Bren Build

[XO3319]

I just wanted to get something in here.

My Bren will be back from Wise-Lite within a week or two.

Pics to follow.

[kevin]

maybe ill get mine first since im a little closer to tx?

[XO3319]

I'll get mine first because I'm better looking :)

[kevin]

lol, remember i sold you that kit!

[M1 Tanker]

Can't wait to see it XO!!!

[Perro]

i want to see photos of the semi conversion pretty please!!

[XO3319]

First one to get it in will take all the detail pictures for Lord Perro and Tanker

and I am pretty fast with my camera!

[omerta123]

im stoked for this

[turbothis]

i wouls also like to see this.

what is the chance of building a sheet metal bren with the right dimensions? i would try that....:)

[M1 Tanker]

None turbo, the receiver is very thick.

[turbothis]

i would love to give it a try. i still need to get ahold of a kit myself to look it over. seems everyone is selling them for a good price to bad i cant get payed to save my life! or my mortgauge for that matter.:machinegun:

[M1 Tanker]

I think once you see it you will realize there is no way. Its like say you can make a milled AK receiver from sheetmetal, or a 1919 from sheetmetal.

[turbothis]

ya, i would have to see it.

i did remake my milled ak with a framing square! good steel and the right size too. haha ooops, did i say that out load????

[Fido Dog]

Here's one for you Bren guys........

[turbothis]

cool picture thanks

[kevin]

MINE HAS ARRIVED!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I told you mine would come first!

ill try to get some pics up soon

[Fido Dog]

MINE HAS ARRIVED!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I told you mine would come first!

ill try to get some pics up soon

Prove it!!!:ttiwwop:

[Global Gunsmithing]

heres my 2 of 4, the painted one is in 303 MKI and the unpainted is MKII in 762x54r, only drawback is there made for right handed shooters, i`m a lefty, so I have to set it up on the Bren tripod,

[Fido Dog]

heres my 2 of 4, the painted one is in 303 MKI and the unpainted is MKII in 762x54r, only drawback is there made for right handed shooters, i`m a lefty, so I have to set it up on the Bren tripod,

Ken,

Right now I REALLY dislike you!!!!!:icon_lol:

[Fido Dog]

OK!

It seems to me that this wouldn't be a very good battle set up. I mean changing mags during a shootout would be a BIG pain in the ass. Why didn't they use a belt fed gun for something that wieghs 10# more than a BAR?

[kevin]

just a guess, didnt they use the bren mk1 in WW1? maybe muddy trench, and belts dont mix? Didnt the germans use the madsen as well which was fed in the same manner and then all the czech and other countries that used ZB's

[okie shooter]

Bren was adopted in the thirties, based on the czech machine gun. Thus the name is short for Brno/Enfield. It was intended to be a crew served weapon, with two men crews. I imagine the choice of magazines over belts, was maybe the thought of portablity.

[Global Gunsmithing]

Ken,

Right now I REALLY dislike you!!!!!:icon_lol:

wanna see a pic of my semi DsHk??????:icon_biggrin: :icon_biggrin: :icon_biggrin:

[weasel_master]

wanna see a pic of my semi DsHk??????:icon_biggrin: :icon_biggrin: :icon_biggrin:

YES.

[Global Gunsmithing]

shes sitting on a Vickers tripod, I cut a M2 chamber off, bored out the DsHk barrel and fit the M2 chamber in there, couldent see paying $5 a round for the russian stuff, still tinkering with the gas system to get her to cycle reliably, have the DsHk mount comming in April sometime

[weasel_master]

Then you're shipping me the vickers mount right? ;)

[Global Gunsmithing]

then I wont have a place for the semi Vickers when its done

[k98k792]

I thought I saw a M76 mag laying under that bench! :wink:

[XO3319]

SOmeone has hijacked this thread! :hammered:

[weasel_master]

When you get some pictures up of yours, you can have it back. ;) Just ribbing ya, sorry to get off track.

[Global Gunsmithing]

SOmeone has hijacked this thread! :hammered:

sorry, heres semi bren #3 on tripod

[M1 Tanker]

Kevin, we are still waiting on your pics man!

[XO3319]

Mine hasn't come in yet

Big sad face

[kevin]

I NEED a tripod for my bren! I have to borrow my sisters digital camera to take pics, ill get them ASAP

[Global Gunsmithing]

Bren tripod is gonna be tuff to find and pricey, I took one of the MG34 AA tripods for $89 I think it was and you can adapt the bren to fit that very easily, hurry up with the pics

[kevin]

how would you adapt the bren to that tripod? it would only be supported where it was conected at the front of the rifle ????

[M1 Tanker]

You don't have to adapt it, its a Bren tripod :) It connects in 2 places I believe Kevin.

[Global Gunsmithing]

how would you adapt the bren to that tripod? it would only be supported where it was conected at the front of the rifle ????

thats correct, but you can stand up and shoot it,

[kevin]

i mean putting the bren on a mg42 anti aircraft tripod, wouldnt this only attach to the front meaning i would have to support the rear of the rifle by holding it in my shoulder? i allready have a bipod on the front of the bren, seems a tripod for mg42 would be a redundency unless i want to shoot standing up?

[Global Gunsmithing]

i mean putting the bren on a mg42 anti aircraft tripod, wouldnt this only attach to the front meaning i would have to support the rear of the rifle by holding it in my shoulder? i allready have a bipod on the front of the bren, seems a tripod for mg42 would be a redundency unless i want to shoot standing up?

yes you will have to stand, I like it, it will stay on the tri pod at rest pointing in the air, i`ll see if I can get a pic in the next day or so, one cant have too many tripods

[kevin]

i just dont see myself standing with the bren. I can hold it like a rifle for about 5 shots but then my arm gets really tired. I would just use the bipod or fold up the bipod and lay it on a sandbag or tree limb etc. or shoot it with the bipod out of the back of a truck or ontop the hood

[Perro]

i just dont see myself standing with the bren. I can hold it like a rifle for about 5 shots but then my arm gets really tired. I would just use the bipod or fold up the bipod and lay it on a sandbag or tree limb etc. or shoot it with the bipod out of the back of a truck or ontop the hood
wimp :icon_razz:
http://www.cetmerifles.com/bren.wmv


and where are my detailed pictures of how they made it semi auto??

[weasel_master]

What's it run for a semi conversion? I wish I was sitting on a kit right now.

[XO3319]

400 for the kit



1350 for the build from Wise-Lite

110 for 2 compliant magazines and the shipping box

132 for follower and floorplate conversions for 5 more magazines

so pricey

[weasel_master]

Yeah I knew it was a few pennies, just didn't know exacts. Will be a nice rifle to shoot for sure though.

[kevin]

ive made floorplates for my cetme on the g3 mags, they dont look that bad but they work just fine. I will also make some for my bren. I will also be replacing the gas piston with a US made one so i dont have to use compliant mags. I will wait however till the gun is well broken in and its past the 1yr warranty. I may try to see if that one guy could make me a US buttstock instead.

[kevin]

hell i can fire mine that way easy, im talking about putting it in your shoulder and holding it like a regular rifle and firing it! That video was cool but too bad the music drowns out the sound of the firing of the guns

[weasel_master]

A guy I'm working on a project with is making a replicator. Hopefully he gets it done before he leaves this summer so I can play with it until he comes back in the fall. I'd like to make one if I got the time/money this summer.

[Global Gunsmithing]

I would like to know what design WLA is using for the Bren, theres 3 designs out there with only one being reliable IMO

[kevin]

im getting my sisters digital camera friday, i hope to take pictures of it over the weekend.

[XO3319]

Mine still hasn't come in yet:012:

[Global Gunsmithing]

im getting my sisters digital camera friday, i hope to take pictures of it over the weekend.

ok its the weekend, pictures, pictures, pictures

[kevin]

pictures are in the process of being uploaded! give me about 15 minutes, i have about 50 pictures!

[turbothis]

ooooooo i cant wait. i love the look of brens.

[kevin]

Mods, please feel free to crop edit or delete pics you find are no good or duplicates. I cant do anything with the uploaded pics now.

I wish i would have used the flash on the inside pics of the receiver, oh well its locked up now and im not getting it out again this weekend. Please give me 15 minutes from time of last update before you delete,edit etc.

Well, i had trouble getting the first round to load each time so i would hand load it into the chamber then insert the mag. After that it would fire 2-5 rounds and stop. After a while i figured out it was somehow being caused by the little sliding door in the bottom of the receiver, (it also stove piped a few rounds since that door kept sliding back. When i kept locking it back forward(open) i would have no problem. Unfortunately it took me a while to figure that out. Right before i left i figured it out and shot a full mag without problems. Once i got home i completely removed that sliding door. It really serves no purpose except to keep junk out of the receiver when in battefield transit or carrying it around. It did eject every time 100 percent though. I attribute part of the first round not stripping because i dont think i was pulling it back far enough, that helper spring makes it very hard to pull back, much harder than a cetme cocking handle by about 10-15 times. I also attribute this to not cleaning out the receiver before i fired it, there was excessive heavy oil. The rifle itself shot very very well, just about 8 inches to the right and a about 5 inches low. I can adjust this with the front site (glad i have an extra)

The bolt apparently is the same width still, but in no way will work, for several reasons, the biggest being that the round spot you see on each side of the receiver was where a hole was eveidelty drilled and two large studs block the use of a full auto bolt, in the pic i have another bolt from another kit ive yet to find a use for. You will also see the welds on the rail, the hammer, helper spring etc. Note there is a channel in that one piece on the carrier, this channel allows the firing pin to move through it. The firing pin is extended as you see in the pics. I only find one thing maybe that should have been done a litle better, you will see the carrier and bolt dont quite sit flush, one side is ground more than the other. But it still worked fine. I will see if i can add captions to the pics and clean this up. The receiver look alot better once i cleaned it off, in the pics it shows all my oily fingerprints and oil splotches on the receiver. It is a uniform appearance in color except the welds are slightly different but not noticeable if your not in full direct sunlight with a glare on them. My dad only thought there were 2 welds, not 3. I think i just know where the welds were so i notice them more.

[kevin]

i go to all the trouble to put these up and no comments???


perro, i hope these help you understand the conversion

[M1 Tanker]

Pretty damn awesome Kevin, thanks for all the detailed pics. Whats the deal with the saw pistol grip?

Is the stock a repro?

Damn, that is just plain ole kick ass.

[kevin]

the buttstock is original, once i get some transparancies i will post scans of the letter detailing us parts and the design, rightnow they are oily and i dont want them on my scanners glass

the buttstock is original with lots of nice stampings, near new but the pistol grip i think is a tapco one modified for the bren.

they sent me all the unused or replaced parts back

[weasel_master]

Damn, that's nice. The SAW grip looks out of place but the gun overall gives you some bragging rights.

[kevin]

i may try to make a US made grip patterened off the original which they sent back

[Perro]

cool pics
thank you for taking the time to post them

let me see if i got this straight?

they CUT the lower receiver and welded the forward portion of the lower receiver to the upper receiver?? why on earth would they do that?? I guess it prevents you from installing a full auto lower, but here is the next question i have, what makes the lower semi auto?? If the sear grabs the hammerr instead of the carrier now, what was done to the lower to make it different than the FA one?? Im assuming they welded something up in the trigger pack preventing the sear from staying down??
im not quite sure what im looking at in the pics, so forgive me. Maybe arrows, and words showing whats different sure would help.

im also assuming they cut the part off of the carrier that used to strike the firing pin?? That function now happens via the slide hammer right?

they also cut two tracks in the sides of the bolts - does that mean they welded two raised islands, one on each side of the receiver, into the receiver? do those islands fool with the carrier at all?

im also assuming they cut down the side of the carrier to clear said islands?? im pretty sure they milled off the sear engagement point on the bottom of the carrier?

i can see the firing pin is longer to pass through the carrier now.

i think its beautiful Kevin!! Ive wanted one of these for a long time
.303 is a pain in the ass to find right now, did you get a barrel converted to 54r??

id surely appreciate a detailed report of everything that is different from the FA when you find the time. PM if you would like


thank you



Mike

[gazzavc]

Is the cross pin that holds the piston post into the bolt carrier welded in?

[turbothis]

whoa:coolgun: sweet gun.

[XO3319]

Sweet!

If you make a US grip kevin let me know how you do it

Mine still isn't here yet:1092:

[k98k792]

Very,very cool! You don't see one of those everyday!

[kevin]

a piston would be easy but i dont have the tools to make one, the pin holding the piston in is not welded as far as i can tell. You can in no way put in a full auto bolt, at least all the way, those two things welded in on each side stop it, plus you have a channel cut in the thing that hits the firing pin in a full auto bren. The firing pin extends through it. also something is welded in the lower, the hammer (striker) trigger and i think the sear are us made. Ill post the letters tonight.

basicly everything you thought you saw perro is correct, there are two little round things on each side of the receiver that cooresponds to the cut outs on the front of the bolt. they only milled out part of the front of the bolt, not a track all the way through it. And yes the little piece shown is the striker (hammer)

[kevin]

ill trade it to you perro for you mg-42








just kidding, im sure you would never trade it

[weasel_master]

A vickers would make a nice companion for that. What did they do to make compliant mags? Just new floorplates and followers? My girlfriend's been hassling me to take my '42 out and shoot it. Hopefully I'll have some time in a couple weeks.

[kevin]

yep, floor plate, follower, trigger, (hammer) stiker, receiver, and i cant remember for sure the other part, but it will be in the posted letters later

[kevin]

here are the important parts of the letter, concerning the design anyways. Enjoy perro!

i linked them because they are 1024x768 in size or so (that way you can read them) I think they needed to change their toner in their printer, sorry its hard to read some of it.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v469/kevin917z/G1.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v469/kevin917z/G1001.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v469/kevin917z/G1002.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v469/kevin917z/G1003.jpg

i have about 4 more pages that tell me specifically what US parts are in it and all the legal stuff, but that doesnt help you see how they did the conversion.

[kevin]

I'll get mine first because I'm better looking :)

you havent said much XO, i wonder why you havent got yours back yet??????

arent you glad i sold one of my kits to you!

[limalima]

Bryan Gamble (bacl2000@two-black-dogs.com) makes a beautiful Mk II stock and pistol grip set - send him an email.

Stock Set 95.00
Shipping USPS Flat Rate 8.60
Money Order Total 103.60

Gearpay Total: 106.70

Money order send to
Bryan Gamble
1025 Brookridge Drive > Walnut Cove, NC 27052

[kevin]

emailed him, but those look like the weaponeer group buy ones, that rumor has it are sold out and only enough were done for those who prepaid

hopefully i can get one set

[kevin]

planning where are you????

[Perro]

ill trade it to you perro for you mg-42
just kidding, im sure you would never trade it

It is a home built firearm, no matter what some people say about this subject, i go above and beyond safe with this kind of stuff. I do not sell home built firearms where the receiver is manufactured by me.

I want to build my own some day, but could never quite grasp what ezfeed had drawn out, and his design was never approved. This design is approved, and i can work with this someday if i can visually see what they did.

Thanks for the offer, but i cant trade the 42, not that i would. I would consider other trades, but nothing i built myself.

That is a very nice firearm bro! You should be proud of it. I love the BREN. i love how it shoots! The post sample bren in our group is ALOT of fun when you can find decent ammo for it - that seems to be a HUGE problem for the guy who bought it. Most of the stuff is too underpowered to cycle the bolt reliably in his, even with the gas set at the highest setting.
Some day im going to figure out how to rechamber a barrel. Ive never done that yet, but would like to try. A 762x54r conversion of that thing would be perfect, or even one of the 8mm zb conversions (although i suspect 8mm will soon be all gone)

Mike

[kevin]

did you look at the letter perro? it describes the design. Next time i get it out ill use the flash so you can see the inside better. I assume you got my pm with the fullsize pic link?

i know someone who can rechamber my barrel but i dont have anything other than a dremel to remove that metal on the sides of the bolt, ill put up some pics showing the bolt mods.

[weasel_master]

If you get a chance can you take a picture from behind it, as you would look through the sites to shoot it. I'm interested in seeing how everything lines up from the rifleman's perspective.

[Perro]

did you look at the letter perro? it describes the design. Next time i get it out ill use the flash so you can see the inside better. I assume you got my pm with the fullsize pic link?

i know someone who can rechamber my barrel but i dont have anything other than a dremel to remove that metal on the sides of the bolt, ill put up some pics showing the bolt mods.

yup, got the pm, and checked out the pics. to be honest, the ones you posted here are equivalent from what i could tell. I would appreciate a good look inside.

also the letter is almost useless with as much missing information as it has on it. i hope XOs letter is better.

if i ever get around to building one of these, and i decide to convert mine to 54r, and i figure out how to hold the bolt to mill it, id offer the service on your bolt to you. Unfortunately, it may be a long time before i get to the bren. I still have alot of work to do on the 42, and the vickers hasnt even started yet, but im anxious to get cracking on it.



Mike

[weasel_master]

I'd like to get my vickers converted to 54r. Is there anyone out there that does the needed work you know of Perro?

[Perro]

yes, sherman is going to do mine

[kevin]

here is pics of the bolt parts for those of you who have never had a bren. The design is pretty simple, but i still dont know why they had to cut the lower???? Im also not sure why they didnt completly remove the part off the carrier that used to hit the firing pin on the full autos?

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v469/kevin917z/2.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v469/kevin917z/1.jpg

[Planning]

kevin, it looks beautiful.
i have descided to go a different route with the bren's and not use wise lite to build mine.

[Perro]

excellant ++++

keep them coming!!

[XO3319]

I think mine is one of the problem guns-- probably the barrel from the look at the flash hider

I have a new Mk II barrel still in cosmo so no issue

I am patiently waiting but mine has to be one of the problem guns at this time

I am glad to have it either way

I have about 1800 rounds of surplus WWII .303 and 250 cases to reload with for the BREN and my #4 Mk 1* Savage

[limalima]

emailed him, but those look like the weaponeer group buy ones, that rumor has it are sold out and only enough were done for those who prepaid

hopefully i can get one set

I emailed him directly - not through Weaponeer. I don't know how many he has but the whe workmanship is excellent

[kevin]

i emailed him directly but have not heard back, did you buy a set allready or something????

perro, did you look at this guys website? http://www.geocities.com/jumanra/brengun.html

might be able to get you started with parts, maching or jigs. He doesnt update the site that often but he returns emails fast. I was thinking about trying to build mine but for the price i paid for one to be built and after realizing the difficulty i decided not to build my own. He has a cd with instructions for a build and his letter he provides.

[kevin]

here is a nice big picture of it!

I wish i knew how to resize it so i could use it for an avatar

[weasel_master]

That is a mighty fine weapon.

[weasel_master]

For the pistol grip, here's a group buy.
http://1919a4.com/forums/showthread.php?t=7668

[kevin]

signe up, for stock and grip, at least ill get rid of the crappy plastic grip!!!!

[k98k792]

Pic resized.

[kevin]

if you want the giant picture click here: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v469/kevin917z/bren.jpg

[kevin]

group buy is a go! im signed up

are you going to XO? its much cheaper for me than buying floorplates and follower for all my mags (300 dollars for 10 floorplates and followers) and i have 15 mags!

If not im gonna have US made set of floorplate and follower and a foreign buttstock and a US grip to sell

the stock i have has nice stampings in it and is in near excellent condition with nice walnut

[kevin]

more pics i am posting to a bren semi conversion thread

[cetme]

I found out how much a conversion costs and sold my MK I kit. I was hoping that a bunch of 308 kits would come in but rumor has it they landed at the bottom of the ocean during a sunami.

[XO3319]

I am in the group buy for stock and pistol grip

and I am going to make the followers and floorplates spread among more mags to ensure I am complaint...Right now I have 7 mags with follower and floorplate-- if I go the buttstock option that gives me the option to spreading compliant parts to 14 magazines

But mine still isn't here yet-- but WLA said mine wasn't one of the problem guns

[gunnin'thusiast]

I am considering one of these as my next reconstruct project - they are just really cool guns at the least. Wanting to know the level of difficulty in such an attempt. Was trying to view semi-auto conversion pictures and other Bren related items however, I am not able to do so. the forum gives me three blocking instances and asks me to re-log in ? ? ?

Excellent work


Thanks

[XO3319]

OK Finally

Here is mine with accessories

US Furniture coming, and no I haven't gotten her to the range yet

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v328/wray71/P1010018-1.jpg

[IMBLITZVT]

Looks real nice!

[weasel_master]

Nice, I'm jealous.

[kevin]

how do your zb39 mags fit? mine are very tight and i will likely have to remove some metal slowly to get them to fit better

[XO3319]

I haven't tried them yet-- I'll try them tonight

[M1 Tanker]

Awesome Joel, even got the helmet to go with it.

Can you change to a ZB39 barrel/mags without changing the bolt?

[XO3319]

From what Wise-Lite says the bolt face needs to be opened up a little, barrel changed to one chambered for 7.62x54R and mags as well

same 922R restrictions would apply

They did say they were having overpressure problems with the 7.62x54R round as it is much more powerful than the standard .303

[XO3319]

The helmet was bought in the early 1980s at a flea market in NJ-- no chinstrap,( gotta find one somewhere) with a repro netting

had to throw it in-- and thats a ZB26 magazine bag with 6 6 complaint magazines

I have to get this to a range:icon_neutral:

[kevin]

is your gas setting on the highest? or the biggest hole? you can tell just by looking closely, they have four small indentations on the gas regulator with the largest being the highest setting. I hate that they did that because there is only an adjustment now on mine to lower the pressure. I can fix overpressure issues but not under!

[XO3319]

I have to check on mine

[Grasshopper]

I thought I saw a M76 mag laying under that bench! :wink:


:eek: I like his night gown!!!!:rolleyes::thumbup:

[Pirate]

Thanks for all the photos, I am starting mine today and they have been a big help!!:thumbup:

[Pirate]

I just finished welding up my receiver today I need to finish machining the internals and make the striker, Kevin could you post a couple of photos of yours with some dimentions? I would really appriciate it.

[Global Gunsmithing]

is your gas setting on the highest? or the biggest hole? you can tell just by looking closely, they have four small indentations on the gas regulator with the largest being the highest setting. I hate that they did that because there is only an adjustment now on mine to lower the pressure. I can fix overpressure issues but not under!


I drilled mine on the smallest hole, that way I have some adjustment, doubt that the smallest setting would ever be used, and for the 54r I used a heaver recoil spring in the stock

[sdk1968]

keeping tabs on this thread

[kevin]

check out my fairly new post "got my bren back" and it will show my updated striker system pictures. I can now shoot all ammo without issue!