Gun of the Week - BREN Light Machine Gun

It's snowy and lonely up here in the winter. I thought I would start uploading pictures to show off some of our collection in a sort of virtual museum until we can get the real thing built.

The gun I want to showcare this week is the BREN Light Machine Gun. It was the workhorse of the British military during and after WW2. Very adaptable, it could be used as a squad automatic weapon, an anti-aircraft gun with the proper tripod and there was alos a sustained fire tripod setup that it could be mounted on. It fired the .303 caliber rimmedcartridge that the Enfield bolt action rifles used, so it was relatively simple to keep ammo in supply. The gun loaded from a magazine on top, which required the sights to be mounted on the left side of it, since you couldn't use them in the traditional location on top of the barrel.

The design originalted with the Czech ZB series guns, and it went through several simplifications as the war went on. This particular example is a BREN MkII. It has been demilled by a series of cuts through the reciever. Displayed with it is a period magazine carrier with a dozen magazine in it and a "holdall" which contains a spare barrel, spare parts and armorer's tools to maintain it.

This one was made in 1943. It is marked Inglis which means it was made in Toronto, Canada. There are also some Greek markings on it where it served after the war.

Here's the photo of this week's gun: BREN LMG

Next week: the MG-34