Bren Ten: The Most Tactical Pistol!
Forgotten Weapons
•
13m
The Bren Ten is an interesting story of handgun development and business failure. The gun was first developed by Dornaus & Dixon, with the consulting help of the iconic Col. Jeff Cooper. It was intended to be a handgun to improve upon the venerable 1911 in every way.
To satisfy the adherents to the theory of large-caliber handgun cartridges, the gun was designed around a new 10mm cartridge designed by Norma. This cartridge would propel a 200 grain bullet at 1200 fps from a 5 inch barrel, making it the most powerful service handgun cartridge in production. It would use a 10-round magazine, and also be convertible to .45ACP.
The gun itself was based on the excellent Czech CZ-75 (made at Brno, which is where the "Bren" portion of the pistol's name came from). It had full length slide rails, a DA/SA trigger that could be carried cocked and locked, and nice big sights.
Unfortunately, a combination of production quality problems, inadequate magazine design, preorders, and other issues led to the company quickly falling into tough financial straights. The guns were only manufactured for about 2 years before bankruptcy ended production. Some had been shipped without magazines, and Bren Ten magazines remain a sought-after commodity today.
Up Next in Forgotten Weapons
-
Most Unusual Over/Under Shotgun I've ...
I really don't have much I can say about this one - beyond it being made in Paris by Lefaucheux, I don't know anything about it's history or development. I do know that I have never seen another shotgun with this type of action, though...
-
Adler Semiauto Pistol
The Adler is a unique little pocket pistol built in pre-WWI Germany.Not much is known about it, as only about a hundred were manufactured and they failed to be a commercial success. The design is a simple blowback one, using a proprietary 7.25mm cartridge. However, the disassembly method is prett...
-
Wesson & Leavitt Revolving Rifle
The Wesson & Leavitt is one of the scarcest revolving rifles made in the US, with no more than 50 made (some sources say only 16). The reason for this is that the Dragoon revolver which Wesson & Leavitt based the rifle on was found to be in violation of several Colt patents. Most importantly, whe...
