Picture of the day

Same ex, got a chance to fire a Bren. Didn't walk away being particularly impressed by the accuracy but I'd had a chance to fire one. Could only go by the fall of shot as the target area was an embankment about 4 hundred yards or so across some water.

That's not my experience at all back in my army days. It was very easy to let off a 3 round burst with the BREN. With a proper hold, it was simple to keep three rounds on target, at least for me. I too bought a BREN back in the 80's. Converted to semi-auto of course. IIRC, I paid about $500.00 complete with spare barrel, cleaning/spare parts kit and transit box. I eventually sold it since becoming prohibited.

XoOXffHl.jpg
 
^ Ontario Gun and Tackle ?

Yup, you're right on the money. Place is long gone now unfortunately. I also bought an Israeli FN from them, not at the same time though. Both guns were almost like new when I bought them. IIRC, the place was like a warehouse with a small front office. Located just north of Port Elgin I believe ;) Talk about the good old days when you could buy converted autos using a regular FAC, not even restricted.
 
Yup, you're right on the money. Place is long gone now unfortunately. I also bought an Israeli FN from them, not at the same time though. Both guns were almost like new when I bought them. IIRC, the place was like a warehouse with a small front office. Located just north of Port Elgin I believe ;) Talk about the good old days when you could buy converted autos using a regular FAC, not even restricted.

I bought a torched BAR at Hercules department store on Yonge Street in Toronto and took it home on the subway. One large wooden barrel just inside the front door was full of SMLE's and the other full of No.4's. They had a completely torch butchered Sten high above the checkout counter and love nor money could get them to even take it down and show it to you.
 
Sight question on the Bren guns. On Ganders & the gun in the first photo with the lady appear to have a simple aperture on a bar protruding back from the receiver but in the photo of the one being given to the Chinese dude it appears to have a vernier sight that resembles a BSA sight I have seen on Ross & other WWI rifles , I have one somewhere around and I think they have a C 5 designation.
Gander if you have a photo showing the "off-set" of both rear & front sight would love to see it. At least I think they are off-set, I have never been close to a Bren myself.

1942 Mk I m

(If you squint a bit, its harder to see the welds).







BTW I've been thinking to get a spare barrel for my transit box, is it easy to come across Inglis marked barrels? What are the prices like?
 
It would have been interesting to hear the decision making process that went into the adoption of the C2. These decisions were made by people who served in WW2 and Korea and who should have known better.:rey2 I'll wager the bean counters and engineers won the argument.

Prior to the FNC1/FNC2 the rifle section had one LAR (BREN gun) ... afterwards the rifle section had two LAR's (FNC2's) to provide fire support. Just dont be hasty and grab the C2 by the barrel before moving to a new position quickly.
 
Website with some interesting WW1 German pictures:
http://www.allworldwars.com/German-World-War-I-Postcards-Part-I.html

One example in part2.

GermanWWIPhotos107.jpg

As a kid my family used to go to Niagara on the Lake during the summer ... we stayed at a 'guest house' on Queen Str. The owner was older gentleman who had served in the British Indian Army ... he had served in WW I .... one of his memories was the size of the rats in 'no mans land' and that they went after the bodies that usually littered the area to the front of the trenchs. I must have listened, wide eyed, to his stories :)

(I had forgotten -- you used to be able to buy little 'loaves' in the shape of rats, complete with whiskers, in Hamelin.)
 
I bought a torched BAR at Hercules department store on Yonge Street in Toronto and took it home on the subway. One large wooden barrel just inside the front door was full of SMLE's and the other full of No.4's. They had a completely torch butchered Sten high above the checkout counter and love nor money could get them to even take it down and show it to you.

Those torched BARs were surplussed in the mid-60s. I saw a pile of them in a warehouse at the Downsview base. They were brand new, not even fully assembled, when they were torched. The trigger groups were still separate and wrapped in waxed paper. I bid on them, but didn't get them. I later heard that Hercules' winning bid was less then I had bid. Just rumor, but I wouldn't be very surprised if they had the inside track and other bids weren't really considered. In the same warehouse at the same time, there was a pile of torched Browning .30 cal aircraft guns. I couldn't afford to buy both batches, so I only bid on the BARs. I never heard what happened to the aircraft guns.

Ontario Gun and Tackle was right on hwy 11, near Kirkland lake. Their mailing address was Swastika Ontario, although they sometimes used the Kenogami Lake post office. I used to stop there every time I drove from Toronto to Timmins. I bought a few guns from them directly, and also some they had on consignment at Ontario Automart in Toronto (anybody remember them?). Peter took me on a tour of the warehouse and I bought a bunch of torched or broken or rusty parts that I used to make up display guns. Ahh, the good old days.
 
Those torched BARs were surplussed in the mid-60s. I saw a pile of them in a warehouse at the Downsview base. They were brand new, not even fully assembled, when they were torched. The trigger groups were still separate and wrapped in waxed paper. I bid on them, but didn't get them. I later heard that Hercules' winning bid was less then I had bid. Just rumor, but I wouldn't be very surprised if they had the inside track and other bids weren't really considered. In the same warehouse at the same time, there was a pile of torched Browning .30 cal aircraft guns. I couldn't afford to buy both batches, so I only bid on the BARs. I never heard what happened to the aircraft guns.

Ontario Gun and Tackle was right on hwy 11, near Kirkland lake. Their mailing address was Swastika Ontario, although they sometimes used the Kenogami Lake post office. I used to stop there every time I drove from Toronto to Timmins. I bought a few guns from them directly, and also some they had on consignment at Ontario Automart in Toronto (anybody remember them?). Peter took me on a tour of the warehouse and I bought a bunch of torched or broken or rusty parts that I used to make up display guns. Ahh, the good old days.

Ontario Auto Mart on Keele St Vaughan and then Hwy 7. Remember it well. Sold Garands and 1911's from Vietnam. I still have a Garand (IHC) from there. Then a lot of stupit #### started happening there.
 
1942 Mk I m

(If you squint a bit, its harder to see the welds).







BTW I've been thinking to get a spare barrel for my transit box, is it easy to come across Inglis marked barrels? What are the prices like?

thanks for that man, just what I wanted...off-set sighting would have made "elevation
adjustment" long range firing doable...The barrel wouldn't hide the target.
 
As a kid my family used to go to Niagara on the Lake during the summer ... we stayed at a 'guest house' on Queen Str. The owner was older gentleman who had served in the British Indian Army ... he had served in WW I .... one of his memories was the size of the rats in 'no mans land' and that they went after the bodies that usually littered the area to the front of the trenchs. I must have listened, wide eyed, to his stories :)

(I had forgotten -- you used to be able to buy little 'loaves' in the shape of rats, complete with whiskers, in Hamelin.)

Wishing I had a photo of the rats I saw at the shipping wharfs in Athens, as big as very big house cats, twice the size of even the biggest in this photo. The ship mechanic I was with said that very common for them to attack anything that moved.
 
I add a link in post #19269 to the second part of the the German WW1 postcards.

Sample:
GermanWWIPhotos027.jpg


What are the chances no one in this picture snores?
GermanWWIPhotos061.jpg
 
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thanks for that man, just what I wanted...off-set sighting would have made "elevation
adjustment" long range firing doable...The barrel wouldn't hide the target.
?? ... no the barrel wouldnt hide the target .... the magazine would take care of that rather well. Including obstructing the view of targets moving to the right
 
Ontario Auto Mart on Keele St Vaughan and then Hwy 7. Remember it well. Sold Garands and 1911's from Vietnam. I still have a Garand (IHC) from there. Then a lot of stupit #### started happening there.

Ahh, yes, Ontario Auto Mart. Great place. I bought a late model M1 Garand (made in 1953) that was/is like new in green parkerizing. I paid a princely sum of $400.00 for it which was rather expensive at the time. I still have it and is a real shooter.

D6u7NN6l.jpg
 
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