The Bren light machine gun (Drill Purpose)

A closer look at one of the other guns in our collection - a Drill Purpose L54A1 Bren light machine gun. It's a Inglis (Canadian) 1943 .303-inch Bren but used as a drill purpose weapon until relatively recently. It is partially sectioned / skeletonised and has coppered parts to ensure they aren't used in service weapons.

 

Now you've got me thinking: I can't remember ours in the ACF having body cutouts and coppered working parts; or did it?

 

Ours didn't as we used to fire them at annual Camp (early - mid 60's). Takes me back though as I used to be able to strip and assemble the Bren blindfolded and can still remember the IAs for gun jammed and adjusting the gas valve with the point of an ejected round.
http://index-of.co.uk/Tutorials-2/Small Arms Training V1 - Light Machine Gun.pdf

Tim

 

Tim. I once had a Korean War Veteran phone my museum asking if we had a Bren he could see as he couldn't remember what one looked like.
I invited him in and got one out for him. He said "Ah, yes. May I touch it?". I momentarily got distracted after saying yes and turned away.
My next words were "Well, lets see if you can recall how to put it all back".

 

Quite possibly not. It’s possible you used standard Brens or just ‘regular’ drill purpose ones with DP stamped on particular components. This example has possibly been part of a factory refurb and re-designation.

 

That situation is what my grandad did with a Vickers in the Royal Marines’ Museum back in 1994. It’s what started my interest in the Vickers.

 

It was definitely a modified and marked - presumably 'regular' - DP. There was no firing pin and I believe the barrel had been cut and welded. Bearing in mind it had to function with drill rounds, what was done to the body to prevent someone swapping out the piston group and barrel for service versions?

 

'Drill Purpose' can mean many things. At the top are deliberately made training aids, cut-aways and the like. At the bottom worn or or obsolescent weapons which can be used for handling however not be fired. Official stamps and painted markings usually mean they have been modified not to fire, often by crude means - clipping firing pin, slotting or blocking barrel.

The difference between a drill weapon and a de-activated one is that it is desirable for a DP to still have all it's functions and strip-ability. With a Bren, repeated stoppage drill means practicing full magazine and barrel changing and an ability to chamber a (dummy) round. Not compatable with deactivation processes.