in shooting competitions between counties at Bisley in England, and over a thousand yards had to fire ten rounds every hundred yards at targets which were ten inches diameter, with a backpack filled with housebricks to slow me down, running on loose pebbles, adjusting the sights for range , and by the end of the competition, out of breath, it was one of many competitions which included Le Enfield .303, and 38 calibre pistols. Watching the disassembly of this fine gun was nostalgic, and fascinating. Brilliant eloquence in the script, and great to hear this short lecture from an informed and enthusiastic professional.
before someone types in "but the mg42 is a better light machine gun" the mg42 was a gpmg
Also it wasnt better
@@godlovesyou1995 comparing apple and oranges both are better and worse at different things
@@godlovesyou1995 that's arguable.
A British army squad was supposed to have 2 Bren guns to a squad, 1 per section for the rest of the squad to operate around (Instead of the German's 1 mg42 per squad.) which I think was a better idea. They rarely had enough though according to many veterans of that war.
@@godlovesyou1995 Certainly, it was good but not better, it had issues with bolt bounce and it was very dangerous if the bolt bounced and the cartridge discharges
Just in case anyone was wondering about the value of the licence fee:
"If you want to compare the value of a £3 0s 0d Commodity in 1937 there are four choices. In 2019 the relative:
real price of that commodity is £195.00
labour value of that commodity is £528.60
income value of that commodity is £889.10
economic share of that commodity is £1,257.00"
1£=1,41$=1,16€
The question is - did Chamberlain in Munich save Enfield from paying that license fee? I don't expect they'd pay it to Waffenfabrik Brün...
I am a simple man, so i cannot understand what this voodoo witchcraft is. I only know that I appreciate it and that you took the time to share
Oww, my brains 💥 ~dies
Around the UK on the old training areas used during the war you can find Bren positions by finding the spent cases with a square fired primer strike.
What's crazy is I was searching for "Forgotten Weapons Bren" about an hour before this was uploaded.
My Grandfather used this in the Korean War. They held a famous hill and kept the north from advancing on high points. He told me one late night they came under small arms and mortar fire. He was firing the bren at enemies to the point of changing a barrel out. Several minutes passed, one barrel change and 6 mags later they ran out of ammunition... he then ran down the backside of the hill stopping in bushes as north Korean fighters were sneaking by. Trying to take positions on them. He runs from one concealment to the next then runs to another fallback point trench he could hear more of them coming so he grabs two large ammo boxes and proceeds back up the hill in the same fashion as mortar barrage started again falling all around his approximate vicinity. After dodging hell on earth he reaches the top to find his brother's in arms and allies holding it down like hero's with grease guns and other infantry rifles. He jumps into the gunners nest opens the 1st ammo box with haste rocks a mag in and that night for what felt like an eternity was a successful half hour to 40 minute engagement. The morning rolled around and after the sun was high enough to illuminate the valley the aftermath of the enemy was devastating. The 100s of enemies kia was a surreal sight. Some of the North Koreans fell victim to friendly mortar fire and sustained lethal wounds from the large caliber that was fired from the bren. It was years later that the hill was documented in films as one of the most brutal theatre engagements among my Grandfathers regiment (CAD PPCLI) since WWII.
May God forever Bless the Princess Patricias Canadian Light Infantry! I had the opportunity to see them in action with the Canadian Brigade (2 Battalion) when I was stationed in the then West Germany in the US Army. Some tough suckers the PPCLI!
@GeorgeKovacs-re2qo wow that's so cool Sir! Thanks for being a badass yourself ❤️🔥
"It's me Bren gun!"
"Don't you fink you could av' brought somefin' more practical?"
“Charles....get the rifle”
I know this is probably a movie quote (not sure which movie) but it seems like unless a LMG in general is a bad tool for the job (like if you need a concealed carry gun,) there aren't many weapons more practical than that.
@@t4nkychannel921 Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. 😉. Also, the person is using it in a cramped building, which is why he gets called out
@@t4nkychannel921 ruclips.net/video/4yQeyi2Fc40/видео.html
@@jcmaxie4758 “we’re being fucked!”
For some reason I was under the mistaken impression that large scale production of the Bren had begun four or five years earlier than it did. Now I understand why so many merchant ships, home guard units, etc, were still using Vickers and Lewis guns for the first years of WWII.
Consider also the poor fate of the Beardmore-Farquhar Machine Rifle!
I fired the Bren while I was in National Service 1st. intake 1958 at Anzac Rifle range.
They were remarkably accurate, easy to use. Easy to pull apart and reassemble.
I had to adjust the gas occasionally and to do so they made us lay on our side
and not to raise our head. Also change the barrel when it got hot.
Having fired the 7.62mm a few times as a teenager my most vivid memory of the bren was it felt like I was being pulled forward when firing it.
Thats correct Jay, I've used the .303, the piston operation tends the push the gun forward rather than back, you have to pull it back into your shoulder.
Excellent video! I love this machine gun.
In Rio de Janeiro,police utilized the Madsen until 2019. Since you mentioned the weapon. I say this because,for me,weapons of the past were fantastically manufactured. Thank you.
Please watch the Carry on Sergeant film when a love struck Bob Monkhouse does a brilliant disembly of the gun.
“I used to work in the factory where they made these things...”
He did actually work at Enfeild at one point, so he did know how the gun wen't together.
@@bob_the_bomb4508 This clip cuts the ending “I used to work in the factory where they made these things...” as 51WCDodge says Bob Monkhouse did work at Enfield. ruclips.net/video/-QIO_G9gs0A/видео.html
My Dad loved his Bren.
He said it was too accurate and that you could get two bullets into the same spot and the Army considered this uneconomical, so they shortened the barrel by two inches.
Most likely just something he heard but it does attest his faith in the Bren.
He was an excellent shot though, even in his 70's.
Don't think he mentioned that we used the .303 round to adjust the gas regulator and shove through the body locking pin ,handy to manually empty the mag as well
I was a member of an Army Cadet unit in Dorset in the 1960s and we went to a training camp in Cornwall, where we were introduced to the Bren. They would not allow us to shoot the thing, but a young second lieutenant got into a small trench on the range and proceded to blast away with it, minus any sandbags. Much to the amusement of the cadets it slowly dragged him out of the trench, such was the forward movement of the gun.
So the Bren gun is just the machine gun version of a Nokia phone. It keeps going despite parts of the gun is broken lol
Just noticed you passed 2MILLION subs!!!
Congratulations....Wow, that happened quick, didn't it?
Couldn't happen to a better person!!!
I've learned Soooo much, thanks
During my last days in the RAF I had the chance to fire an LMG (Bren 7.62 ) , only being 9 stone at the time had to hang on for dear life to stop it getting away from me but what a great gun to fire , managed to destroy the wooden post the target was mounted on , very accurate
Dear Ian, this is one of your most interesting videos ever made... Thanks for this a lot, cheers from CZ!
The mechanics of the bolt/extractor etc. are beautyful. Thy show that trere is no need for multiple parts to have a nice functioning device. Also, the replaceable locking shoulder shows the difference of a device built to work from a device made to sell. Easy repairs make an already great gun into an invaluable asset.
My mother who was from Czechoslovakia and arrived in England in 1939 was a Bren gun inspector during WWII in Redditch where she met my Dad who was in a hydraulics firm.
It’s a real testament to the design that the gun still ran with broken recoil springs and a busted receiver. The Czechs really know how to make a bangstick
My paternal grandfather could have had a hand in the manufacture of this particular Bren as he was employed by RSA Enfield on the production line for the Bren in the late 1930's before enlisting in the Middlesex Regiment at the outbreak of WW11. I visited RSA Enfield and museum in the mid 1970's as a cadet with the Air Trainjng Corps. I later served in the RAF and was trained to use the Bren converted NATO 7.62mm which was still in use during the late 1970's and early 80's as an LMG. Strangely the Lee Enfield Rifle was still in very limited use during the 1970's.
Carry on the great in interesting work
17:49 You made your Floatplane overlord proud with that drop!!!
Now we just need some "segways" to their sponsors XD
My dad was a Bren gunner during WWII while he was surviving in the Royal Artillery. He loved the gun.
I would love to hear more on the "Enfield" inch. 😃 As a machinist we all still flub the conversation from time to time. Just ask NASA. 😂
If you're referring to the loss of the Mars climate orbiter, that was less a mistake in conversion than an assumption that Lockheed martin would provide navigation data in SI units so there was no conversion.
And the lesson they learned from that is we should all use the same system!
@@sergarlantyrell7847 the contract stipulated that data should be provided in SI units, Lockheed failed to meet the conditions of the contract (granted NASA failed to properly check).
As an aside, it wasn't a length mistake, it was something like lbs/sqrinch instead of Pascals.
Then you encounter the Russian "Arshim" and realize that there are no rules anymore...
@@KP762a ANARCHY!!1!
A semi-auto Bren would be so much fun at the range.
Fun fact: In CZ, original automatic version costs just slightly more (some 700 USD) than semi-auto AK or VZ-58. Trick is, almost noone is allowed to own it. ;)
@@PosranaRegistrace Figures....
My favorite LMG, when I was 13 to 16 years old and in the ACF [Army Cadet Force]. Ruddy easy and very quick to take apart and service and repair [the Body Locking Pin was referred to as The Maiden's Delight] - can change barrels and mags in about 5 seconds each. Best fired in short bursts or single shot - extremely accurate at ranges up to 800yds, at ranges over 800yds it largely comes down to just how zeroed the gun is to the shooter, and how good the eyesight and steadiness of said shooter. Belt fed Vickers were retained for fixed and sustained shooting [until the advent of the GPMG], but for mobility, especially as a two man team, it is fantastic. During WWII, my dad shot down a low flying Me109 near Tobruk, while using a Bren mounted on an AA tripod [it went off trailing smoke and crashed a few miles away]. [As for the BAR that was mentioned, well the underslung magazine can be an issue in low prone positions - other than that, a good weapon.]
Who remembers having one of these in their school's CCF unit? Ah, the good old days when school boys were given Brens!
Me! Although I was usually lugging around a good old Lee-Enfield .303. I wonder if they now use L1A1s?
@@kolossimike I also used one on a range in 1960 when I was in the ATC. Live rounds, will no doubt not be given out to 16 year old in 2021.
Cadets for me down under in Melbourne in the early seventies. Striped down Bren guns, fired slrs and Owens guns on the range. I remember thinking what a cool design the Bren was to take apart.
Never thought I’d relive that experience, thanks to this channel...all those years ago.
When I first join the Army (British) in 1964 they were slowly transitioning from the Bren to the GPMG. We had 7.62 Brens for about a year. When the Brens went we kept the 7.62 mags as they fitted perfectly on our 7.62 FN's with the extra bonus of a 30 round magazine. Very handy in South Arabia.
Yeah. Fired one at a cadet camp when I was at school. 10 brens either side of me let loose. No ear muffs. Scared the shit out of me!
This was the weapon my grandfather used during his service in the Royal Marines Commandos in World War 2, and in his journals he writes so highly of this beautiful machine. One day I hope to fire this beautifully crafted weapon!
Stripped down the Bren has FEWER parts than an AK!!!
Jolly good show, old chap!
Thank you Ian for this detailed explanation of the origins and workings of the BREN gun. This weapon was used to great effect during WWII by our Australian Soldiers. I fired a Bren Gun during my school cadets days in the early 70s. We had only 20 rounds in the magazine. It was a terrifying experience to have this massive piece of metal firing .303 bullets on semi-auto and automatic. The smell of a hot gun with the cordite smoke was enough to make you not want to be on the receiving end of the fire.
This was my late father's gun during WW 2. He was a sharpshooter and Brengunner. He saved his company by shooting down a Stuka with it.
Loved my Bren if it was not for the wide shoulder sling I would have died. If we had no sniper support on our section we would take the magazine off remove the gas regulator insert one round and it become a very accurate sniper rifle. We removed the gas regulator as if it was left in you got kick before the round left the barrel. If we was in a fixed position and had a tripod it was bloody accurate sniper gun. Happy memories got me and my section out of the shit so many times then we got issued the General purpose machine gun. Still missed the Bren. My grandad used the Bren in WW II he could not believe we was still using it in the 70’s but he said why change it if it’s not broken.
Excelent thorough coverage of the Bren MK 1. My favourite weapon during my military service were the MK 1 & 2. Accuracy was amazing & was one of the factors in it's demise when spraying a target area, (rather than putting automatic fire in too concentrated an area), became the new norm. Stripping & reassembly blindfolded quickly & succesfully, was part of the training programs. 👍
Like Ian has already explained, no its not accuracy that was its demise. The outdated design was
So the British actually sort out weapons procurement to the point they find a gun that is very effective in the hands of the Tommy, and _actually want it too._
A rare find indeed
To be fair the British military were very good when it came to small arms. Lee Enfield, Webleys, Lewis' and Vickers in WW1 was the best lineup of small arms any nation fielded. Even after WW2 they ended up with the SLR, GPMG, Sterling, Hi-Power and L4 Bren and its very hard to fault that line-up. It was only 85 onwards when things went a little wrong. But even then from 2000 onwards with the L85A2, Minimi, GPMG, L86A2, L129, Sig Sauer's then Glocks they're in a decent position. The biggest oddity was the failure to embrace 40mm grenade launchers (apart from small numbers of M79) until the 2000's when the UGL and GMG arrived in numbers, particularly given the UK's liking of small mortars and grenades for the preceding decades.
FYI just in case anyone is interested, the blaster that the Mandalorian character Cara Dune uses a Bren modified with an MG42 dual drum mag. Take a close look and you will see the tell tale marks of the Bren.
My dad was a bren gunner in the blackwatch he loved the Bren he served in Palestine Crete North Africa and Burma. I also trained with the Bren back in the late 1970s . He gave me lots of tips on firing and servicing the weapon. I enjoyed my time with it .
Never have a problem with the video length as the detail is so fascinating when explained by such an expert.
I love the weird barrel on this thing. Very unique looking machine gun
During my time in SADF a Bren gun was opened to clean and shoved closed. The magazine was still in place and a round was discharged. It hit a fellow soldier in the groin. He lost his leg I believe, as a result.
That was great.
I just took delivery of a Burma Bren in homage to my grandad who was a Bren gunner.
To have it explained was excellent. Thanks
Used this (mk ii) in the Irish army reserve in the 90s. Great on single-shot too :)
Great video, I thought I would try to challenge my 93 year old dad (who had a mini stroke 5 weekks ago) as to the origin of the BREN gun. Almost 100% recall of what he learnt doing his UK national service in the early 1950s where he got to have a go with one!. I did score a point over the Enfield inch, something he hadn;t heard of
Also the fact that the BREN gun was in service into the 1990s says something about the design. A bit like the longevity of the B52
Used the LMG version (a BREN in all but name and calibre) for years. Super accurate, super reliable and super easy to maintain but the crossover sling was a pain.
I trained both on the GPMG and the Bren. As an absolute chopper, of course, the GPMG gets the prize. As something you could love, something that was almost too accurate for an LMG, something you could carry anywhere that would never let you down- well the Bren.
The BREN was the best LMG of the war, the OWEN was the best Sub gun, it's almost like top feed and gravity paired up to make "a thing".
and the F1 that replaced the Owen was useless
@@barrettcarr1413 Very true.
Fun fact:
During operation market Garden, luftwaffe ground force personnel were using Zb.26s and simply picked up actual BRENs because allies kept dropping ammunition to the wrong team.
the czech, the source of a lot of widely used kit on both sides
Ian, when stripping the Bren the bi pod was always the last thing to be taken off the receiver body, this was so the main body and the slide assemble stayed off the ground and could be field stripped while prone. It also first thing back on as it makes it easier when assembling as it acts a third hand.
I would like to see the look in Misses McCollums face when Ian comes back from a Tour with a duffle bag full of stuff.
"You didn´t buy another machine gun? Did you?"
"Honey, first of all. you look great in these clothes."
Gun Jesus has spoken.
Hear his words werebos....and weep !
A whole series on the BREN? I'm going to enjoy this! And speaking of BREN gun carriers, there's one on display at a memorial nearby in Thunder Bay Canada. When you look at how small they were, and how exposed the men would be, you can appreciate their bravery. Thanks for another fabulous video Ian.
Thanks Ian I have learned a number of things about the Bren and it's development that I have not heard before, even though I have quite an extensive library of books devoted to WW2 British weapons. I look forward to watching the rest of your videos on the Bren gun.
Have you ever noticed just how much love there is for the Bren amongst people who used it?
Firearms aren't toys to a soldier, they are a tool to get the job done. And I never hear ANYTHING bad about the Bren (or the LMG) from anybody that ever carried one. Nothing.
Finally he is an acolyte to the nation of Beige
Not going to read a couple of thousand comments to check if already mentioned so apologies for duplication, if already mentioned.
When stripping, you should remove the barrel, the remove the working parts, as the bipod will hold the weapon for you while you take them out. When reassembling, put the bipod on, then replace the working parts.
"You can see moustaches twitching in excitement" - the best visual of an English officer ever. I am sure that a few "What what" and "Mmmmm quite" were quoted as well.
Jolly good show chap keep up the good work.
You can tell the British loved the design since it has ALL THE FEATURES, at least initially. A darling gun.
I got to hold a Bren lmg at a military show years ago. It was cool holding something that was actually used in WW2. Brens were nice lmgs.
*British Army:* Here in your _incredibly_ ungainly, awkward, uncomfortable but effective MG
*Also British Army:* We're sending you to jungle and/or desert forever. Byee 👋
And then in 1939 Vickers introduced the VGO . A drum fed system of great reliability intended for mainly aircraft ( as drums are not affected by G forces like belts or magazines ) but was notorious mounted in pairs and singles on jeeps used by the SAS in France , often along with a 50 BMG for clearing snipers in trees and buildings as the front line moved forward . These were also to be used at Arnhem by the Paras but never made it into action . 100 rnd drum was standard with 600 rnds being available with a 650 rpm rate of fire .
This gun is so amazing, that the British Empire didn't need an assault rifle or an automatic rifle in the war.
The only weird criticism we hear, 'its too accurate. ' lol 😆
Great video.
Correct. Wasteful in that it tended to put more than one round through, or close to the same hole, Hence was fired in short bursts.
@@johnwildy4872 rubbish. There's a video of Bloke and Ian discussing this point about the Bren. Suggest you watch it before spreading any more "false facts"
@@howardchambers9679 Bolloxs Mr Chambers, I did NOT spread false information but what was in accordance with my early training and experience even if it was over sixty-five years ago. Given that I have turned eighty years of age, I have no reason to utter or write bullshit. I was trained in radio and radar during my service in the RAF but still had to go through weapon training and chemical warfare which took place over a period of eighteen months. The gun shown differed somewhat from the one that was once familiar with so there are some components that I do not recognize. Of course, I saw the video, or how do you reason that I wrote the post? I find your comment to be downright rude.
@@johnwildy4872 I remember a conversation with my father and he said the same thing. He trained with it in 1949 before going to Korea.
@@howardchambers9679 Have you ever fired one of these? I have a number of times. Have you ever dismantled and reassembled one? I have, again, a number of times. Have you ever served in a military capacity and underwent military training? I have. I note that your ill-considered insulting post remains.
The 7.62mm version remained a section weapon for support arms (in my case the Royal Corps of Signals) until replaced by the SA80 so in my case I am very familiar with this weapon. The proper stripping order is to unlock the barrel and remove. Take out the gas plug, placing it in the v of the carry handle (so you can find it in the dark). Leave the bipod on, and unlock the rear of the body. Withdraw the trigger group about 6", and eject the slide and breech block using the cocking lever. Remove the bipod and trigger group. Even ended up with one as my personal weapon in the 70s when my SLR was off for a refurb. When changing the gas setting when it is hot, you would use a bullet to rotate the plug.
My understanding is that although the Bren was assembled at Enfield, the parts were made by BSA factories and the design was perfected by BSA. My father was a senior official at BSA and got friendly with the eleven, I believe, Czech technicians who came to Britain to set up production. One of them gave me some Czech coins as a memento. One of them, called Vessily, eventually became the head of BSA Guns. My father explained to me how it worked. I was about ten years old.
I wonder if the "Enfield Inch" was also related to the FAL converions as well
Enfield inch, windows minute. We could develop a whole new system of measurements
BSA did the UK FALs, if I recall correctly. The "Enfield Inch" varied by about 0.0003" from the proper one. Not even Swiss prototypes are built to those limits.
Also produced at Lithgow Small Arms Factory in Australia (effectively Mk 1 Modified) and Ishapore and Kanpur Arsenals in India (I don't know of the particular models...)