I can only find one contract that shows OE fitment of gun clips - V3565 (plus the earlier demand for 15 added to it) and the majority had rifle clips.
"Bren Gun fitment & boxes to 100 machines"
"Rifle fitment & boxes to 280 machines"
"Fitments supplied in embodiment loan"
The choice would seem to be beteween one set of Bren Gun clips or two sets of rifle clips. Were the boxes simply partioned differently internally dependent upon ammunition and spares to be carried ?
That the fitments were supplied in embodiment loan indicates that they were sourced separately by the MoS so they could have been available for fitment on machines already (or later) in service (presumably in the Div. Cav. / recce rôle)
Hi all, think rifle and gun clips are the same thing, parts lists give all the same number, 2218 & 2219, even the later p/l. mention them, but there's no data in the quantum row, so not issued?
Rick, the 100 pieces Bren Gun Fitment most probably relates to the Motley Mount.
The ammo box on the rear never had any compartmentizing, you can shove the Bren Field Mount in there, but then the lid won't close!
Neale, as far as I know only one 3" Mortar was ever made. (out of contract V3849)
Here some pictures
Basicly the brackets have the same width as the gun clip, you need the Bren, to position the clips, no other way!
Have just looked at a lot of B4 pictures, and indeed contract V3565 had C numbers beginning with C4112 and all pictures with Motley Mounts have this C number, mind you not all of them have Motley Mounts, but it's nice to know now, via Rik's info that some of these were used for the AA role, most went to the Canadians.
Well I've made the angled bracket's for the gun clips and it turned out the butt end of the Bren was too wide for a rifle muzzle clip, so I also made the rear cup.
And hopefully I'm not too far out with the position.
Just as an aside, is it legal to own a Bren Gun barrel in the UK? I'm trying to find all the contents to go into a Bren spare barrel bag and obviously a spare barrel is a big part of that! Someone has told me that an un-deactivated barrel could be used to reactivate a gun, so un-deactivated barrels are illegal. Has anyone ever seen any for sale in the UK?
Hi Bill, spare barrels are illegal but there was a cap at Beltring War ans Peace show lat year selling very good replicas, one of which I bought. I would suggest you do the military shows and you might find him. Cheers John
I hadn't thought about looking for replicas John, cheers. I'll have to make the effort and get down to War and Peace next year, the problem is it's a long old trek and they keep moving it even further away!
Any original gun part is illegal unless you have the required gun licence certificate. I had an original spare Bren gun barrel given to me by a friend who had kept it under his work bench for years. But it worried me, so reluctantly I let it go and bought any ally replica from W&P years ago for the spare barrel locker on my carrier. I still wish I had kept the original though. Ron
Bill there are quite a lot of guns/replicas/spares on Milweb. I'm sure if you send out a few emails to dealers etc. you will find out if/who is making any.
Well it didn't sell Bill, so you could contact the guy privately and maybe do deal and get it shipped as a machine part......I'm sure someone off the forum will visit you with some snout and a cake Ron
Is it worth the risk? Probably not, it's a five year sentence for that sort of thing isn't it? That's a long time to keep a tight hold on the soap in the shower just for the sake of an old Bren barrel!