How a Bren Light Machine Gun Works

Описание: Wikipedia: The Bren gun was a series of light machine guns (LMG) made by Britain in the 1930s and used in various roles until 1992. While best known for its role as the British and Commonwealth forces' primary infantry LMG in World War II, it was also used in the Korean War and saw service throughout the latter half of the 20th century, including the 1982 Falklands War. Although fitted with a bipod, it could also be mounted on a tripod or be vehicle-mounted.

The Bren gun was a licensed version of the Czechoslovak ZGB 33 light machine gun which, in turn, was a modified version of the ZB vz. 26, which British Army officials had tested during a firearms service competition in the 1930s. The later Bren gun featured a distinctive top-mounted curved box magazine, conical flash hider, and quick change barrel. The name Bren was derived from Brno, the Czechoslovak city in Moravia, where the Zb vz. 26 was designed (in the Zbrojovka Brno Factory) and Enfield, site of the British Royal Small Arms Factory. The designer was Václav Holek, a gun inventor and design engineer.

In the 1950s, many Bren guns were re-barrelled to accept the 7.62×51mm NATO cartridge and modified to feed from the magazine for the L1 (Commonwealth version of the FN FAL) rifle as the L4 light machine gun. It was replaced in the British Army as the section LMG by the L7 general-purpose machine gun (GPMG), a heavier belt-fed weapon. This was supplemented in the 1980s by the L86 Light Support Weapon firing the 5.56×45mm NATO round, leaving the Bren gun in use only as a pintle mount on some vehicles. The Bren gun was manufactured by Indian Ordnance Factories as the "Gun Machine 7.62mm 1B"[4] before it was discontinued in 2012.

Type Light machine gun
Place of origin

Czechoslovakia (Design)
United Kingdom (Manufacture)

Service history
In service 1938–2006
Used by See Users
Wars

World War II
Chinese Civil War
Second Sino-Japanese War
Greek Civil War
First Indochina War
Indonesian National Revolution
Malayan Emergency
1948 Arab–Israeli War
Korean War
Bangladesh Liberation War[citation needed]
Mau Mau Uprising[1]
Algerian War
Cyprus crisis of 1963–64
Suez Crisis
1958 Lebanon Crisis
Sino-Indian War
Congo Crisis
Portuguese Colonial War
Vietnam War
South African Border War
Second Malayan Emergency
Biafran War
Rhodesian Bush War
Lebanese Civil War
Aden Emergency
The Troubles
Falklands War
Nepalese Civil War
Invasion of Grenada
Gulf War
Kargil War

Production history
Designed 1935
Manufacturer

Royal Small Arms Factory
Enfield
John Inglis and Company
Long Branch Factory
Ishapore Rifle Factory
Lithgow Small Arms Factory

Unit cost £40[2]
Produced 1935–1971
No. built 500,000[3]
Variants Mk I, II, III, IV
L4
Specifications
Mass

Mk1 & Mk2: 22.8 lb (10.3 kg), 25 lb (11.3 kg) loaded
Mk3 & Mk4: 19.15 lb (8.69 kg), 21.6 lb (9.8 kg) loaded

Length Mk1 & Mk2: 45.5 in (1,160 mm)
Mk3 & Mk4 42.9 in (1,090 mm)[3]
Barrel length 25 in (635 mm)
Crew 2, gunner and assistant
Cartridge

.303 British
8×56mmR (for Bulgaria)
7.92×57mm Mauser (for China in World War II)
7.62×51mm NATO (post-WWII)
7.62x39 Soviet (for China Post World War II)

Action Gas-operated, tilting bolt
Rate of fire

500–520 rounds/min
practical 120 rounds/min sustained

Muzzle velocity 2,440 ft/s (743.7 m/s)
Effective firing range 600 yd (550 m)
Maximum firing range 1,850 yd (1,690 m)
Feed system

20-round L1A1 SLR magazine
30-round detachable box magazine
100-round detachable pan magazine

Sights Iron