410 Bren

[Blodders]

A mate of mine has a De-ac Bren (MkII - I think) and whilst taking it apart to see what level of butchery it had received (not much BTW must be a very old spec deac job) it became clear that the last act in it's "live" history was as a 410 shotgun. Some further experimentation lead to the discovery that you can fit 10-12 410 rounds into the curvy mag before they jam up.

So my question is, does anyone have any experience or knowledge of a smoothbore 410 Bren?

Did they cycle or was it a straight-pull bolt action?

 

[4(T)]

There were a few straight-pull ones around. I don't think even a semi-auto would have been legal back in the "old days" - too easy to reconvert to full auto/rifle calibre.

I'd be surprised if anyone managed to get a .410 to magazine feed - that would require a lot to be chopped out of the rear part of the chamber to get the blunt end of the shell to have a chance of lining up.

 

[tropper66]

I doubt that a 410 cartridge produces enough gas to cycle the breach

 

[EX_STAB]

There were a few straight-pull ones around. I don't think even a semi-auto would have been legal back in the "old days" - too easy to reconvert to full auto/rifle calibre.

I'd be surprised if anyone managed to get a .410 to magazine feed - that would require a lot to be chopped out of the rear part of the chamber to get the blunt end of the shell to have a chance of lining up.

I'm sure there were semi-auto Brens "conversions" about pre 88.... Agreed that they wouldn't take much converting back but neither would many of the other things we could have back then.

In 410 it was probably held on a sgc by a re-enactor. Was quite popular way of doing it once I recall.

 

[Beerhunter]

A mate of mine has a De-ac Bren (MkII - I think) and whilst taking it apart to see what level of butchery it had received (not much BTW must be a very old spec deac job)

I thought the de-act spec was only changed (1995) for: pistols, SMGs and semi-auto/auto rifles. I was under the impression that it had not changed for machine guns. What is odd about your mate's Bren

 

[Beerhunter]

I'm sure there were semi-auto Brens "conversions" about pre 88.... Agreed that they wouldn't take much converting back but neither would many of the other things we could have back then.

There sure were. I remember them well. I also remember the NRA banning them from Bisley back in the days when Council was the North London at prayer.

 

[Drlligaf]

There were a few straight-pull ones around. I don't think even a semi-auto would have been legal back in the "old days" - too easy to reconvert to full auto/rifle calibre.

I'd be surprised if anyone managed to get a .410 to magazine feed - that would require a lot to be chopped out of the rear part of the chamber to get the blunt end of the shell to have a chance of lining up.

I'm sure there were semi-auto Brens "conversions" about pre 88.... Agreed that they wouldn't take much converting back but neither would many of the other things we could have back then.

In 410 it was probably held on a sgc by a re-enactor. Was quite popular way of doing it once I recall.

There were indeed, at my last club in England there was one member with a semi auto Bren, lurvlly. Another bloke had a semi auto Sten.

 

[Hellmans]

There were a few straight-pull ones around. I don't think even a semi-auto would have been legal back in the "old days" - too easy to reconvert to full auto/rifle calibre.

I'd be surprised if anyone managed to get a .410 to magazine feed - that would require a lot to be chopped out of the rear part of the chamber to get the blunt end of the shell to have a chance of lining up.

I'm sure there were semi-auto Brens "conversions" about pre 88.... Agreed that they wouldn't take much converting back but neither would many of the other things we could have back then.

In 410 it was probably held on a sgc by a re-enactor. Was quite popular way of doing it once I recall.

There were indeed, at my last club in England there was one member with a semi auto Bren, lurvlly. Another bloke had a semi auto Sten.

If it had been properly converted to .410 then it would have needed a humungous barrel extension which would be obvious. Unless it was one of the many 'conversions' done by R.I.F.L.E. of course
MM

 

[ugly]

It could exist under pre 1988 act, not exactly a .410 but in those days worn out bores were passed as smoothbore and fixed to the bodies, You could fire them in semi as they change lever had a stop welded in front of it as did the RUC Smgs.
There werent many about (or rather accurately described on shotgun certs as they didnt have to be) but they were fun and I suspect a few were deactivated under the old regs as they then fetched a good sum!

 

[EX_STAB]

There were a few straight-pull ones around. I don't think even a semi-auto would have been legal back in the "old days" - too easy to reconvert to full auto/rifle calibre.

I'd be surprised if anyone managed to get a .410 to magazine feed - that would require a lot to be chopped out of the rear part of the chamber to get the blunt end of the shell to have a chance of lining up.

I'm sure there were semi-auto Brens "conversions" about pre 88.... Agreed that they wouldn't take much converting back but neither would many of the other things we could have back then.

In 410 it was probably held on a sgc by a re-enactor. Was quite popular way of doing it once I recall.

There were indeed, at my last club in England there was one member with a semi auto Bren, lurvlly. Another bloke had a semi auto Sten.

If it had been properly converted to .410 then it would have needed a humungous barrel extension which would be obvious. Unless it was one of the many 'conversions' done by R.I.F.L.E. of course
MM

I don't think he meant that the semi auto STEN was in .410

 

[gloworm]

There were a few straight-pull ones around. I don't think even a semi-auto would have been legal back in the "old days" - too easy to reconvert to full auto/rifle calibre.

I'd be surprised if anyone managed to get a .410 to magazine feed - that would require a lot to be chopped out of the rear part of the chamber to get the blunt end of the shell to have a chance of lining up.

I'm sure there were semi-auto Brens "conversions" about pre 88.... Agreed that they wouldn't take much converting back but neither would many of the other things we could have back then.

In 410 it was probably held on a sgc by a re-enactor. Was quite popular way of doing it once I recall.

There were indeed, at my last club in England there was one member with a semi auto Bren, lurvlly. Another bloke had a semi auto Sten.

If it had been properly converted to .410 then it would have needed a humungous barrel extension which would be obvious. Unless it was one of the many 'conversions' done by R.I.F.L.E. of course
MM

The Bren was under the legal limit unless you had the flash hider welded on...a fair few had been converted and then had to be modded again, I remember the fuss and it being broadcast in Guns Review. Is that still going, not seen it around for years...in fact decades???

 

[Blodders]

A mate of mine has a De-ac Bren (MkII - I think) and whilst taking it apart to see what level of butchery it had received (not much BTW must be a very old spec deac job)

I thought the de-act spec was only changed (1995) for: pistols, SMGs and semi-auto/auto rifles. I was under the impression that it had not changed for machine guns. What is odd about your mate's Bren

well the deac is pretty rudimentary TBH. It's fully strippable, the barrel just has a rod welded in, no milling away underneath and the bolt face is ground away at an angle, firing pin missing, and that's about it.

 

[Henry_Tombs]

I remember the fuss and it being broadcast in Guns Review. Is that still going, not seen it around for years...in fact decades???

It died in the aftermath of Dunblane; if I remember correctly, wasn't the title owned by Michael Heseltine at the time?

 

[Beerhunter]

A mate of mine has a De-ac Bren (MkII - I think) and whilst taking it apart to see what level of butchery it had received (not much BTW must be a very old spec deac job)

I thought the de-act spec was only changed (1995) for: pistols, SMGs and semi-auto/auto rifles. I was under the impression that it had not changed for machine guns. What is odd about your mate's Bren

well the deac is pretty rudimentary TBH. It's fully strippable, the barrel just has a rod welded in, no milling away underneath and the bolt face is ground away at an angle, firing pin missing, and that's about it.

That sounds like the standard deact for a Bren. The welded in barrel is the bit that is relied on. You should find some cuts to the Body Group and Butt Group where they slide together as well. (So that the gun will fall apart if some one replaced the Barrel Group and Piston Group and then tried to fire it.)