Otter LRC CM4647296 comes home

[Jordan Baker]

Pretty happy with how this small handle for the seats is coming along. The original was cast. The one I’m making was cut out from a piece of flat steel bar. Just have to do the mounting hole.

[Jordan Baker]

Got around to removing the smoke round rack. It was held on by two bolts that did not want to come out. I ended up drilling the heads out. This part is in pretty good shape and will clean up nicely. The awesome surprise when I lifted the one end up…..some 303 casings.

[Jordan Baker]

In total I found 7. Four of them are 1943, one is 1942 and the last two are 1950. I was hopeful they might have been fired during the war. But the two 1950’s dated ones have the same strike pattern as the others suggesting all were fired by the same Bren. Regardless it is still a great discovery.

[Jordan Baker]

I hope this post is riveting….. The hood latches were all cast parts with the pivot base riveted to the side hood panels. What was supposed to be a simple job turned into a two days and still not done job. All went well then I ran short on the rivets. Finally after hours of searching for 7/32 dia ones, found a supply of them at PeavyMart. Had to call three stores before staff could confirm they actually had a box. Drove to Brantford to pick them up and had a nice family outing. Tonight, I managed to get 4 of the 6 in before running out of acetylene for the torch. Tomorrow will be day 3 of a 1 day job… as for the actual riveting. I setup using the shop press to hold everything in nice and tight. Then the torch to heat up the long end of the rivet until it’s almost melting. A ball peen hammer finished off peening the rivets down.

[John Carmichael]

Looking at the .303 casings and the shape and positioning of the primer strikes I would suggest that three different Bren Guns were involved.
The 1942 case has a central strike, smaller than the others.
The 1943 cases have a strike near to the edge of the primer pocket.
The 1950 cases have a slightly different strike position just off centre.
The maker's head stamps are different for each of the years so I'm convinced there were three different Brens.
It is very likely that the 1942 and the 1943 cases were fired during the war years.

[John Carmichael]

The 1942 case looks to possibly be a British Kynock case. The 1943 cases I think may be Canadian Tracer rounds (D1 Z )and the 1950 cases are Belgian FN (Fabrique National) rounds.
Also the ejector marks are different for each of the years.

[Jordan Baker]

Hi John.

Thanks for the information. I agree on the different strike marks on the casings. If only they could talk.


Taking advantage of the decent weather yesterday I brought out the big paint sprayer and got a number of the larger parts painted. Outer radiator shroud, side engine covers and some floor plates all painted up. The floor plates will be two colours. The bottom side is green but the top side is white. When these were first painted it was quite clear the steel plates were assembled unprimed and then sprayed white or green. For the short time these vehicles were expected to be in service this wasn’t a problem. But 80 plus years in it lead to some rusting.