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BREN

Last Updated on Tuesday, 21 July 2009 12:42 Written by Administrator Thursday, 02 July 2009 03:25

The Bren gun was a light machine gun used by the British forces from 1930s until 1991. The name of the gun comes from “Brno”, a city in Czechoslovakia where it was designed and “Enfield”, where the manufacturer—the British Royals Arms Factory is located. The Bren machine gun saw extensive action in numerous conflicts such as World War II, the Korean, the Suez crisis and the Indo-Pakistan wars. In the recent years, it was used in the Falklands war (1882) and the 1991 Gulf War.

The design of the Bren is based on an earlier Czechoslovak design—the ZB vz. 26. The Czech design was modified further after the license to manufacture it was acquired. These modifications included changes to the magazine and the barrel. In addition, the gun was also modified to use the .303 British cartridges.

The Bren gun operated on gas and had a tilting-bolt mechanism. It had a firing-rate of 500 to 520-rounds per minute and had an effective range of 550 meters. The gun used a magazine-feed mechanism which slowed down the rate of fire. However, this was advantageous as it preventing unwanted heating of the barrel. Some variants of the gun were fed with a 100-round drum magazine. The initial models of the gun came with a spare barrel for replacement when overheated. However, later models came with a chrome-lined barrel which eliminated for a barrel change.

The Bren gun was very reliable overall. However, in extreme conditions like those in North Africa it would regularly jam. It had to be kept meticulously clean and free of mud and sand for effective functioning. Though the magazine had a capacity of 30-rounds, it was usually fired filled with 28 or 29 rounds to prevent jams. Care had to be taken while loading the magazine as loading it wrongly would cause the gun to jam.

The Bren gun needed a crew of two operate. Weighing about 22.83 lb, the Bren was somewhat heavy for a machine gun. On long marches, it was often disassembled and carried by two soldiers. It was also used by mounting it on tanks and other armoured vehicles.

Later when the British adopted the 7.62x51mm NATO cartridge, the Bren gun modified to that calibre and fitted with a new barrel. The variant was designated at L4 and continued in service until the 1990s. Even later when the 5.56 mm NATO cartridge was adopted, the Bren L4 gun was finally phased out of service.

The Bren gun was also had several variants. These include Mark 1 (the original model introduced in 1937), Mark 2 (a simpler version of Mark 1 produced in 1941), Mark 3 (a shorter version introduced in 1944), Mark 4 and L4. There was another variant known as the Taden gun which was a modification to use the British .208 round.

The Bren gun was gradually removed from British service in the late 1950s and replaced by the L7 machine gun. The L7 was in turn replaced by L86 light support weapon in the late 1980s. As of today, the Bren gun is still being manufactured by the Indian Ordnance Factory at Ishapore under the designation “Gun, Machine 7.62 mm 1 B”.