The BREN gun was chosen in 1938 by a War Office Committee as the successor to the Lewis gun. One of the designs put forward to the committee was the Czech zb/26, a gas operated, magazine fed, air cooled LMG. The Czech town of Bruno, home of the zb/26 lent its name to the BREN (Bruno Enfield). It seemed ideal for use by the British Army and so was accepted. The only modification required was the re barrelling and the curved magazine required to allow it to fire the rimmed 0.303 SAA ball round rather than the 7.92mm Mauser. Some have even said that the hardest adaptation required for the BREN to go into service was the conversion of the plans from metric to imperial.

The soldiers of the British Army found the BREN to be a reasonably light, reliable and accurate weapon that was easy to maintain and had a good rate of fire. The only real problem was the magazine. The zb/26 had been designed to take the rimless 7.92 mauser round, when the 0.303 round was used, the magazine had to be loaded with the rims one in front of the other to prevent stoppages. The problem with this was if the Magazine was loaded in a hurry a round might be loaded incorrectly resulting in a stoppage. On the other hand, fixing a stoppage on the BREN was relatively simple:

1. Remove Magazine
2. Smack the magazine on a solid surface, HARD!!!
The BREN saw service in the British Army in 5 varieties:

MK1 and MK1*M, a Canadian version, the only difference between this and the MK1 was the butt shape (both of these weapons were in service by 1939)

MK2 which was used from 1943 onwards

MK3, a lightened version for use by airborne troops, used from 1944

MK4 used from very late 1944 and after the war it was re named the LMG and was still in service in the 1970's

The US Grease gun is what the yanks made after we let them have a gander at the Sten. In my opinion its a horrible weapon. Why use one when you make Tommy guns?

As for heavy machine guns, I think the prize must go to the Lewis gun. That thing could fire continuosly for 72 hours and far better than the Maxims it was based on and facing.

I also didn't know that the mags came in 20, 30 and 50 rounds. The 50 being the 'round type', which was actually used during the war, although you don't see them in the war movies, or in WWII footage, either.

T
I would not rate the Mg42 as the best there is/was.