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Bren drum mag


Radek

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Radek, A screw goes through the top of the main body to hold it together.

Inside it's like a clock spring all wound up. Be carefull how you undo it & remove it!

Count how many time s you have to unwind to take the pressure off.

wind it back up the SAME amount when you replace it!

Mike

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Hi Mike, many thanks for info. The thread on the central screw is left or right.

Now I have the mag in the mixure of the oil, break fluyd, ...

I have to leave it there for removing the parts. Now I can´t move with them.

 

I have any questions.

 

What are this two items? The lever and button.

For which is the lock on the central spindel?

 

I am looking for the bren adapter and the wider lever as are on the picter from the internet.

 

Question.jpg

1273753213_bren2.jpg

Edited by Radek
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Radek, Press down on the small lock spring, & as your drum is rusted. Tap with a copper hammer the main bracket with the canvas handle. AWAY from the cutout on this handle bracket to move it to one side. Yours is a later version without a bolt & nut going through it!

When bracket is removed, lift off the lid. You may also have to tap this lightly as well to get it off!

Mike

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  • 2 weeks later...
44k6

...... you would have thought the infantry would have liked a 100 round mag instead of the standard one ?

Only if your not in the infantry:-( The 100rd drum was specific to vehicles for A/A use -ie one use against an aircraft -without a barrel change-in the hope that before there was a need for reload the aircraft would have "gone away". As an afterthought it was fitted to the PLM mount on AFVs which also served as an additional secondary weapon against infantry, but required a higher capacity as no-one was going to volunteer:nut: to climb out and reload the thing.- The PLM was so bad very few were actually used in action.

 

The standard 28-30rd box mag. for the Bren was thought to be the ideal at the time of its development - being more flexible for infantry use -probably from experience with the earlier Lewis squad weapon which had a 47rd drum and was viewed as inflexible requiring a 3 or 4 man gun team with the extras being magazine carriers- the Lewis 47rd mags. were too heavy/clumsy to be carried by riflemen in an infantry squad, whereas the Bren box mags could be carried in 2 pairs by each infantryman. The weight of the 28rd box loaded Bren was more manageable as opposed to a Bren fitted to a 100rd drum or a 47rd drum Lewis (which was also fitted with a 97rd drum for fixed mountings).

 

A Bren box was considered adequate as a squad support weapon in burst mode and the mags. are easily and quickly changed- importantly they allow the No.2 to count for barrel change- prolonged fire by 100rd mags. would be difficult to gauge.

 

ZB 26-30 (czech original) were fitted with experimental double boxes to increase the perceived firepower but it wasn't developed (pre-war czech army having a different squad concept). Other weapons such as the US/Swedish/Polish BAR was used as a similar capacity squad weapon whereas the Soviet DP 47rd pan mag. weapon was more of a platoon weapon -which may have been due to a shortage of machine guns, The whole style of the DP and its use was different- for example although it has a quick release barrel -the Soviets never really understood the concept.

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I have seen only one picture with bren drum mag used with infantry. The picture is from 1944 from Dunquerke with the Czechoslovakian soldier. I have find it in the books. :nut:

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Radek I have seen only one picture with bren drum mag used with infantry. The picture is from 1944 from Dunquerke with the Czechoslovakian soldier.

 

No doubt -but Czech infantry were no longer line infantry or part of a mobile mechanised force by the time they invested Dunkirk.

 

The Czech forces battle duty from the fall of 1944 was to replace Canadian forces as a static division holding the German garrison in the Dunkirk area -to induce a surrender without an unnecessary large scale battle.

 

To this end the Czechs Independant Brigade including the Czech Armoured Brigade its infantry and artillery elements were used as a static garrision division until the surrender of the Dunkirk on 8th May 1945. The Czechs left Dunkirk on the 12th May marched across France and Germany and hooked up with the U.S 3rd Army and entered Pilsen on the afternoon of the 18th May, the U.S. forces giving an indigenous force (as they had done in Paris) the nominal right of liberators to the area of Czechoslovakia under U.S. control .

 

The Czech Brigade was used for static garrison duties in an attempt to conserve the integrety of Czech assets in the West- which although re-enforced in 1943 with elements from the middle east were not in a position to find replacement troops unlike Polish Brigades who were able to scour camps in western europe for replacements.

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A photo to show the problem in service -a Churchill with a Bren with drum on a Lakeman mount inearly 1942, in effect the thing used tracer for aiming- note the tank in the background is using a standard box mag. on its Bren.

 

I would imagine it would be used by infantry only as a ground mounted A/A gun and even with the so called high speed mag. at best 12secs. of usage.

ch132.jpg

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Richard Farrant

On the Humber scout car the Bren mounted on a PLM, was remotely fired from inside,.... no accuracy could be attained whilst firing

 

I believe the plan was to use tracer -aimed through the standard AFV optics, it was also used in Daimler Armoured Cars, on a few Dingos and some Cromwells (probably Op-RA) -the coventry was also fitted out for it- as were Churchill tanks -though I doubt any were fitted on Churchills.

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Degsy The cover picture on Carlo D'Este's book Decision in Normandy....

 

I haven't seen this book (I'll have a look on a book site when I get an hour or 2) the thing of interest would be the type of mount, -if it is a PLM mount it would be a very rare occurance but there are at least 3 other mounts used for Brens on the Churchill the Lakeman (shown in the previous photo) a counter balanced spring system and a simple pedestall mount.
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I haven't seen this book (I'll have a look on a book site when I get an hour or 2) the thing of interest would be the type of mount, -if it is a PLM mount it would be a very rare occurance but there are at least 3 other mounts used for Brens on the Churchill the Lakeman (shown in the previous photo) a counter balanced spring system and a simple pedestall mount.

Steve, I have no detailed knowledge as you have on tanks etc but have always remembered this picture as I had never seen it's like before. The only thing I can say with certainty is that barrel was supported with the use of a bipod. Unfortunately I don't have a scanner so can't post the pic for you. I will dig the book out for you and post the ISBN ASAP'

Fred

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Hi Steve, the copy I have is a penguin paperback ISBN 0-141-39056-5.

I can highly recommend this book which is generally accepted as one of the best if not the best researched book on the Normandy campaign.

Fred

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  • 2 weeks later...

Thanks for posting the photos -they help explaining the differences between K drums and Bren AA drums which we already discused on the other thread "Brens on Jeeps" which tended to turn into a discussion on the differences between the K Gun and the Bren, probably would have been as well to combine them:nut: I couldn't find any photos on the web of the underside of the 2 different types of mags. and I don't have access to the genuine article.

 

Steve

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  • 2 weeks later...

Didn't see that thread,,,most of the time I am on the vehicle sections, might put a pair of repro Vickers K's on my Humber Scout sometime just to see.... I have a repro for my Recce jeep, so would need to pick up one more. I can still get the winder if needed and have seen the bren adapter plate also, so let me know and I will try and track them down for you. If you are looking to use a drum on a bren, you might want to try and sell it to someone in the UK, they are always looking for vickers drums, and then try to pick up a bren drum..

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