Bren Ten
| Bren Ten | |
|---|---|
 The Bren Ten Special Forces Model (bottom), S&W Model 610 (top) | |
| Type | Semi-automatic pistol |
| Place of origin |  United States |
| Production history | |
| Designed | 1983 |
| Produced | 1983–1986 |
| No. built | 1,500 |
| Specifications | |
| Mass | 0.955 kg |
| Length | 222 mm |
| Barrel length | 132 mm |
| Cartridge | 10 mm Auto .45 ACP |
| Action | Double Action |
| Muzzle velocity | 1,150 ft/s |
| Effective firing range | 50 yd (46 m) |
| Feed system | Box magazine |
The Bren Ten was a semi-automatic pistol designed to advance the state of the art in sidearms, combining a new more powerful round with a weapon of greater strength and accuracy. The cartridge developed as the 10 mm Auto, while the gun was a larger and stronger version of the 9 mm CZ-75. The Bren Ten was produced only in small numbers before the company went bankrupt. A subsequent attempt to resurrect it by Perigrine Industries as the Falcon and the Phoenix were also unsuccessful as that company, too, succumbed to financial pressures and dropped production of the pistol.
The Ten remains a weapon of some controversy. Many enthusiasts consider it to be one of the best pistols of its era, and the 10 mm Auto is one of the most powerful semi-automatic pistol rounds available even to this day. Quality control, however, was poor; many of the guns were delivered with missing or inoperable magazines for instance. The magazines were very hard to come by and cost over $100 apiece. Norma Ammunition Company's 10 mm Auto ammo was made in large quantities in Sweden but there was no pistol to use it before Colt launched the Delta Elite, a 10mm version of the M1911 pistol in 1988.
History
In the 1970s the police and some military forces used a mix of semi-automatic designs and revolvers. Automatics offered high rates of fire and quick reloading, but generally used small rounds that would neither overstress the mechanism nor the shooter. Revolvers were generally more accurate due to the availability of longer barrels, and were offered in calibers with considerably more power than the automatics, but held only a small number of rounds and were fairly slow to reload. Neither could be considered ideal.
On December 15, 1979, Thomas Dornaus and Michael Dixon decided to start the development of a new semi-automatic pistol to address the gap between revolvers and automatics. What was needed, they believed, was a semiautomatic pistol with its greater ammunition capacity and faster reloads, but one that would also deliver power exceeding both the .45 ACP and the .357 Magnum. They hoped the new design would become as popular as the then-aged Colt 1911.
On January 15, 1980, they went seeking advice from the most knowledgeable sources available. This effort naturally led to Jeff Cooper. Upon seeking his advice, it was discovered that he had already been working on such a pistol. They joined forces, Cooper providing conceptual design criteria and technical advice, and Dornaus & Dixon providing the engineering, development, manufacturing, and marketing. The company was formally incorporated as Dornaus and Dixon Enterprises on July 15, 1981 in California, and a new factory was set up in Huntington Beach.
After some experimentation with wildcat loads like the .40 GA and "centimeter" cartridge, they worked with ammunition manufacturer Norma to standardize the cartridge and design the pistol to fire it. The pistol, meanwhile, was adapted from the CZ-75 but heavily modified, including a stainless steel frame, easily visible sights, and various other features that would normally only be found on heavily customized arms.
Production of the Bren Ten ran from 1983 to 1986, with a production run of fewer than 1,500 total pistols according to some sources. They had started taking orders in 1982, forcing them to ship out examples as soon as possible, before any sort of in-depth testing could be done. The first batch of pistols was sent out to the customers with one magazine from a preserial batch. The much needed magazines could not be available on the US market for two years because Italy prohibited their export and customs seized them as war material. Customers cancelled their orders and in 1986 Dornaus & Dixon was forced to file for bankruptcy.
In 1986 after Dornaus and Dixon Enterprises closed their doors, entrepreneur Richard Voit purchased the rights and other materials from the bankruptcy courts and established Peregrine Industries. In addition to this, Thomas Dornaus and Michael Dixon were hired to help redesign the Bren both to remedy some of the Bren Ten's flaws and "update" the design and features. Steve Blair had a minor participation in the redesign and Shanna Everaert-Robb was hired as office manager. Peter Agocs was hired as QA Manager and helped solve many of the quality problems that plagued the earlier weapons. The result was the Peregrine Falcon and Phoenix. Peregrine Industries, however, fell victim to the Savings and Loan scandals of the early 1990s and saw their loans dry up. Consequently, while many Falcon and Phoenix prototypes were produced, none ever hit the market.
February 1st, 2008, Vltor Weapon Systems of Tucson, AZ announced that they would be resurrecting the Bren Ten with the launch of their Fortis Pistol Project.[1] They have hinted that it will be a more modern version of the famous design.
Miami Vice and the Bren Ten
The Bren Ten is perhaps most notable for having been Sonny Crockett's pistol in the television series Miami Vice. He wore it in the first and second season of the show - except in the pilot episode, where he used a SIG-Sauer P220 - from 1984 to 86. The two Bren Tens used in the show were customized, applying chrome to the slide in order to make it more visible during night scenes. (Reportedly, the guns were altered to fire .45 ACP blanks, a modification that led to numerous malfunctions during filming.)
The highly popular show generated intense interest in the pistol, although the company was not able to deliver on this demand. Many Bren Ten owners became irate upon seeing that a Hollywood studio apparently had access to multiple Bren Ten magazines while their pistols had been delivered without them. When the company went bankrupt, the product placement position went up for grabs, being filled by the Smith & Wesson 645 and later the Smith & Wesson Model 4506.
External links
References
- ^ Vltor blog about the Fortis http://vltor.wordpress.com