Historic Arms Bren MkII Locking Shoulder Question

[hatrick]

I just bought a used Historic Arms Bren MkII and the bolt and barrels are all .303 but when I was cleaning it, I noticed that the locking shoulder was marked 7.62 (it also had a couple of letters stamped on it and an electropenciled number). Does anyone know if it is ok to have the 7.62 locking shoulder or is this the wrong piece. It locks up perfectly and I tried dry cycling some blanks and they all chambered perfectly.

I was told that the previous owner did have some other caliber set-ups for the gun but unfortunately when the prior owner passed away those parts were lost in the estate break up. I did notice that the 7.62 locking shoulder that is in there was a tiny bit loose so I tighted the screw as much as possible but I am thinking that it needs to be re-staked or lock-tited in place if it is the correct shoulder.

Do any other HA Bren owners have 7.62 locking shoulders??

Thanks,
Eric

[6thairborne]

eric,

you should contact Len Savage, the manufacturer and run these questions by him. He is a great source of parts for these guns and stands behind his workmanship. I just got some spare parts from him as a matter of fact.

pm me if you dont have his contact information.
cheers
Tony Standefer
www.6th-airborne.org

[warren]

I would surmise that they missed a bit on the welding and as the 7.62 headspace shoulders are a bit shorter, one was used to set the headspace. I would not worry about it at all. We are talking about a few thou. here.....

[hatrick]

It seemed odd to me that the bolt in my Bren is labeled .303 but the locking shoulder was marked 7.62 but when I checked the headspace on the gun using the feeler gauge method it came up as .006 between the back of the bolt and the locking shoulder so I think everything is ok. As you mentioned, Len probably uses whatever locking shoulders he has and whatever one creates the proper headspace.

Eric