Did Long Branch make Brens?

[cantom]

I just heard that Long Branch (SAL) made 7.92mm Bren guns.

Does anyone have any pictures of one? Closeups showing receiver stamping info etc?
Only pics I've ever seen are for Inglis examples.

 

[Beater]

yes they did, for china.dont have any pics, sorry

 

[Sigismund]

I think Stevo has one

 

[JP]

The big difference is the straight mag compared to the curved ones used for .303 Brit.

Follow the link for a photo of an Inglis made Bren, manufactured for the Chinese Nationalist in WW2.

http://www.rt66.com/~korteng/SmallArms/bren.htm

 

[stencollector]

I have a 8mm Bren, with Chinese script. But it is Inglis marked. The book "Bren Gun Sage" makes no reference to LB Brens. although it does make mention of LB being involved in certain endurance tests such as the 30 cal Bren conversion.

Heres a shot of mine taken with my new camera. Finally I can show a picture thats not all fuzzy and shakey, so Cantom can quit buggin me about the (lack of) quality of my photos.

 

[Stevo]

I think Stevo has one

I've never heard of or seen a Long Branch Bren.

My 7.92 Bren is most certainly an Inglis.

 

[stencollector]

Long Branch converted qty 6 Inglis guns to .280 caliber post war, but even those still had the Inglis markings on them.

 

[marks 36 hamon]

they also made a 30/06 post war but it was still marked Inglis

 

[BadgerDog]

Here's a pic I stole from a thread on Jouster's....

The one pic and I believe the Bren itself belong to Kev G.... (thanks Kev and MJ1)

(Click PIC to Enlarge)

Regards,
Badger

 

[tiriaq]

I recall reading somewhere that Brit L series 7.62mm conversions used Cdn. 7.92mm blocks.
Remember in my salad days seeing an Inglis 7.92mm Bren with 12 magazines and a case of ball for $400, and no, it wasn't CA.

 

[cantom]

It seems the consensus is, Long Branch was involved in various aspects of Bren production, on various contracts, but never actually made any receivers. Possibly they did much of the finishing work, proofing etc. on Inglis receivers at times...sound about right?

 

[stencollector]

It seems the consensus is, Long Branch was involved in various aspects of Bren production, on various contracts, but never actually made any receivers. Possibly they did much of the finishing work, proofing etc. on Inglis receivers at times...sound about right?

I think that description would be too generous. During the war, I suspect that SAL (LB) did it's thing while Inglis did it's own thing with the Brens, the Hipowers, the Boyes rifles, the Browning mkII AC MG gun, and the Polstens. There would be times when SAL would be assigned to provide independant testing of some of the Inglis products, but on general day to day production SAL was not involved.

Post war, Inglis started to wrap up it's small arms production and go back to making washers and dryers, while SAL converted to CAL, but still a crown corporation. So any post war small arms projects would be assigned to CAL. WRT the Brens, SAL did some of the conversions as mentioned in the thread previously, in an attempt to avoid having to buy a new weapons system. This did not work, and the C2 was produced instead. Besides being lighter than a re-worked Bren, this likely kept CAL in more work anyway.

Personally, I think the lightness of the C2 (along with it's non-quick change barrel and having to be magazine fed as opposed to belt fed) was a real negative factor for it. It was a hard rifle to control on full auto. A modified Bren had advantages, but at the same time, if the army gets a chance to have the treasury board buy new guns, it rarely says no.

Todays C9 (and it's bigger brother the C6) seem to incorporate the best of both guns and belt fed to boot.