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Post by missingsomething on Aug 15, 2008 19:20:55 GMT 1
SWEET  |
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Post by Kev on Aug 2, 2009 1:59:34 GMT 1
After waiting what seemed ages for them to come into the country and then the wait to pick it up a MK2 7.62mm South African Bren using an Inglis MK2 body.It has the brown plastic butt and pistol grip made in SA.  From the Brens that were imported a fair amount had been re-serial numbered with RA prefixes so pressume these had seen Rhodesian service (Peter W ?) Also some converted metric FAL magazines came with them in 30 and 40 round capacities.    The 40 round mag looks a bit too 'jaunty' IMO ;D ATB Kevin |
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Post by Kev on Aug 2, 2009 17:21:18 GMT 1
Got curious as how the internal springs in the magazines had been modified or re-made for the longer mags.  Quite a neat solution by way of an additional length of spring and coupling them with copper tube. Soft solder to keep everything in place and not to un-temper the spring. Kevin |
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Post by missingsomething on Aug 2, 2009 20:15:13 GMT 1
Thanks for the pics... that 40 rd mag in neat. 2 20's cut and welded together.... someone had a lot of time on their hands |
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Post by Kev on Aug 4, 2009 1:11:33 GMT 1
The 7.62 SA Bren with cammo applied.  |
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Post by NZ L1A1 Collector on Aug 6, 2009 10:01:40 GMT 1
... a fair amount had been re-serial numbered with RA prefixes so pressume these had seen Rhodesian service Normally any South African ownership markings will be scrubbed off the RA weapons to try and hide the weapons origin. RA is the Rhodesian Army prefix to the serial number, but what gives it away is the funky camo applied to their guns and magazines, Here's a pic of a L1A1 done in Rhodesian camo   |
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Post by Kev on Aug 6, 2009 17:48:35 GMT 1
Very nice L1 Kev,mind you if you laid it down in the bush you would never find it again ! ;D RA prefix serial numbers on the 7.62 Brens showing where originals have been scrubbed.The RA serial number has also been applied to the side of the reciever.    ATB Kevin |
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Post by Peter Wells on Aug 7, 2009 8:17:00 GMT 1
Hi Kevin. Nice pics - thanks for sharing with us.  Just a word on the "SA MAde Plastic Butt and PG". I believe those parts were experimentals made during or immediately post WW2 by a country other than SA, rather than being part of the 7.62 conversion. I saw, and used, similar pieces of furniture in the 60s - brown, smooth and, if I remember correctly, a rather soft plastic - whereas the 70s SA plastic is black, rough textured 'cycolac' which is much harder than usual plastics. I haven't pulled out my BGS but I seem to recall pics of the brown furniture therein. Brit? |
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Post by Kev on Aug 7, 2009 21:41:39 GMT 1
Hello Peter,did you get my emails ? The only synthetic butt refered to in the BGS is an experimental Bakelite MKI butt circa 36/37.There is also a latter drawing (thanks Tom) dated mid 1939.These Bakelite butts are compresion moldings in 2 halves that are bolted together. The brown MK2 SA (for want of a better description) butts and PG's are thermo plastic injection moldings.I have just striped the butt down to look for any markings and there are none to help ID it. From the SA IPL I see they also made plastic MKI butts (described as is the MK2 plastic butt as nylon ?) but I have only seen plastic MK2 butts on the imported Brens. The 1st SA 7.62 Bren I aquired I know came from Armscor SA (cheers Peter)and this has a different pattern MKI handle than the MK2 gun I have just got.  The handle on the top is from the Armscor Bren ,it seems a less dense material from the other and the molding lines run sideways as opposed to the new gun which run top to bottom. The Armscor Bren has been made so as not to need a plate on the front of the handle where as the new gun retains the original profile of the wooden handle and nessesity of the plate. Could it be possible that the plastic furniture was made in Rhodesia (Zim) as I'm sure that is where these came from ? ATB Kevin |
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Post by Kev on Aug 14, 2009 20:45:25 GMT 1
Checked with the Pattern Room (or whatever they call it now) regarding the furniture on their SA 7.62 converted Bren.The plastic is the same type and colour as pictured above.
ATB Kevin
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Post by pirate on Nov 21, 2009 1:37:50 GMT 1
I am getting ready to build a .308 bren, there is a lot of great information here that will be a big help. So far I have a new bbl, extractor and ejector block. can anyone tell me what else I will need? can a .303 mag catch be modified to work ?
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