Making Do: South Africa's 7.62mm NATO Bren Gun Conversions

See the full version including range time at History of Weapons & War:
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During World War Two, the South African military used a lot of .303 caliber Bren guns. When 7.62mm NATO became the standard cartridge after the war, the Bren guns were put into storage, as converting them to the new rimless cartridge was a fairly complicated process. Instead, they purchased new FN- MAG machine guns, and supplemented them with conversion of Vickers and M1919 Browning guns (which were much simpler to do).
However, as the war in South West Africa (now Namibia) escalated, more guns were needed. The embargo in effect prevented purchase of MAGs (or their parts), and so a twofold plan was put into place. A new domestic machine gun went into development (this would become the SS-77), and the Bren guns in storage were converted to 7.62mm NATO. These Brent were a variety of models and in in widely varying condition. Where the British Bren gun conversion (the L4) was done after refurbishing the base guns to essentially factory new condition, the South Africans did not have the parts or facilities to do this sort of rebuilding. Instead, their Brens were essentially each hand fitted to fit the new parts to the different donor guns.
Mechanically, the conversion required new barrels, extractors, and magazine catch blocks. The barrels were made new by Lyttleton Engineering Works (LEW), and fitted with the sights, carry handles, and gas blocks taken from the original .303 barrels. The sights were not recalibrated for 7.62mm. The magazine locking blocks were designed a bit differently from the British L4 pattern. For magazines, the South Africans made their own straight 30-round mags, and also used standard R1A1 (FAL) 20-round rifle magazines. These did include some of the unique South African hybrid mags, with metric locking lugs and inch-type floorplates. New polymer furniture was also made, but only used on guns whose existing furniture was beyond repair.
The conversion program ran from 1972 until 1976, and it converted all of the South African stock of surplus Brens. The program was only somewhat successful, because of the mixed states of the base material. While some ran extremely well (as did the British L4 conversions), some were simply too worn to be reliable and problems like runaway triggers were not uncommon. In addition, the hand-fitted nature of the guns meant that as they were used in the field and required additional maintenance, they were not parts-interchangeable. Any further work on them also had to be hand-fitted - not a sustainable situation.
Many thanks to DSA for giving me access to the excellent example from their reference collection (as well as the L4 for comparison) to film for you!
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[@mikehogan9265]

We had these as base defence weapons at a SAAF radar station. They were only occasionally used on a range just to keep us familiar with them. This was in 1971 and they were 7.62 converted then. The conversion must have started earlier than Ian stated. We only had 4 of them. I was in stores and had to clean them when they came back from the range.

[@enricopaolocoronado2511]

I'm used to the Bren Gun having the curved magazine in .303 British but the straighter mags with the 7.62mm NATO conversion looks pretty good in its own right.

[@AshleyPomeroy]

It has "big Falklands energy".

[@misolgit69]

@enricopaolo don't forget the original design had a straight magazine

[@legatuspacis4521]

For me it looks like a modernised vz.30 light machine gun

[@kutter_ttl6786]

Always liked the look with the subtle curve on the Brit L4 mags, it just seems right.

[@justhere4637]

​@@AshleyPomeroy?

[@DrB934]

We converted the Bren's in Australia, as mentioned by others in the comments. It was a beautiful weapon to use.

[@ThatGuy-te9wh]

I think the last video was a modified Australian FAL that used 308 Been mags.

[@warriorgames6077]

I am indian🇮🇳 indian army still use it as it as an standard squad automatic weapon

[@warriorgames6077]

​@@ThatGuy-te9whbut now indian army is decided to replace it by negev lmg 7.63.16k have been brought from isreal 🇮🇱 and is used by indian army in front line position s

[@shoelessbandit1581]

​@@ThatGuy-te9wh308 Bren mags are fal magazines though they hold 30 rounds instead of 20 but they're interchangeable by design

[@charlieyerrell9146]

​@@warriorgames6077the Bren gun is still a very useful light machine gun. It is very accurate and easy to use.

[@IPC-D_Media_Unit]

Before starting production of 7.62 Brens, India also converted a number of war-era guns, some of which are STILL in service. I saw one in the hands of CRPF troops in Delhi about a decade ago.

[@MichaelvanEnter]

I was a technical illustrator for Lyttleton Engineering AKA Armscor in the late 70’s. An exploded view of the Bren was the only small arm I ever inked. Bren conversions were done in batches and not standardized. There was a shortage of skilled armorers, parts drawings were constantly being modified. It was only when the NATO Codification and ISO standards were being adopted that quality control started to improve.

[@minxythemerciless]

Not South African, but I have trained on the Australian 7.62 NATO Bren. The conversion seems to be an obvious progression. The mags were a drop in replacement for the L1A1 (FAL) SLR. If you were really cool you could use a curved 30 rd Bren magazine on your L1A1

[@CAMSLAYER13]

Then you could suffer the brens weaker mag spring lol

[@RogerSliney]

You are wrong! It's a SADF 7,62mm "Bren" LMG!

[@BlokeontheRange]

@@CAMSLAYER13 The L4 magazine springs are in fact stronger than the springs in the 20 rounders. I have measured them and worked out where I reckon the "mag spring too weak" myth comes from.

[@CAMSLAYER13]

@@BlokeontheRange probably fucked old bren mags that worked well enough with gravitys help rather than them being intrinsically bad.

[@ianjardine7324]

@@CAMSLAYER13 either that or wartime production mags where where good quality spring steel was scarce and production was rushed without the necessary quality control. I believe sten mags had similar issues at the time. In both cases the guns magazine orientation was more forgiving of poor magazine springs than would normally be the case.

[@NickSchoonwinkel]

I was a conscriped in the SADF and did infantry basic trainging in 1972 on the Mag58 LMG. 1976 I was called up to do a 90 day camp on the South West African border in the Caprvi strip. I as a section Bren Gunner and did trainging of the Bren Gun. I was issued with a 1948 dated Bren Gun with 7 standard 20 rond magazines and it was brand new. A nice gun to shoot.

[@scallywag9392]

I was issued a converted Bren in Rhodesia in the mid 70's. I fired 1 round on the range and the barrel fell off, so swopped it for an R1.

[@losonsrenoster]

One of these things nearly killed a part of my platoon in 1975, after a live ammo practice attack, the gun started firing three quarters of a mag by itself, I think it was a very worn sear, on a gun that was made early in WW 2. The gunner fortunately lifted the barrel skyward and let it finish. No one was hurt, but the gunner was never trusted with an LMG again.

[@lib556]

For the benefit of your audience who may have missed your videos about Canadian FALs, we made extensive use of straight, 30 yd mags for our C2s. This should be mentioned as, I believe, we likely used them more than any other country. We used the C2 LAR from the late 50s right up until 1988 (reserve units up until 1991). In a regular bn there were 2 x C2s pers sect. That translates to between 60 and 80 in a bn. Each C2 gunner was issued 5 x 30rd straight FAL mags. The other country that dabbled in the same weapon was Australia (L2). They didn't appear to be as happy with them as we were. As mentioned elsewhere, they also used converted Brens - something we didn't do. We did convert M1919s to 7.62 to use as our GPMGs (C5) until replaced by the FN MAG (C6) in platoons round about 1987. We were still using the Brownings in APC turrets as late as the early 90s.

[@jamesdc9595]

The straight mag makes it look more like the Vz26 the Bren was based off, everything coming full circle

[@petesheppard1709]

Looking at the bolt face and extractor, the Czech foresight toward caliber conversions is evident.😎

[@zacharyrollick6169]

​@@petesheppard1709 Well, they did offer it in numerous calibers.

[@petesheppard1709]

@@zacharyrollick6169 Indeed! Smart designing.

[@trooperdgb9722]

Shot one in Poland last year...and that was MY first thought on this video too!!😁

[@simonnormand2813]

These guns were so popular with the section gunners, though humpin’ along the cut line hauling some 800 rounds in magazines in 36* C heat was some doing. Also used extensively throughout the Rhodesian army. I liked it, accurate, and you could basically set your rate of fire by setting your gas. Unlike the South Africans we had before sanctions etc, managed to get a shipment of L4’s

[@causewaykayak]

Did you serve in the SR bush war. Hats off if you did. The guys deserved a better press. Betrayed by weak UK.

[@edwardhawkey5714]

@@causewaykayak There were some around in Rhodesia in my time but mostly FN MAG's. Mid to late 70's.

[@woutermeintjes1946]

I was in the border war and that was the only machine guns we had and it was in1975.I was Bren gunner and carried that gun for many kilometres through the Bush and we loved those guns, I still have the original leather belt for that model

[@clive4949]

I have used this Armscor converted Bren in Rhodesia in 1979. I was attached to Internal Affairs to command 4 PV's (protected village). Each village had 30 armed guards who were relatives of the people in the PV. Guards had G3's each village received a 7.62 Bren gun. It fired without any issues from my experience.

[@anthonyburke5656]

I should mention, I trained with the Ghurkas in the late 70s, they were using both the 7.62 mm Bren and the belt fed FN machine gun, they much preferred the Bren, they practised very, very good fire control and all their “minor” tactics pivoted on the gun, they preferred the accuracy and reliability of the Bren and a big plus for them was the ability of the Gun to use Rifleman ammo and visa versa. It was strange, they had both British and Ghurka Officers, I found the standard of the Officers to be much better than any I’d ever come across before and by then I’d worked with Infantry Officers from a fair few Armies, including US. The ORs actually trusted and liked their Officers!

[@jockmcspatstrap396]

The Regular Army Officers in the Ghurkha regiments are drawn from Sandhurst trained British officers. The commissioned officers that are from Nepal are former Ghurkha senior NCO's who have been commissioned from the ranks (CFR) who are usually given the jobs that require a lot of experience like Motor Transport Officer, Quartermaster, and various training jobs. My unit had a Ghurkha reinforcement company attached to us to boost our numbers for a tour - outstanding men all.

[@causewaykayak]

​@@jockmcspatstrap396 Aye the Ghurkas are special. So good that they can now live in the UK without immigration hassle.

[@jockmcspatstrap396]

That is such good news- when I was serving they had to return to Nepal unless they jumped through the hoops. @@causewaykayak

[@causewaykayak]

@@jockmcspatstrap396 I copied this from internet ... In 2008 the actress Joanna Lumley, whose father served in the 6th Gurkha Rifles, became the public face of the campaign to provide all Gurkha veterans who served in the British Army before 1997 the right to settle in Britain, and ran a highly publicised and successful campaign. What took the authorities so long. Was a disgrace. The UK government and Whitehall administrators have no sense of shame. Glad you were happy to hear about this. 👍🏼

[@jockmcspatstrap396]

One of my best memories was sharing a home made meal prepared by a faithful Gurkha Sgt and his CFR Captain beside a river in Africa with our small range team. Working beside them everyday was a true honour. I would fix bayonets with those men any time any where. Later, when my Highland Regiment had a Gurkha Reinforcement Company (Gallipoli Coy) attached - they fit into a Highland Battalion effortlessly. I have heard the same from my brothers in the Rifle Brigade and the Royal Marines. @@causewaykayak

[@Goc4ever]

That was a nice conversion on the South African part. Thanks as always Ian. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you🎁🎅🕊🎄🎆.

[@n147258noah]

I'm sure this gun is one of the rare, less hand-fitted versions...but I kinda almost prefer its construction to the British version. Just looks cleaner almost, especially with the mag feed. No overtravel stops, but it just looks so...natural.

[@marvindebot3264]

I've used a MK2 version of the LEM conversion Bren, I quite liked it. Mine has a Kahles 2x optic fitted and while it was obviously no sniper rifle it was a nicely accurate LMG out to quite impressive ranges. I could put a 30rd mag into a 10 or 15 foot square at 800 yards making life rather difficult for anyone who happened to be occupying it.

[@Tragon-p8m]

I remember seeing these, SADF phased them out circa 1981, but some Commando ( equivalent of UK TA or USA national guard) units still had them for a good few years after that.

[@skylongskylong1982]

A weapon like the Enfield rifle, the Bren gun fondly remembered by those trained on it.

[@SentimentalBadger]

I love South Africa!

[@skylongskylong1982]

@@SentimentalBadger Great Country, but managed by morons, who have electrical power cuts, last for days, due to people stealing the copper wiring.

[@matthayward7889]

Instant like for anything Bren, anything top feeding, and anything weird conversion 👍

[@cayminlast]

We did have some issues with the LMG Bren and did a good bit of tweaks and adjustment to improve reliability. During my service in the 1970s I was posted to '61 Base Workshops' where a lot of R&D, manufacture, proofing and assembly of all manner of military equipment,

[@JohnTBlock]

It shows how ingenuity will overcome problems! As long as the base gun was workable, it came out well. Shows why the BREN stayed in service as ,long as it did, nothing else was really better, belt-fed or not....

[@porkchop7995]

I rebuilt a south African bren that escaped 7.62 conversion. It's also a mix of parts.

[@danielsprouls9458]

Since the predecessor to the bren gun was in 7.92 x57. The nato conversion to 7.62 x51 is a return to the original cartridge family. German cartridges adopted by the US as the 7.62 x61 ( US 30cal/30 06 shortened to 7.62 x 51 nato/308). Kind of all in the family.

[@jaymouton9165]

Thanks Ian! With love from South Africa

[@anthonysalgado5118]

The dreaded order " WISSEL" (change) was often heard when doing Bren gun drills , this happened when you and the loader had to change positions. If memory serves me right the gunner slides under the loader while the loader floats over the gunner to change positions, did this until you dropped from exhaustion SADF Infantry School 1980.

[@johnbutler3742]

thanks for posting, interesting. I did my service in Kimberly, 11 Commando and the Caprivi, late 70's. this isn't the weapon i used. The entire front was simpler, it was naturally 7.62 with no sign of conversion from an older weapon, and they were plentiful. Always with two barrels, and the bottom ejector panel had to be opened first. When the cocked weapon was released the breach block could take the top of your finger off. Very smooth, psychologically overpowering, easy to shoot from the hip while standing. Our flash cover did have the clicking points either side for rifle grenades and ballast bullets travelled in the spare barrel cover. There was no wood, the same black hard material as the FN 7.62, and I seem to remember the word Browning engraved on the side: arms sanctions were being broken and never subsequently confirmed for obvious reasons. The one on the guard post at Caprivi was like this but this wasn't all there was. I also fired the Browning ,50 out of the side of a Super Alouette: the air turned grey. We also strafed Zambian troops in the village of Sesheke after an unprovoked mortar attack, 200mm Soviet style with the very new, unmodified looking Brens. Taiwan was the leading conduit for a long time, if they were Belgian in origin. We were told that at a range of five kilometres the velocity meant 26 human bodies penetrated, and that ammunition was Spanish and not marked, only numbered, and could well be armour piercing (Spain was desparate for exports.) This wasn't all there was, but amusing. Our Uzzis were definitely Armscor. It was a very low level conflict, no body armour, and massive restraint by the Soviets, with giant hovercraft sneaking up the Zambezi and some shenanigans using Kolokol, anaesthetic gas. Most SA soldiers completely unaware. Wreckage of a MIg 25 prototype shot down, earlier, in southern Namib by three Mirage F!!! sent to, you guessed it, Roswell having been dismissed as a UFO by the MInistery of Defence and never publicly discussed.

[@JeffreyThomas-th2ps]

Im a Sandf vet i didnt know about this conversion a bit before my time.We were such good innovators our equipment was awsome when i did basic 7:17 s we were still issued ww2 webbing and grestcoats i was really upset when i had to hand my greatcoat back as i was moved to another training camp ,man that thing was warm😅

[@G_Flash84625]

Keep on making vidoes on my country ^.^ Merry Christmas from SA.

[@darrenjones3681]

The UK’s Royal Marines and Royal Navy kept on 7.62 chambered Brent’s when the GPMG was being brought into service with the British Army and RAF because their squad doctrine was different, every squad member also carried Spare Bren mags and if needed the SLR mags could be used and interchanged

[@sealove79able]

A great very interesting video and mg Mr.Ian.Have a good one Mr.Merry Christmas.

[@ashleysmith3106]

In the 1970's the Australian Government sold deactivated Brens to Members of Collecting Associations and I paid a month's salary for one when I could ill afford it. They were delivered on an ad hoc basis, as the ADF deactivated them,to Collectors alphabetically by surname. By the time I was due to get mine, the Government changed its policy, stopped the supplying of the guns, and I never received the one I paid for, nor got my money back ! ! ! I'm reminded of this fact every time a Bren gets mentioned ! ! !

[@PatrickGrammer-d3s]

Was Bren no1,in 1979. Carry it over wast distances, with ammo. Loved my gun!!

[@ballagh]

Today I learned they were still making mk1 Bren guns in 1944. I’d assumed new production guns would have been on the later standards by then.

[@smegheadGOAT]

The SADF found interesting ways to make arms, they even made a good attack helicopter

[@emilschw8924]

It was called the Rooivalk (Red kestrel).

[@edwardhawkey5714]

@@emilschw8924 Yup, until recently we had only two servicable Rooivalk's. Then one got shot down in the DRC recently. Now we have one, maybe

[@emilschw8924]

@@edwardhawkey5714 That's really sad news.

[@christhesmith]

Thanks DSA!! Thanks Ian!!

[@johanvanzyl8479]

Just explaining to my son - for "conventional phase" training you also had a 12kg Tripod per section. By 1980 these were very worn and unreliable.

[@woff1959]

I was introduced to the Bren in 1978, in Commandos, the idea being to make us familiar with all the available kit. My infantry sections Bren was not wonderful and suffered a lot of jams, followed by sudden unexpected bursts. A bit scary, but it was replace quickly by the FN MAG, a beautiful gun.

[@propdoctor21564]

Another great video as always 👍👍

[@JayMillyPowerKingdom]

Clapped Out 😂😂 i know you from the greatest country in the world 7:52 most gangsta word i have heard you say feom watching you for years the most knowledge gun hero on KZbin keep doing such great and educational work on firearms from everything from bows to 155 artillery shells

[@deffness356]

“Clapped out” is not something I ever thought I’d hear Ian say.

[@pierremainstone-mitchell8290]

Thanks muchly Ian. A version of the Bren that I wasn't aware of. I'd fired the .303 in School Cadets and the 7.62 in the Australian Army Reserve.

[@serverlan763]

Bloody awesome gun, wish they were still made today.

[@CptHiker]

I met the guys from DSA at an airshow in cape town a few years ago. Seriously cool bunch of guys with s great collection of firearms

[@robertjackson5018]

Australia converted their 303 Brens to 7.62 as well this happened in the late 70s and early 80s. The Australian Army started using them as a section MG. This was due to a lack of parts for the current (at the time) M60 MG section MG. The Australian Army also used the MG 58 (MAG 58) as well. So supplement the shortage of MGs in the Australian Infantry Company's.

[@joshuapretorius7800]

My uncle served in South West Africa in the border war and was a Bren gunner

[@peetsnort]

Oh boy i remember lugging that beast around the bush in79 on the caprivi strip of swa We used to walk 25 to 35 km a day in the sandy soil.I had a nice big guy in my section .charly middleton who ued to carry it. We'd help occasionally. We also each carried extra mags for the bren

[@DougthebearRichards]

Everyone in a British section in WW2, except the corporal, carried Bren mags. Those chest pouches on the webbing were for Bren mags. Most carried two, others four or five with one on the gun itself, so twenty Bren mags for the section.

[@reginaldjamesmeyer7185]

This is really really awesome and I have learned so much since I started watching you're channel ...... As a south african could I request a video on the Armsel Striker 12 gauge shotgun please sir

[@stitch626aloha]

If I recall correctly, South Africa dumped almost 95% of their Brens on Elbonia in the last days of 1990 as military aid to stem off a possible Iraqi invasion...

[@CooperHudgins]

Merry Christmas Sir Ian McCollum🥳🎅🏼🎄🎁🎈💝

[@gertcoetzee865]

I remember a funny tale about one of these used on a unimog troopcarriorer as a fire support , basically in an exercise the troops disembark and the driver also but the driver vis lazy ,alas the gunner's position was right above the driver,so you can guess what happened as the hot spent cases went right into the driver's shirt and he got out quickly and I would guess is words to the gunner wouldn't be nice but apparently the next time the exercise was repeated,he got out with the rest of the troops!!😂🤣😂

[@TMFShooting]

Merry Christmas Ian , Thanks for Sharing all Year 🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄

[@davidgoodnow269]

Interesting bit of history, there. I would have thought Britain would have put a Bren factory in South Africa somewhere, at least to manufacture parts for upkeep during the war.

[@lionelsquires7662]

They did in fact. Several workshops on the then South African Railways were converted to dedicated arms manufacture. Pre 1994, much of the tooling was still kept in storage, but later sold off for scrap metal. Great job as always Ian!!!!

[@Thiswasmeanttobeeasy]

I read somewhere if you convert 303 to 308 you can read the yards as metres on the sights and it should be close enough. Might have been on No4 conversions.

[@5roundsrapid263]

It makes sense. .308 is about 10% higher velocity than .303, and that means 10% less bullet drop. A meter is about 1.1 yards, so it evens out.

[@greghudzik3770]

Merry Christmas, Ian!

[@RedZeppelinAirship]

Hey Ian, are we ever going to get a comprehensive look at variants of the C96 broomhandle throughout production, like the 1911 and Luger videos?

[@crushingexistentialism]

I wonder if fireplace guy has a full collection of c96 variants

[@buncer]

He’s kinda already done this, just not as part of a designated series. Here, I went and found the playlist he has for the C96: kzbin.info/aero/PL9e3UCcU00TRI_NaCyeP5Y9L5M8tpMi_8&si=7YUUEBQaDBqXGNk1

[@mfavingerfv2202]

@@buncer bless you brother

[@buncer]

@@crushingexistentialism by the way, I love seeing reference to the recurring legend of fireplace guy.

[@andersjjensen]

@@buncer That guy has too much money and too few guns, and he's working tirelessly to solve both problems. All to our benefit.

[@AshleyPomeroy]

I've always been struck by how much the Bren looks like a single chunk of machined metal - not a collection of parts but a single huge block of metal with cut-outs. I can't imagine having to carry it for any length of time. Didn't they keep the .303 range markings with the 7.62mm Lee-Enfield as well?

[@haroldwalker9802]

For what it's worth. My father was a "no.2 bren gunner" in North Africa in WWII he said the ammo pouches were heavier than the gun itself. The no.2 was responsible for reloading those magazines. Remember the no. 2 also carried his own rifle and ammo.

[@geodkyt]

The Bren weighs less than an FN MAG58 (US M240) or many other GPMGs. (19 - 23 lbs unloaded), while basically fitting the same role (only magazine fed rather than belt fed - and with a moderately trained AG, there is NO loss in sustained ROF compared to a belt fed GPMG, given the speed and ease of an AG on the side swapping mags). In fact, I believe the "crossover point" where a Bren weighs more than an FN MAG is around 600 or 800 rounds of ready to go ammo - at that point, the weight of the empty box magazines versus links for the same number of rounds overcomes the weight difference in the guns. Which was one factor in the British Royal Marines retaining L4s for patrols (which weren't carrying more than 600 rounds anyway) in the early days of GWOT, despite the L4 "officially" having been entirely retired from British service years earlier. And if you're smart enough to lock the carrying handle into the receiver in the "patrol" position, the Brens *carry* a lot better than a lot of Cold War GPMGs, because both hands have really good holds & leverage about equidistant from the center of gravity. (Of course, you have to unlock the carrying handle from that position jutting out and down on the left before you can change barrels, but that only adds a second or two at most.)

[@davidgoodnow269]

​@@geodkytNice tip. I have often wondered about the very thing (weight of magazines versus belts), when lugging ammo boxes.

[@effbee56]

I think the Rhodesian Army also had 7.62 Nato in small amounts. But they used mainly the FN MAG.

[@low-polyhexagonalrat]

They also received some support from South Africa so I wouldn’t be surprised if a few of these ended up in their hands by the time of the Bush War

[@F1lmtwit]

They also made great fertilizer.

[@mikedippenaar2340]

I carried on of these in the border wars in the 1970's. loved the gun but because it fired from a open bolt and there was quite a few brens firing while just standing on the ground. We had 5 guys hit when it went off by 1 round. sadly one died and 4 badly wounded.

[@CarlBoock]

R1 magazine were taped back to back and worked no stoppages .when 5,56 came in the belts from the browning and mag were stripped down used in Bren

[@andrescheuer4400]

That thing did well although in my time theMAG was the lmg in use andi also got a chance to play with early ss77

[@baronoflivonia.3512]

I think the L-1 looks better than the L4, something about that honking big wheel for rear sight. Long Live the Commonwealth.

[@Siskiyous6]

I would be happy with a less than optimum machine gun in my inventory - JS. Merry Christmas

[@Charles-k9g5y]

I trained on the Bren while in the reserves but trained on the FN C2 while in the regular Canadian military.

[@Amukc1]

Hi Ian, have you seen the Italian post WW2 Breda conversion of the Bren to .30 -06?

[@barrymunro6861]

Merry Xmas, and thank you.

[@ZanyZed]

My favorite educational channel as well as my favorite entertainment channel been watching for years never commented.

[@d3athreaper100]

I love how the phrase "tuning in" hasnt changed

[@ottomoto1396]

Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels: "Were the f*ck she come from?"

[@BeingFireRetardant]

Yaasssss...

[@mikellwehrer]

"Not going to be shooting rifle grenades off a machine gun" Well, why the hell not? That sounds hilarious.

[@jmjones7897]

It's Christmas C'mon Santa. Bren Gun

[@warpig6459]

I think i had a history teacher in high school who told me that back then he operated one of these

[@losonsrenoster]

NEVER hold your hand under the ejection port, you'll only make that mistake once. I got some nasty cuts early in my training in 1975.

[@AlexLee-dc2vb]

almost as cool as the FN-DA1. I love these automatic rifles rechambered to use FAL mags

[@lawrencemay8726]

You know Robinson Armament out of Utah makes a clone brand gun that looks identical to that with the offset sights the mag from the top everything and they also make a clone of a stoner I'm sorry I saw. So if you actually want a new brand gun that looks and I don't know if all the parts are interchangeable but that looks and feels and shoots like the real brand gun which I guess I can't exactly emulate that since it's you know even if Brandon that looked exactly like their old ones that wouldn't be exactly like their old ones but anyway you should check those out. And Robinson Armament make some new stuff that's really awesome it's American-made it's it's not an AR platform it's not an AK platform but they've got some great rifles they've come out with and in my opinion it's some of the best stuff you can get in that genre of guns. Their xcr-l series even competed up against the scar 17 and the only reason it lost was because of a bracket That was supposed to allow attachment so it could shoot blanks and it was neglected to get shipped to the socom trials just a stupid accident but so calm as you know has intense rules and because they didn't have it they were they were disqualified but otherwise the gun works better was more accurate shot better and had a one bolt and you could take out the barrel and just like 3 minutes it took like no time at all and yes the scar could have a barrel removed but it takes about 20 minutes and partial disassembly of the gun whereas that's not the case with the xcr but anyway I'm losing my train of thought here with what you're talking about. But I love the brand gun I love Lee and field I love brno and the combination of those two guys came up with some really good stuff and loved your review

[@rupertmcnaughtdavis3649]

Should have left them 303 . Some choppers still had mounted Browning 303s in the late 80s.

[@yoshigottagun]

I wonder if they had to retune the gas system? 7.62 should have more pressure which means it'd be able to cycle the system without adjustment, assuming the parts could handle the increase is gas, right? It'd definitely be running hot but with only 20-30 round mags it shouldn't be too bad. I wonder if the rate of fire would increase?

[@geodkyt]

Likely just changed the gas port size drilled in the barrel, to match .303 port pressures. That's the easiest way to do it if you're making new barrels and yet want to reuse as much of the original parts as possible.

[@jimohara]

The minute details and the bigger picture combine to make these videos so interesting. I still wouldn’t know how to design a gun or anything else for that matter though. There’s so much to the finest detail and the smallest and most innocuous consideration or even non consideration can have the most far reaching consequences. Never mind just guns, it blows my mind about all the stuff I take for granted. The application of human ingenuity is beyond comprehension. And guns are made for killing people

[@JeffHenry-cq3is]

Merry Christmas

[@borismedovar9968]

I see Bren, I press like button

[@merlemorrison482]

I wonder why they didn't start manufacturing 303 ammo, if time was such an issue?

[@southafricanprepper6799]

was in sandf in 1993. saw the bren still in service. probably given to hamas

[@irishpsalteri]

Good job of making do.

[@hendriktonisson2915]

What would've happened if the US had adopted the .30-06 cartridge in a slightly shorter form- for example 7.62x55mm instead of 7.62x63mm? By already having a relatively compact cartridge for MGs would there have been less motivation to develop the 7.62x51mm NATO cartridge and earlier development and adoption of a true intermediate NATO cartridge?

[@zakkbrown9522]

Pain

[@borjesvensson8661]

The brits tried to convince the yanks of something like that for years but the american brass did not want anything of that. The sane argument is that a good machinegun cartridge was more importand than a softer shooting rifle cartridge. But in truth the americans seems just to have felt their masculinity threathened by the idea of having something weaker then 30.06 in their rifles. As they (and everybody else) today have ended up with one cartridge for the rifles and one for the machineguns the smart path would perhaps have been to adopt a intermediate cartridge and a magnum machinegun/sniper cartridge or let those guns continue using 30.06 (For example my swedish homecountry could have adopted the rk62 the finns sent to the army trials instead of the g3 and kept the fn mag in 6.5mm swedish or switched those to 7.52 nato to state clearly that they were not on the soviet or us side

[@aWILDsomethingCAME]

@@borjesvensson8661you can make big calls when you win a world war mr finn

[@hendriktonisson2915]

@@borjesvensson8661 The .30-06 was unnecessarily long and would've made the GPMGs and the ammunition the gunners had to carry impractically heavy. One solution after WW2 could've been to develop and adopt a special "assault rifle" cartridge in parallel with the 7.62x51 NATO cartridge. Even something like the .300 Blackout (7.62x35mm) would've been more practical for rifles such as the FN FAL. The problem was that the man in charge of US small arms development Rene Studler wanted both a cartridge and a weapon that could do everything. He wanted the M-14 rifle to replace the M3 SMG, the M1 Carbine, M1 Garand and the BAR. It would've made more sense to put the BAR into same category with the M1919 and M1917 Browning MGs, creating one weapon that could replace these three machine guns.

[@leonardwei3914]

@@borjesvensson8661 I have pointed this out before, but both the Brits and Yankers wanting to adopt a one size fits all universal round (regardless of perceived masculinity). The Brits acknowledged a smaller intermediate round wasn't ideal for Machine Guns, but were willing to deal with that (at the time). Even the Soviets understood you wanted a "beefier" round for your GPMG and thus retained their 7.62x54R for that role. Which is what essentially happened anyways when NATO adopted both the 7.62x51 and much later, 5.56x45.

[@CarlBoock]

Used one in SWA never had a stoppage acurate Easy. To do fire and movement with Prefered to FN Mag LMG

[@DavidLee-df888]

Bren : check South Africa : check 7.62 NATO : check

[@F1lmtwit]

Cue the Sharpsville Massacre....and about 40+ more over the years...

[@PhilSallaway]

Cool Ian ..!

[@janniemeyer9951]

My friend converted these for LITTLETON ENGINEERING. They bought up 1000’s from Canada, UK, all over. If you want the real story he can give it to you.

[@WillMoon]

Dats a noice Bren gun, böyet!

[@andrewcombe8907]

They should never have gotten rid of the Bren in 7.62mm

[@billwagstaff5571]

They were around in the early 60,s when I joined up

[@fydofire]

For a second I thought that's an Elbonian flag in the thumbnail. Too bad. Bet we have to wait more than 4 months to hear from those.

[@tristanconnolly5675]

Nice.

[@Emibro]

Ihope that one day you'll be able to find an Italian Corpo delle Guardie di Pubblica Sicurezza converted BREN gun...

[@peetsnort]

I can tell you that when the bren barked in a contact the terrs ran away .you could clearly hear it above the chatter of theR1 AND AK 47

[@weeblbob233]

Was this the same magical sniper rifle used in Jadotville or was that the British model?

[@gertgilich3508]

Thanks again Ian. Allways love your content! Reach out the next time you in SA. 🇿🇦🐾🦓🫵👊🍻🍷🇺🇲🇩🇪

[@reconty2133]

Maybe if they’d reworked the rear sight they could have used it for double duty as a makeshift sniper rifle. 😂

[@mikerogers582]

The SA Bren conversion did NOT use standard R1 magazines! The Bren magazine had a different follower, denoted by a code number on the magazine by the mag hook. R1 magazine did not feed correctly! Unfortunately, this important fact was not disseminated widely & led to the unreliability referred to by Ian.

[@RogerSliney]

I guess you didn't serve in the SADF that I did (1974/5)! Each rifleman was tasked to carry two extra magazines for the Bren LMG! In a firefight you don't have time to decide who gets what magazines! It is logical that the magazines would be the same as most of your troops were National Servicemen who could have probably had only five months of training before being deployed! Remember South Africa used the metric system so it is possible that British SLR rifle manufactured weapons were made with Imperial measurements thus SLR magazines might not fit. SA purchased their rifles direct from FN thus metric measurements.

[@julianemperor2554]

I am a SA Colector and i own one of the Bren conversions it is a great shooter

[@Blackicetac]

Wow. I'm right by lake Barrington, IL