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Original finish on Bren Gun


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Brit MKIs and MKI*s were black enamel painted, a common finish on the island environment of GB. The later Brit marks were phosphated or parkerized or a similar finish. Not sure although from the guns I have seen and handled, the Aussie were phosphate finished and the Canadian Brens finished with a black oxide type finish. This is what I have deduced from owning a number of different makes and models of Brens over the years and still have four.
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MKI guns all started phosphated with some small parts blued, then many got painted black. You can still find early matching guns and parts/ parts kits with phosphate only and no black paint, but it seems most things ended up painted at some point. I have no idea if the paint was "factory" applied during initial production or based on where the guns were going, or if it was done at a later date and other location? HTH

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All early Commonwealth Brens Mk1s started life with a Browned finish as detailed in the DDE drawings. Then later, certain parts were allowed to be painted with Suncorite if the surface finish was missing. Enfield appeared to stick to the Browning process throughout production of the Mk1 but switched to a Phos finish and Sunc top coat for the Mk3. Lithgow created a Phosphate plant quite early on, I have a number of original Mk1 Lithgow's but the latest with the brown finish is A2xxx and the earliest original (Non FTRd) gun with Phos finish is 7xxx. Inglis appear to have switched sometime in the 0T serial range and its difficult to pin a range down due to the hard life a lot of Inglis guns received. I have a lovely early Inglis Mk1 No. M94 which has had a relatively easy life and still has its early BSA butt. Finish is about 50 to 60% and is one of the finest specimens I own. The only Brens that have a better finish in my opinion are the CZ produced guns.
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Mine looks similar to MG08's, but somewhat darker... I think. My barrel latch looks dark blue as do some other parts and they are matching numbers. It looks like phosphate at first glance, but I gather M3Bobby's description is correct and it's just faded out dramatically? Not sure I am going the vinegar route I see talked about to darken it back up? Good info, good question.

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