Subject: (00/Jan/25)

Hi Jay,

Wow! Great description and thanks for the details. I am starting to wonder about the loads to get proper function for the Bren. Since it was made to take fairly hot loads it's possible we are underloading the ammo we are using. But if the Federal 180 grain was working well then perhaps we should recommend that to folks as a good place to start. I am as cautious as you as far as using too hot a load in ANY weapon because of increasing wear on parts. And I SURE don't want to have to hunt down parts for a Bren!!! Can we say CUSTOM MADE? :(

On lubes...I just bought some Militec and it's supposed to be really good stuff. I've also been trying Ballistol in some of my weapons with good results.

"Dep"
Mike Bonomo


------- Forwarded message follows -------

From: Jay Ely
Subject: RE: (Fwd) better 2nd range session

Mike,

This is Jay, I have communicated to you and Jon via e-mail in the past. I have been following Jon's first range session report with great interest. I have an early production Bren Ten Standard Model with 1 original magazine. I purchased it NIB and it had only been test fired. Here is a recap of my first range session. Fellow readers can get a more detailed review at Jon's web site.

The target was set out a 50' and the first round out the barrel hit the X ring. I have the target on the wall in my office. A friend was witnessed the event! I am by no means an expert pistol shot and I was shooting with a modified weaver stance. Great sights and trigger along with an ergonomic grip is my belief.

The load:

I have a light load that I shoot because a pistol is like any piece of machinery the harder you work it the faster it will break or wear out besides I am only punching holes in paper. The load is a 155 gr LSWC with 8.4 gr of HS-6 and CCI 300 primers. The cases are Winchester. COL is 1.260". The ballistics from the manual are 959 fps and 300 ft lbs. This is the load that I used in the first range session and subsequently there after.

Onto function:

I had read the manual before I fired the gun and found out that a "special" lube was applied at the factory. Well, if it was a lube at one time it was not any more. So I cleaned the entire pistol and applied Militech to all the wear surfaces. Then used Rem Oil everywhere else.

OK back to the range, I had 3 feed failures in 30 rounds fired. 3 x 1 10 round magazine. 2 were where the slide did not come all the way back so it did not pick up the next round and the last failure was where the round stripped out of the magazine but jammed at a step angle in the throat of the chamber. The situations where the slide did not come all the way back is due to the light load I am using. The other failure was due to the bullet shape - Truncated Cone? Don't know. 20 rounds of Federal HydraShok 180 gr Hollow Point at 1030 fps performed flawlessly. Here is a point of interest; my light load performed flawlessly in my Witness. I have not experienced the loose rear sight or any other mechanical problems with the Bren. 2 weeks ago I took the Witness and the Bren back to the range to try out a new load - I switch to a Round Nose LSWC to see if that would cure the jam in the Bren. It did - no feed problems at all. I bought 2 new magazines for the Witness and had trouble with them. These are Factory mags too. The 6 or 7th round would strip out of the magazine, get cocked to the left and jam against the side of the barrel breech face. Later I found a 0.020" - 0.030" difference in the gap across the magazine lips between the magazine supplied with the Witness and the 2 purchased separately. The 2 new ones where wider than the original. So I carefully tweaked them to match the mag supplied with the Witness. I have not check out the correction at the range yet. I'll let you know if it worked.

Guess I got a little long winded but I want to help out other 10mm shooters where possible.

Jon, What did you do to your Bren mags to get them to work?

Thanks

Jay

PS Fernando BRING THE BREN X BACK!

PPS How about a Bren Ten convention for Bren Owners? Get together and share information, spend some time at the range, etc.?