Bren MkI: The Best Light Machine Gun of World War Two

What a genius design.

Thirty years is nothing. Compare the MG42 which has been around until approximately now.
Ma(d)sen 🇩🇰 rules.
Well I can't say anything but I'm kind of proud of the Madsen design and it's historical impact.
Never shot one. Never touched one. Never seen one😢

😳whut doesnt he know about which gun from whut country, at whut year, with how many mods, how many made, blah, yatta, et cetera. Make MY head hurt😢, bet he can quote any instruction manual verbatim😊

My grandfather used one in the Greek civil war. He was positioned behind some rocks when a burst of enemy fire came his way and all of a sudden his Bren gun stopped firing. He called to his assistant behind him for a loaded magazine thinking the one in the gun was empty.. his assistant was dead. My grandfather then found an enemy bullet lodged in his magazine. If the mag was an inch to the left or right, that would have been the end for my grandfather too. I owe my existence to this peculiar feature of the great Bren.

Now that Ian has lately reviewed the Nambu 99 I wonder if he stands by the 2021statement "the best LMG of the war"

Was the Vickers Berthiere and the Bren gun mags interchangeable???

Great video, I thought I would try to challenge my 93 year old dad (who had a mini stroke 5 weekks ago) as to the origin of the BREN gun. Almost 100% recall of what he learnt doing his UK national service in the early 1950s where he got to have a go with one!. I did score a point over the Enfield inch, something he hadn;t heard of
Also the fact that the BREN gun was in service into the 1990s says something about the design. A bit like the longevity of the B52

Such a beautiful gun

Best LMG of ww2 and that's not coz am British 😂😂😂

A trench LMG that was designed as LMG from get-go, unlike BAR which was supposed to be in the rifle category but got moved into LMG because "it kinda fits as LMG" 🗿🗿🗿

I can't help finding it a ugly lump of iron.

I'm not surprised this gun was not designed with lefties in mind because back then, left handedness was not well understood or tolerated. Until the late 20th century in America, teachers were expected to make lefties write using their right hand. Most European languages are written from left to right so this made sense to a lot of people.

Isn't the MG42 a light machine gun? If so, then the Bren is not the best of WWII.

Something I have wondered about is why didn't the United States copy or modify guns produced by Nazi Germany or the United Kingdom? Weren't some of the German automatic weapons better than the Thompsons and Reisings issued to U.S. troops?

I love the weird barrel on this thing. Very unique looking machine gun

In 1982,in Indian army I trained with Bren as an L.M.G.

"Madsen" is danish, and is pronounced "Massen." The d is silent.

No bayonet lug.
..............tut tut.

best light machine gun ever made

There is a lot of very complicated and hence expensive machining that went into this thing. I'm surprised expense was not given more weight in the selection process.

The BBC had series on Dunkirk. One of the scenes was of 3 Bren guns setup in the roof of a house in France. The sound of all three guns firing was incredible.

In the 70s, our regimental Shooting team (AR15s) went to a match and were asked if we would like to try some other arms. I didn't like the SLR & was scared stiff by the 1911. But ALL of us liked the Bren (L4 7.62 version) Nice to shoot and VERY accurate. Our team got 2nd place in the Bren event .. with a gun they had not seen 6 hrs. ago. Still can't figure out how an open bolt gun could be so accurate.

I trained both on the GPMG and the Bren. As an absolute chopper, of course, the GPMG gets the prize. As something you could love, something that was almost too accurate for an LMG, something you could carry anywhere that would never let you down- well the Bren.

I decided to re-watch this video, purely because it upsets all of the 13yr old American wehraboos. 😂😂😂

Keep it long lol

This is very karger wepon I operate It more time LMG .303

I was using the bren gun, in the 1980s whilst in the Australian Army

I was a driver in the Royal Corp of Transport and the Bren was my personal weapon. It was a curse to carry with a box of empty mags, God knows what it must be like to carry with loaded mags. To make matters worse I drove Stalwart amphibious trucks, the steering wheel was in the middle and we had to get in and out through the roof. Getting out of a stalwart if ambushed with the Bren and box of mags doesn’t bear thinking about.

Likely the best gun ever made next to the Enfield rife.

Nonsense
Couldn’t compare to the MG 42

Didnt the Indians thak the Berthiat

I used to own one just like this, my wife made me get rid of it...

Almost nominative determinism but my Dad was a Bren gunner in WW2 - family name? Brennan! 🙂

Looks kinda like a 240 on the barrel area.

YOU TALK TOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO MUCH RANTING:==== SO: WHAT IS THE NEW VERSION THESE DAYS OF THE : BREN?

The Bren is not forgotten here in the UK

The bren guns were converted to become what was called light machine guns. They had 7.62 conversions from the 303 rounds. The big big problem with the bren gun was that they were too accurate. The GPMG and all the other belt fed weapons spread the rounds so you could supress and spread rounds at an attacking force. Because the LMG//Bren was so accurate rounds did not spread, It was accurate as the lee enfield 303 bolt action rifle

My dad was a bren gunner in the blackwatch he loved the Bren he served in Palestine Crete North Africa and Burma. I also trained with the Bren back in the late 1970s . He gave me lots of tips on firing and servicing the weapon. I enjoyed my time with it .

I trained on that at school, NZ 1963, (BARREL OVERHEATS, CHANGE BARREL) barked the RSM

They were a good weapon. We had them in cadets.

Best gun ever U could use it rapid or single shot like a rifle my father used these in national service days with the Owen gun & Lee Enfield 303 rifle ! Wish my ex was in front of it ??? Lol

I fired at Bren years ago while in Army Cadets at high school. Great firearm. I saw a You Tube video testing the Bren against the BAR. The Bren won "hands down." And the test was done by an American firearms expert.

I was using this Nato version of the Bren gun in Australian Army Reserve in 1990. Still being used after almost 60 years!

In 1989, I heard this touted as the smoothest n best of WWII by a Brit cinematographer. As a totally Brit invention ,Of Course.
Always found them unteresting since.

Where can I buy it?

My Mother built Bren guns at the Inglis plant in Toronto as her part of the war effort.

Realmente las miras están sobre el lado izquierdo?