Lightweight .303 British BREN Mk.3 LMG Mechanics

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With many thanks to our friends as mentioned in the video, here we take a look at the mechanics of the lightweight BREN Mk.3 LMG, issued initially for airborne and jungle use from 1944 onwards, but which found wider usage in Korea, Malaya, Borneo and beyond.
Too many jump cuts, I know. Sorry. Can't have everything in life.
Legal note: selbstverständlich war die Schiessgelegenheit gemäss Art. 5 abs. 4 kantonal bewilligt
Keywords
303 British light machine gun .303

[@willzibub]

'Now I have a machine gun, ho-ho-ho' - The Bloke

[@BlokeontheRange]

Not mine, unfortunately :)

[@BHuang92]

British version: Today, I obtained a Bren gun. *laughs in British*

[@thejudge-kv2jk]

My grandfather told me they were so accurate that you could almost snipe with them. He loved them.

[@badpossum440]

they came with a scope so you could snipe.although it was rare for them to be issued.

[@juanmarelli7450]

Do You remenber "JATDOTVILLE" film?..the irish sniper has to shoot a guy at 1000 yds or more...instead to use your Enfield , Even when ir had an scope, he use the Platoon Bren and..men down!!

[@jc-xb8ve]

That was also it’s downfall as you would not get the spread that you would want out of a MG

[@MrEsszed]

I used the L4A4 which was the 7.62mm NATO conversion when in the Army in the mid eighties. You could dump an entire mag on full auto through a window at 300m easily. They were incredibly accurate, which is not what you want from an LMG as it’s supposed to be an area denial/suppressive fire weapon.

[@dunadan7136]

@@MrEsszed Accuracy is important in suppressive fire. The entire idea behind suppressive fire is to make the enemy think they can get hit. Accuracy is why snipers are so feared and so effective at suppression. And even then, if you want a greater beaten zone, you couldn’t just have a looser grip on the weapon? Bloke himself and Ian have already gone through why the myth of the Bren being “too accurate” is weapons-grade BS.

[@rolandfelice6198]

I'm always impressed at how well these things have been designed for ease of operation and field striping.

[@99IronDuke]

In many respects the best Light Machine Gun ever made. The Royal Marines still used them, in 7. 62mm, alongside GPMG's, in the Falkland's War of 1982

[@BlokeontheRange]

Last seen on active service with British forces on vehicle mounts in Gulf War 1 :)

[@raskolnikovsghost2701]

I gotta disagree entirely. Stoner 63 all the way. The Bren can be second. I've heard India still uses the Bren today. And make no mistake, they're being used in Africa, too. I've seen them in pictures. But in practice I think I'd prefer a 7.62 M240 specifically one of the Barrett Light weight models.

[@Turgz]

Nah, this kind of MG is terribly outdated when a modern service rifle will outperform it in every way. Belt feds like the MAG and PK are the best for infantry.

[@Turgz]

​@@raskolnikovsghost2701 Making a MAG lighter is one of the worst things you can to to it. Reason being that if you're making it lighter to carry around by yourself you'd take away most of it's ability for sustained fire. It also won't put out as much lead as something like a Minimi. In other words you'd have a weapon still relatively large and heavy though too light for sustained MG fire that also doesn't match the firepower of a smaller and lighter weapon. A belt fed like the MAG really shines on a tripod mount operated by a crew. You can get really accurate and long range fire from it that will break up and destroy enemy formations.

[@mwnciboo]

@@raskolnikovsghost2701 That lightweight M240 been around 5mins...There are other alternatives out there.

[@Pdro-gw7lu]

“What the hell is that?” “It’s me BREN gun” *shot in the neck with an airgun* Really enjoyed this mate. Cheers for the vid, hope this means we’ll be seeing more MGs in the future.

[@_Matsimus_]

Haha this is awesome! Reminds me of Lock Stock and Two Smoking barrels movie though lol *”It’s my Bren gun!!”*

[@not-himx5593]

ok can everyone stop getting shot ok first I going to blow his toes off, boom on iav blown his toes off

[@lucaswolf-pudney184]

You turn up in the comments everywhere

[@not-himx5593]

who

[@schrodingersgat4344]

I check for Hippies ,hiding on couches, to this day!

[@antoniobryan1915]

I know I'm pretty off topic but does anybody know a good site to stream newly released series online?

[@jeroylenkins1745]

19:50 It's very interesting that they cock it on the reload. I'm in the Canadian military and I have a few thoughts on the matter. Though I am not specifically familiar with Bren gun drills I have had a quick look at the pam on Scribd. I spent a number of years as an instructor at a battle school; unsurprisingly it it organized and taught in very much the same way that machine gun drills are today, though not in as much detail. Cocking the gun to reload the modern drill for C6 GPMGs and C9 LMGs. It may seem unnecessary, but knowing what I do about weapons drills I am sure that there are no movements included in the drill that aren't required, particularly when it comes to something like stoppages. The gun being the largest part of the firepower of a section it is essential to reduce the amount of time that the gun is not able to fire to a minimum. Having the various drills and immediate actions similar between weapons systems will ease the teaching of drills. For example a "make safe" is always an unload drill followed by a load. The first step in the unload is cocking the gun even if it is already cocked. The drill is taught in such a way that it will work regardless of the condition of the gun. Remember that soldiers would be performing safety precautions on the gun, ensuring that it was unloaded prior to instruction, following ranges, before stripping etc. In that case cocking the gun to carry out safety precautions and ensure that it had no rounds in it would be necessary. I have personally seen a C9 LMG taken off a range, loaded onto a truck, brought into a building and handed over for cleaning with a tracer round stuck in it. We figured out that there were no fewer than 4 and probably 5 occasions when the gun should have been cleared and was not. Fortunately the final soldier did the right thing and carried out the individual safety precautions before stripping the gun to clean it and the round was discovered. So all that to say a part of a drill will not make sense if you're strictly looking mechanically at the gun. But in the real world it's better to waste 1/2 a second with a step that may or may not be necessary in the interests of ensuring that the immediate action carried out instinctively by the gunner will work EVERY time. An interesting digression is that looking at page 6, the only difference between the Bren drills and modern drills is that the Bren load drill is generally a modern load and a ready drill combined. Modern (Canadian) tankers will often do a load and ready on the load command and the load without the ready the often call a "half load" as this is what they do when conducting their drills on a gun mounted in a turret. I had always suspected that this was a holdover from previous weapons systems in use in the armoured corps far into the past. www.scribd.com/doc/32609809/Bren-Gun-Small-Arms-Training-Volume-I-Pamphlet-No-4-Light-Machine-Gun If you go to page 22 and look at the stoppage drills and immediate actions I think it clarifies things a bit. The immediate action when the gun stops firing is to cock the action. This is even true when you look at how we teach modern weapon drills. This will let you know what the cause of the stoppage is or often remedy the stoppage. Based on what happens when the gun is cocked and the gunner attempts to fire downrange the gunner should be able to instinctively perform the correct action. If you look at "empty magazine" as one of the possible stoppages, along with a gas stoppage, gun can't be fully cocked, etc. cocking the action as a first step to remedying the stoppage makes sense. I know if I was behind a machine gun and it failed to fire my instinctive reaction based on muscle memory would be to cock the gun. My second thought is that it would be to ensure extraction of spent casings or live rounds. The fact that an unload drill involves cocking and firing the action twice would suggest to me that this may have been an issue. You don't want to open the feed cover (?) and have a #2 with his face and hands near it and have a live round stuck in the barrel or the body of the gun. A round going off under these circumstances can have unfortunate results. Cheers.

[@lyledavis1]

When you dont want to open the feed cover. You are talking about the ARSOLE M60 The worst !!!! MG ever.

[@HerrPolden]

Possible reason for cocking the gun before mag change; this is effectively taking immediate action every time the gun stops firing. It is usually redundant, but in case there is a misfire, there is no change of drill to get confused by. Just some rounds left in the removed mag.

[@grumpybastard5744]

Very interesting! Dad carried a Bren in Borneo during the closing stages of WW II.

[@Mongo63a]

I love my ZB26, the Bren's prodigy, unfortunately I have not been able to afford a transferable Bren for my collection. The magazine loader for the Zb and Bren guns work extremely well and will take care of the rim lock concerns.

[@Robin6512]

In our unit in the early 80’s we still had some 7.62 nato converted Bren’s. Heavy as a FN MAG but everybody seemed to like the good old Bren. Hopping around with a mag box was not so liked though. Good shooter out to 600 mtr’s. Very very reliable lmg.

[@kieranfitz]

robin6512 we were using them until 2005 in .303.

[@jeroylenkins1745]

We still use the old Bren gun mag pouches a lot on webbing and tac vests. They are way better than a lot of the modern plastic crap you get issued. Just takes a bit of fiddling and gun tape to get them set up.

[@billmmckelvie5188]

Great weapon to fire it was a privilege to shoot with such an iconic weapon forty years on from when it initially entered service. It is laughable that the MoD now have to return to some weapons being in 7.62 x 51 NATO calibre.

[@tsukishiro70]

I used both the .303 Bren and the 7.62 NATO version in my time in green baggy skin, across the Cadets and Army. I far preferred both of them to the LSW.

[@T8Hants]

Shame the MOD threw away about 250,000 Brens rather than just keep converting them to what ever round NATO dictated next, but there is a lot of questions about the selling off of the ROF and putting all our eggs in BAE systems basket, for small arms production.

[@chaz8758]

@@T8Hants They sold off a lot of them, passed others on in military aid but there was not much point keeping them in stores or converting them as the market was flooded with cheap weapons as nations offloaded their old WW2 stocks. ROF were not really involved in small arms, they produced munitions from small arms to nuclear weapons

[@T8Hants]

@Alexander Challis An interesting point of view and I won't challenge it. However I did come across an article a wee while back which I can't re-find which stated that the latest MoD thinking has returned the one round one kill way of thinking and proposes to do away LMG support entirely. The Treasury has been responsible for the deaths of more British troops than any foreign power, the other side were just doing their jobs.

[@baobo67]

@@T8Hants Guns don,t kill people, Bean counters kill people.

[@DarrenJamiesonJamieson]

At R.A.F. Leuchars. A soldier showed my they're Apatchy Aircraft killing gun. It had these two thin metal dowl rods out of the front for stability and a massive perforated heat shield around the barrel. I was jumping about all excited when I saw it and imagined it being double barrelled!! (Wicked)!

[@jonathanferguson1211]

Superb video as always Bloke. Minor point; at this period 'R' on the change lever means 'Rounds' (curiously and non-specifically) not 'Repetition' as it came to mean later (see the manuals).

[@joetaylor486]

Our school cadet force had two bren guns and I recall the one and only time I got to shoot it very fondly. Amazing device.

[@halfcantan1208]

Fired one of these once I was only allowed I mag with 28 rounds. What a user friendly gun

[@jollyjohnzz]

I know a trick to field strip one of these in under a second . Just undo the barrel catch beforehand and poke it vertically into the earth so its on end pull the pin on the other end turn a quarter turn and pull the butt upwards and hey presto the whole thing is stripped ! My old sgt major taught us that . Means cleaning the flash hider and barrel but it'll win you the bet. Carried one round N.Ireland in the 70s/80s ,7.62 obviously but lighter than a gpmg and a great bit of kit . Know a couple of other tricks too .

[@OrangeBananaMongoose]

What other Bren tricks do you know? I just build a Bren and would like to know some from someone that operated it

[@terryharris1291]

Still using the Bren but in 7.62 in the New Zealand army in Singapore and Malaya in the early 1980's. I really like this weapon on the range and in the jungle too.

[@andrewweitzman4006]

What really impressed me was that everything could be stripped down--even little bits like the extractor--with the tip of a bullet.

[@Cohac]

Forgotten weapons - British-swiss style! I'd like more videos like this :)

[@britishmuzzleloaders]

I can't say "belt fed likes" here... more like "28 likes in a highly curved magazine"...

[@pumbar]

Excellent, informative video mate. Thank you very much.

[@alanfaulkner6329]

Well done Bloke. Cracking piece of kit.

[@hans-petermeier7440]

Danke fürs Zeigen, sehr interessant :-)

[@blancsteve4819]

"Cos Newton"....The bloke who invented the Lewis gun also went by that name.

[@JimBrodie]

Will never forget the field-strip races with these in cadets. Was one of the fastest, but also the slowest because the damned nipple on the ejection port cover used to elude me every time. *shakes fist*

[@slaughterround643]

You got to use Brens in cadets? We barely got to leave the drill square in my 6 years!

[@JimBrodie]

In contrast, we spent bugger all time on the drill square. Was mostly being classroom educated and exercises, we lucked out i guess?

[@slaughterround643]

you jammy bugger :)

[@JimBrodie]

Not to say there wasn't drill, we just didn't have much space to work with. Did plenty of it though being i'd cock it up a fair bit and have to keep doing over.

[@slaughterround643]

It's been years since I left but honest to god I think it's still all up there in my head, I could probably do it just as well today as I could then!

[@corporalpunishment1133]

Such an awesome gun. So close to a modern GPMG in many aspects. all it needs is a rimless cartridge feeding from a push through belt and a feed tray then you have a equivalent gun to a MG 34 or FN mag. Great videos Bloke and cheers from Australia.

[@cosmoch]

if youall do that you get a vz.59 even with a rimmed cartrdige :)

[@jeffshootsstuff]

Seems to me it makes sense to train them to retract the bolt regardless of whether it's a jam or whether it's an empty magazine. That way the remedial action is the same for every stoppage.

[@jordanboyle539]

The bren gun could still be used today as a support weapon, its that good of a gun.

[@tomalexander4327]

It's all gone a bit Forgotten Weapons

[@igneous061]

....huh but he wasnt pointing out the numbers and other writings on the gun....which is fine by me :D

[@jonathanferguson1211]

FW is wonderful, but it doesn't have exclusive rights to historic firearms content. And the Bren is hardly 'forgotten' after all.

[@readman010]

I bet Ian is watching this giggling at bloke doing a F.W style vid

[@dave1994jones]

Apart from it's not forgotten and is still in service with India

[@maciejkornatowski3026]

@@jonathanferguson1211 Personally I see it as compliment more than anything. Also, it's not like Ian only does "forgotten" weapons...

[@Matt_The_Hugenot]

BREN training trivia, when my father and uncle did their National service in the late 50s every man was expected to become proficient in all points of their operation, i.e. firing, loading, barrel change, and stripping and cleaning. This included radar technicians whose chance of having to use one was extremely remote.

[@BlokeontheRange]

Indeed. Mentioned in this vid: kzbin.info/www/bejne/nqaUqqiAbseFasU and I think I mention it too in the next one, which is on BREN technique

[@Matt_The_Hugenot]

@@BlokeontheRange Yes, I remembered you discussed it for WWII infantry, I thought it was worth mentioning that it was still considered important enough that not only army infantry but all RAF personnel still had the same training twenty years later.

[@johnfisk811]

Every man in every service was, if it came to it, an infantry soldier. From Field Marshall to Ordinary Seaman. In Russian service they counted on 'bayonets' i.e. how many warm bodies were there who could hold the blunt end of the pointy stick.

[@slaughterround643]

heheheh seamen

[@kieranfitz]

My guess is that it's a doctrine of having all personnel trained to at least a basic standard on all standard issue small arms with the possible exception of pistols. Because if shit really hits the fan everyone becomes infantry.

[@gcmgome]

When I was in the Canadian militia circa 1970 there were several hundred of these exact Bren versions in storage in our local armories, as well as other WW II vintage weapons. Once a month we could sign up for test firing parade where we loaded a few dozen of these units onto Deuce and a Halfs and carted then to the range for test firing. I was always the first name on the sign up sheet. Imagine getting paid for firing, cleaning and oiling these beauties!

[@mattdaniels9510]

Great video Bloke. Brought up on the Bren during the early 80^s ACF. I own an old spec de-act which keeps the memories alive. Keep up the good work. (Also great posts on ARRSe)

[@kieranfitz]

My baby. You even managed to get a mk 3. Memory drifts off to August 2003

[@MrVulcan1963]

Reminds of my army cadet days when I got some trigger time with the Bren-good fun.

[@bashkillszombies]

My old man was a bren gunner. Seen a lot but this ones gorgeous.

[@reddevilparatrooper]

The British Infantry got a winner here. Much more a reliable design than the US Browning BAR. I remember a long time ago when I used to work at a gun store changing the barrel and removing the bolt and gas piston group is the same as the MAG 58/M240B. The British Infantry was intelligent enough to adopt the MAG 58 as their GPMG and operated like the BREN with the exception of being belt fed. We in the US was stuck with the M60 a.k.a The Pig.

[@isengard1500]

Should have had the Bren when the pathfinders were fighting in Lungi lol, thats how dependable the bren was, and how shit the L85A1 was.

[@isengard1500]

In Korea the British would setup multiple brens in crossfire positions, firing 1,200 rounds per minute in a narrow field of fire. Absolutely devastating against the Chinese human wave assaults.

[@lesgl]

I have a book written by a Aussie Korean veteran and he was of the opinion that the Bren was more than capable against chinese human wave assaults..

[@isengard1500]

+lesgl During the Battle of Imjin River a platoon of Brits, I think 17 men, stopped a Chinese force of 3,000 from crossing the river without taking any casualties. Similar for the Aussies, Kiwis and Canadians at Kaypong.

[@Legitpenguins99]

@@lesgl it's certainly more capable than the BAR. As advanced as it was when put into service in (WW1), the damn thing was obsolescent even by WW2. Not to mention the "upgrades" that made it even heavier and in ways worse than the original

[@zoiders]

This is why every riflemans mag pouches were designed for Bren mags and the guns were issued at a rate of two per section. No matter where you went in the advance to contact you could quickly dig in if needed and switch to fighting in defence. That flexibility saved lives as it made the ability to put out sustained fire organic to the rifle platoon. You didn't need to have a machine gun platoon in support at all times.

[@finnISHY]

now imagine that with a Spandau. why the americans didn't reverse engineer it after the war I don't know. they where clearly desperate for a gun like it

[@neilwilson5785]

Excellent, and thanks for the live firing!

[@clangerbasher]

We should all get a BREN on the NHS. :)

[@Foche_T._Schitt]

For guns that did not have a bolt hold open the practice was probably intended to condition them to always cycle the action. Or if the gun didn't cycle properly it may have helped clear a jam before inducing another.

[@BlokeontheRange]

But they all had a bolt hold open... And in practice it was clearly not done - it seems to have been something that SASC came up with early on so made it into the training film, and then everyone else didn't bother cos stupid and unnecessary.

[@nirfz]

​@@BlokeontheRange My guess for why they showed cocking the bolt in official training videos would be that the difference in a dud round and an empty mag would not feel that different in the heat of battle. The Mil is rightfully keen on having every motion drilled into the soldiers to not having to think about the handling of the weapon. (in stressy situations it's better to have 1 set of motion applicable than to think about which one of the actions would be adequate at the moment). So when the gun stops firing (for whatever reason), pull the charging handle back and change the mag. It covers a dud round, an empty mag, a not proper filled mag, a broken mag spring... On a range day you have the luxury of time to examine what caused it to stop firing or maybe feel the difference and to adress the issue specifically.

[@Foche_T._Schitt]

@@nirfz That's what I was thinking. It's a _cure all_ motion so you can keep shooting.

[@jeroylenkins1745]

​@nirfz My thoughts exactly. It is most likely done because when you look at the pams the empty magazine is a form of stoppage. The first step in the immediate action for resolving a stoppage is always to cock the action. Even if not necessary in this particular instance it's a way of ensuring that the drill will always work regardless of the condition of the gun. This is probably a more important concern ensuring that the drill works 100% of the time rather than saving 1/3 of a second in this one particular situation. www.scribd.com/doc/32609809/Bren-Gun-Small-Arms-Training-Volume-I-Pamphlet-No-4-Light-Machine-Gun You need to look at human and training factors instead of strictly the mechanical workings of the gun to see why this makes sense. Having simple reliable drills that work in every instance for the biggest part of a sections firepower, when people are shooting at the gunner, when he feels like he has mittens on his hands from the adrenaline and his mind is focused on the advancing enemy is rather an important consideration. If you watch the video of the drills you can even see that they are designed to rely on gross motor movements and eliminate fine motor movements as much as possible. I can tell you from teaching a couple dozen serials of battle school and my own experiences of when it was explodey outside that this is a non-negligible consideration.

[@SergeiMosin]

The British in and around WW2 were just determined to put magazine wells in every possible different configuration on their guns. On top, the bottom, the sides, the EM-2 with its bullpup configuration... technically the Owen was Australian, but they were still part of the empire at the time, so we can add "offset like the worlds weirdest paintball gun" to the list... I do dearly love that bizarre fascination with mag well experimentation.

[@DiscoGruffalo]

Having been trained on both the .303 and 7.62 Bren, I can tell you the immediate action drill for both is indeed 'cock gun, mag off, mag on, carry on firing'. When asking the question to the instructor why you cock it, despite it being cocked, the answer was 'because I say so'. I used this myself when I was an instructor. The real answer is: the gunner may not know if it was a misfire or out of ammo, so cocking the gun will open the action and eject any misfired case, if the action is already cocked, you've wasted little time doing it again, but you may have cleared a misfire.

[@mwnciboo]

There was a belt fed version of the Bren, it always made me wonder why the UK adopted that post war. As it stands the FN MAG was/is/remains the best MMG of all time.

[@NickfromNLondon]

Just a reminder that reassembly was not complete until the ejection port cover is closed. Our instructor said when reassembling “As I tells the wife, the first four inches don’t count.”

[@robchisholm72]

Great strip down presentation, even if it needs a clean. Great bit of design, some more modern LMG's could learn a thing or two.

[@chriswiecek6519]

Great vid! In 1986, joined the TA and trained on the GPMG. Just missed the Bren as the previous recruit cadre did train on the Bren :-(

[@jeroylenkins1745]

I did the same in Canada in 91. Just missed out on using the FN, mine was the first platoon to go through the school with C7's

[@pdallen8355]

A forward pistol grip could be found in the cleaning/accessories valise. This could be mounted on the guns forward tripod attachment point.

[@thomasjmeade]

We were still using the .303 Mark 3 in the Irish Army Reserves until mid 1990’s. I loved the Bren.

[@Treblaine]

I've looked everywhere on the internet i think this is the first public resource its ever been confirmed that the BREN has a bolt hold open device such that you don't have to re-cock the weapon when replacing mags after the last round is fired.

[@BlokeontheRange]

I think I'm right in saying that this vid is the most in-depth look at BREN mechanics anywhere. I hope I'm right :)

[@petesheppard1709]

Well done, and very interesting as well! The bipod unlocking could be seen as a feature, since it is then deployed for going prone. Were barrels interchangeable between Marks? Regarding loading the magazines and rimlock, I once read a novel about Aussie soldiers in New Guinea where it was specifically mentioned that attention had to be paid when loading Bren magazines to prevent overlapping rims.

[@johnwilliams9240]

Even in it’s later 7.62 version we where taught to place the rounds in the magazine and push the round backwards, a left over from the days of rimmed 303 round.

[@jeroylenkins1745]

If the drill isn't broken...

[@battleranch]

You never addressed the effectiveness of tea as a lubricate for LMGs

[@baobo67]

The Bren was one of the great weapons serving as a 303 then 7.62. When a belt fed fed replacement was required the FN Mag was a very worthy replacement drawing on MG42 and Browning designs but an equally brilliant bit of kit. US attempt at an LMG was M60 trying to get the best of every design but are now moving to the FN Mag. We watch with trepidation as they look for a new family of calibers after 50 odd years of the 5.56 disaster they foisted on their allies.

[@djwoody1649]

Bloke on the Range presents: 'Forgotten Weapons.'

[@orange12v]

spent a lot of time lugging a bren around when I was in the army cadets being the biggest fourteen year old back then

[@andrewheale4738]

Your not on your own

[@jac627]

My dad trained on the Lewis and was one of the first to receive the Bren. He joined the Middlesex regiment in 1938 and I'm not sure but I think the film shows soldiers of this regiment (by the brief look at their cap badges)

[@Kain8719]

Ugh, just got a raise. I suppose my reason not to support Bloke went out the window right? I thinking it is. Love the content and seeing stuff I never get to see here in the states.

[@seekerdude]

just shove the top cover a little forward that covers the pin to allow the barrel catch to be removed

[@everythingatlasgamingandmo1386]

Beautiful !

[@Maxfox75]

anyone else notice the spent casing land standing up at 23:22?

[@carbon1255]

That is a fantastic gun. we should just upgrade to these.

[@reallyoldfatgit]

You answer your question about why one should always cock the gun on magazine empty yourself. The gun is safe when cocked and if there is any stoppage including a rim jam and empty magazine cock the gun before removing the magazine. That way if a rim jam is mistaken for an empty magazine there is no chance that a partially fed round will be fired. Whereas if there is a rim jam there is a distinct but remote possibility that the action of removing the magazine will release the trapped round and fire it whilst the gun is not under complete control. Wow my 1970’s Army Cadet instructors were good!

[@BlokeontheRange]

This is not in the pams though, it only appears in that early SASC training film I took a clip from :)

[@reallyoldfatgit]

Bloke on the Range ah, the risk averse Small Brain Corps! Bet I’m right though, certainly it woz wot I was taught. The ACF were pretty risk averse as well. I suspect that it was taught at first but found to be unnecessary even in battle.

[@BlokeontheRange]

Aah, I'm wrong - it's in the IA table of the 1939 pam. Bet in reality it wasn't followed though, as the clips showed! vickersmg.files.wordpress.com/2017/07/01-04-39.pdf

[@reallyoldfatgit]

Bloke on the Range I told you my ACF instructors were good. (For a while I thought I’d dreamt it).

[@BlokeontheRange]

:D There's an Indian fellow here who's not cocking before removing the mag either - I suspect that it's one of those drills that rapidly got de-adopted in the field: kzbin.info/www/bejne/ZqWkf5Sgba2mpbc

[@peteblack50]

The downward case ejection plus the rubber floor covering could make life interesting.....

[@Kav.]

10:05 Some day can you please do a video on designing of firearms for mass manufacture and what goes into the costs? You covered it somewhat in your EM-2 video I believe but I'd really like a video looking more at the topic. I think it would make a really interesting video to specifically relate it to different firearms and how they have taken steps to reduce costs in different areas (an example that comes to mind is comparing the size of the FAL receiver forging to the EM-2s one and how this impacts machining costs etc)

[@Kav.]

11:15 it's interesting also that the Webley Service air rifles do the same thing, but for different reasons I believe.

[@felixthecat265]

I was taught to cock and dry fire the action whilst pressing on the cross locking bolt to release it. The impact of the breech block was enough to bounce the action to release the locking bolt!

[@kieranfitz]

Don't have to worry about the bipod unfolding itself if your training says it's always down when not in storage.

[@sapper82]

At least, unlike Forgotten weapons, you have the working parts forward when pulling the but group back so that there is no risk of the working parts being projected into the crap. Getting the piston group out was first pulling the return spring rod to one side and then giving the cocking handle a quick flick.

[@BeardedNorthBiker]

I always thought the "SAR" markings meant. Safe, Automatic, Rifle. huh! the more you know. Bloke on the range is a such a solid firearms channel. kinda refreshing the see European firearms enthusiasts.

[@billmmckelvie5188]

When I was in it was Safe, Auto and Rapid.

[@karood-dog3584]

I believe the cocking of the gun on an empty magazine is in case of a miss fire. weapon fires weapon stops cock the gun, If there is no resistance on the cocking handle the bolt carrier is to the rear and the magazine is empty. If the bolt was forward it is a stoppage other than ammunition.

[@balham456]

Order of stripping: bolt cones out before the barrel, as if there’s a round chambered, it can accidentally discharge without the barrel.

[@davidcumming8230]

No it won't. There is no round chambered as it fires from an open bolt, stripping a round from the magazine. First step in stripping is to remove the magazine.

[@Ashfielder]

That old Home Guard chap with the trilby loaded that thing twice as smooth as the Aussies.

[@EngPheniks]

No other weapon in this world is more badass than a Bren LMG with an upright magazine fitted on it

[@Bob_Keen]

Thank you :)

[@rrplanb4030]

Wow good acoustics in that room you're in. Had too turn sub bass speaker off. ;)

[@Geordun]

*Before* removing the mag! 1, You should make sure it is on *safe. 2 , Aim* the Bren in a safe direction. 3, Then you *MUST* cock the Bren . 4 Now you can remove the Mag. This is because there is a slight risk that the working parts may be half cocked! (caught on the mag}, Removing the mag will release working parts forwards and if there are any rounds in the mag it *will* feed and *fire* the bottom round!! (Seen this happen in 1981 in an AFV432 , Luckily the mag was loaded with blanks.)

[@cjf-rw8vl]

Forgotten Bloke.

[@nirfz]

The part with the gas regulator remove pin makes me wonder: is it just pushed through a bit to keep it in, like it looks in the video at 15:58? And if so how doesn't it get loose by firing? Also i have to say this really shows me how a gas operated gun has way less recoil than a roller delayed blow back gun. I dont's suppose the 303 used here was any weaker than standard 7,62 Nato. (When we shot the MG74 usually the shoulder of the shooter cycled at least 10cm back and forth while the rest of the body stayed. Looked hilarious from the back.)

[@BlokeontheRange]

The fact that everything slides on the butt group really smooths it out, but it's an awesomely smooth-shooting gun.

[@brunitogg]

@12:20 OMG do I see a shell casing jumping out of the gun and literally end up standing on the ground! loool!

[@petethebastard]

You answered your own question about cocking for an empty magazine... It's called the Immediate Action! It's the same for every time the weapon stops, then you rectify the stoppage.

[@lostronin380]

A nice detailed video, thank you Sir.

[@Paladin1873]

Allowing the bolt assembly to fly home on an empty chamber induces unnecessary stress on the firearm and should be avoided. As for the practice of charging the weapon before swapping magazines, I presume this was done as a safety check to ensure the LMG had not simply jammed. I've had a BREN jam before. Instead of checking to see if the bolt was locked to the rear, I lifted off the magazine with a round jammed partially between it, the bolt, and the chamber. This only complicated matters and damaged the magazine. After that incident I always made sure I pulled the charging handle back before swapping mags.

[@BlokeontheRange]

Allowing the bolt assembly to fly home on an empty chamber (twice) is part of the unload drill, and was done incessently in training. There's no reports of it harming them.

[@Paladin1873]

Bloke, I've been using and working on firearms for 50 years. I try never to mishandle them. Metal slamming onto metal only peens the parts and can lead to premature failure. The BREN may survive such abuse but I've seen plenty of other firearms fail, so it's a bad habit to get into. Since the BREN is no longer being built and parts are becoming somewhat scarce, I recommend they be treated gingerly. In the USA it's considered bad form to allow a bolt or slide to slam home on an empty chamber, or to dry-fire a firearm without permission. Some gun store operators will fine you for doing it or ask you to leave the store. This doesn't always deter people, just as wearing safety glasses is dismissed by some internet gun gurus as needless. I try to err on the side of caution, and setting a good example for others is never a bad idea.

[@anthonyburke5656]

Used in Korea and early in Vietnam, as well as Malaysia and Borneo. Not forgetting places like Aden and Cyprus

[@grendelgrendelsson5493]

Oh you lucky, lucky Bloke!!

[@randym6439]

Did you happen to see the movie "The Siege of Jadotville". The OC calls on the sniper to take out a man in a white suit. The sniper says his No. 4, Mk1T can't, but the Bren on single shot(with iron sights) can. Always thought that was Hollywood or its Irish equivalent hokum. Thoughts?

[@BlokeontheRange]

Already dealt with in another comment. Scroll down :)

[@randym6439]

@@BlokeontheRange Thought I had scanned through and didn't see any reference to it. I will check again.

[@12345NoNamesLeft]

The sniper rifle had a side mounted scope - The bren only needed simple holdover for range, the sniper scope needed adjustment at every range for windage. Easy to screw it up. @@BlokeontheRange

[@BlokeontheRange]

@@12345NoNamesLeft That's not how you deal with windage with a side-mounted scope... At 100 yds, the offset is less than the group size anyway, and beyond that you can ignore it. BREN sights are also offset to the left...

[@skepticalbadger]

@@BlokeontheRange I don't see it...

[@benquinneyiii7941]

The firepower of the section

[@zoiders]

I believe the "airborne" barrels became standard new production replacements for all guns as it was cheaper to just produce one type of barrel?

[@jonahmarlow3816]

This channel is quickly starting to give FW a run for their money!☺

[@clicboumboum]

Super vidéo, comme toujours !

[@burnsboysaresoldiers]

Ever seen that scene in “The Mummy” (1999) when Adeth unmounts the aircraft model lewis gun and uses it as a SAW? Why wasn’t that a thing in the Great War? Seems like it would be lighter and handier without the cooling shroud.

[@BlokeontheRange]

They believed it would overheat without the shroud.

[@joearnold6881]

You tricked me into wiping my phone screen repeatedly

[@berniestraight126]

That was wonderful

[@professionallyclueless2395]

I can’t believe you managed to get your hands on one of those bren sniper rifles, cause it’s too accurate.

[@jeroylenkins1745]

Seeing how the barrel locks in tightly the way it does this makes some sense.

[@allyreneepenny9447]

One of a best LMG ever was used till to the 80s as L4 in 7 62 x 51 from the UK Forces ❗

[@SamEEE12]

Great sound at 4:45!

[@lostinspace013]

I will buy this thing next week. God damn ... I love living in Poland ...

[@dannyray3853]

One of the biggest takeaways is that you need to keep the beard on lol. Great vid!

[@78a67h]

The only way to pull the butt end off to remove the working internals is by FIRST removing the barrel otherwise the butt end jams half way off.

[@KawasakiKaizer72]

I think cocking the gun after last round fired was perhaps for safety reasons, & perhaps trying clearing a jam that ur not aware-of before reloading & firing again.

[@BlokeontheRange]

I've since discovered that it was simply to have exactly the same immediate action whenever the gun stops firing for whatever reason.

[@josepclaravalls8359]

Preciosa arma, sempre m agradat

[@nyrrad4969]

I like the new host of Forgotten Weapons.