A great day at the range with the Bren Ten and Auto Mag

Now that's a sentence I never thought I'd be writing! But, after having the good luck to pick up a rare Bren Ten a couple of years ago and the Auto Mag earlier this year (even rarer around here...there were only ever 30 brought into Canada) I thought I'd make a "rare and iconic yet also troubled" range trip today.

I haven't had the Bren out in more than a year and I'd forgotten how enjoyable it is to shoot—it fits great in the hand, has excellent sights and trigger, too. It's really one of my favourite pistols—I just wish it didn't have the reputation of possibly being susceptible to damage, or I'd shoot it more often.

This was only my second time out with the Auto Mag—the first time was for some load testing, so this was more about having fun with my preferred load (21.6 gr of H110). Even with a 240 gr bullet going at about 1250 fps it's quite controllable (although it took a few rounds after shooting the smooth-recoiling Bren to adjust!).

brutus51 said:

Thought guns like those were illegal in Canada.

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Not yet, at least. Unfortunately, our current government does have plans to ban the AR15 and a few other rifles, but handguns, for now at least, are safe.

Gary W. Strange said:

I would love to have a Bren Ten. When they came out, a local gun shop had one. I handled it and looked it over. It was amazing. At the time, I was a young married man, with young babies at home. There was no way I could afford it. I do wish some of the firearms manufacturers would bring out a reproduction now. I bet they could sell them by the truckloads. You are lucky to own guns such as this.

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Yes, I am indeed fortunate. Considering how rare these are in Canada I can’t quite believe I’ve been able to find both.