Recently, some duck hunters made quite a discovery in the Chesapeake Bay. While retrieving their duck decoys, they found a World War II-era Bren gun had become entangled in the decoy lines. It’s quite rare to see Bren guns coming up for air, especially in American waters. Even though it’s not unheard of to find guns or gun related items in the wild, I find it fascinating that in all that open space, a Bren gun happened to get snagged on a duck decoy line.

The barrel assembly seems to be quite well preserved, at least on the outside, while the receiver seems to have been corroded the most and has a “lived in” look to it. Surprisingly, the wooden carry handle seems to have fared well enough, though. I’m not an expert in wood rot (fortunately), but I would take a guess that this gun has been in the drink for a few decades or less. To be more specific, the Hughes Amendment of 1986 could have been the deciding factor as to why it was dumped at all. The butt and lower assembly are missing completely, which could show that whoever set it to sea didn’t want to be caught with a fully functioning machine gun, but that’s purely speculation on my part.

Photo of recovered Bren gun during a recent duck hunt.

For comparison, Wikipedia’s pic from the Library and Archives, Canada. What a Bren gun typically looks like prior to a tragic boating accident.

You can see TFB TV’s Miles V. shooting the Czech ZB30 below, which was the inspiration for the British Bren gun and I never turn down a chance to see one in action.

Have you ever found a lost firearm in the wild before? How long would you guess the sunken Bren gun was submerged?