I purchased my first handgun in late 1983, a Ruger Mk II .22, and the next year I was ready to pick up a centre-fire for club matches. I was an avid reader of Guns & Ammo magazine back then and the August 1984 issue had an awesome-looking pistol on the cover:
I was taken! It was a modern design (for the time) and fired a powerful new round offering magnum-level performance in a ten-round semi-auto. With then-current 9mm ammunition supposedly offering less than optimal performance this seemed like a great new development, and, of course, when it was soon featured on my new favourite TV show, I had to have one.
Well, of course that wasn’t going to happen. Dornaus & Dixon, the manufacturers ran into magazine supply issues, and other manufacturing and business issues resulted in them declaring bankruptcy in 1986. I ended up with a CZ75 instead, which, was rather fitting, I thought. There have been a few attempts at resurrection—the Peregrine Falcon in the early 1990s, and more recently, the VLTOR Fortis (which later was re-christened the “Bren Ten” as they obtained the rights to the name) in 2010. I was really excited—it seemed imminent! But, year after year dragged by with nothing but prototypes, and with the main driving force behind the pistol leaving VLTOR it seemed to me to be dead.
I actually owned one eight years ago, but the slide’s bluing had turned distinctly purple and the slide-frame fit was not great. That, combined with a complete lack of 10mm ammunition locally drove me to trade it to a dealer without ever firing it. I never gave up hope on finding another, although I was starting to lose hope until this one showed up on the EE recently. I gave it some careful thought and decided that it might be the last one I ever find—I went for it!
My pistol came with some great extras—a Dornaus & Dixon booklet about the various Bren Ten Models, the classic Guns & Ammo magazine from 1984 (!), the original box (a little battered!), manual & other papers, and 20 rounds of the original classic Norma ammunition (just like the magazine cover!).
And now, onto the pistol itself!
The “Bren” part of the name comes from the fact that its design is inspired by the CZ75, which was made at the Brno factory which made the Bren Gun LMG. You can see the family resemblance here:
The slide is made from stainless steel and the slide from carbon steel—I remember reading that this was to eliminate galling, which had been a problem with some all-stainless designs dating from the same time. The frame has polished sides with a matte finish elsewhere, and the blued slide also has polished sides and a matte finished top. I find it a very attractive look.
The pistol is double-action, and can be carried cocked and locked, like the CZ75. There is no decocker. You can see the Gunsite “Raven” logo here—Jeff Cooper worked with Dornaus and Dixon on the pistol’s design. The magazine release is located in the usual spot. Unusually, there is a trigger stop, as well.
It’s possible to reverse the safety—the frame is marked for it.
The grips are pebbled plastic. Interestingly, the small screw at the bottom of the right grip adjusts how the magazine ejects—mine is set to pop the magazine all the way out, but turn that screw a quarter turn and the magazine only pops partway out if you want to remove and retain it.
Front sight is a blade with a large dot:
Rear sight is an adjustable blade with smaller dots.
When viewed from a firing hold, the combination of large and small dots look to be the same size:
There is a removable barrel bushing at the front of the slide (although it does not need to be removed for field stripping:
Unexpectedly, there’s a manual cross-bolt firing pin safety. I always figured it was meant to be used to eliminate the risk of an accidental discharge when manually lowering the hammer. Here’s it’s normal position:
And when depressed:
The pistol disassembles just like a CZ75 (except you need to remove the recoil spring plug).
That little dealy that looks like a guide for the (stout) recoil spring is actually a recoil buffer with a compressible spring.
The barrel is reminiscent of a CZ75’s, but there’s only one locking lug, and it goes all the way around the barrel. The rifling looks quite shallow, but it was called “Power-Seal” rifling, which provided high muzzle velocities.
So—that’s the details on the pistol. How does it shoot? I must admit that I was apprehensive—after waiting 34 years to shoot one would I be let down? (<spoiler alert>I was not!) I had it out to the range earlier today for a quick shakedown. I hadn’t shot a handgun since last Fall, so I was out of practice for sure.
The pistol fits great in the hand—it’s one of my most comfortable ones to hold, and even though it’s 38 oz, the pistol’s balance makes it feel much lighter. The single action trigger pull is my absolute favourite type of trigger, light, very smooth and with just a bit of movement. I’m not a fan of the “breaking glass rod” trigger…I like a bit of movement. The pull is wonderful—I’m very pleased! The recoil is more like a push than a snap—it’s very manageable and pleasant (of course, modern ammunition is not as hot as the original Norma load).
Here are the first six rounds at 15m (after shooting my VP70z the first shot surprised me and went low and left)
The next six were better—I might have to adjust my sights!
I fired a few more rounds then finished off with ten quick ones.
Here’s the pistol in action:
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I don’t think I could be happier with the pistol—it looks great, has awesome extras and feels wonderful to shoot. A great day at the range!
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