Czech It Out

The new CZ BREN 2 Ms handgun is the end result of decades of intense firearms evolution. Sporting two different chamberings and a variety of barrel lengths, the BREN 2 Ms is modular, lightweight and versatile. This same adaptable chassis can be configured as a full-sized home defense tool, a concealable truck gun, or a Saturday afternoon plinker. The weapon’s rugged origins, however, yield insight into why the particulars are so nicely executed.

A Complicated Past

Today’s BREN 2 Ms actually spawned from the Cold War. The former Czechoslovakia suffered mightily from an unfortunate geographical curse. First ravaged by the Nazis and then ignominiously absorbed into the Warsaw Pact, the Czechs endured decades of political oppression. Throughout it all they stubbornly retained their individuality.

The Czechs have a long and enviable history of gun design. CZ is short for Ceska zbrojovka a.s. I’m told this loosely translates to “Czech Arms Factory.” Seems short a few vowels, but who am I to judge?

CZ began in Brno, Czechoslovakia, in 1918 and has since grown to become one of the top 10 firearms manufacturers in the world. After World War II CZ developed the vz.52 rifle and the radical 7.62x45mm cartridge it fired. The vz.52 was a world-changing weapon that got swallowed up in international geopolitics.

The vz.52

The 7.62x45mm vz.52 melded a trigger group inspired by the M1 Garand with the annular gas system of the German Mkb 42 (W) and wrapped it around a tilting bolt similar to the Swedish AG42. The end result was a rugged and effective infantry rifle competing directly with the less-powerful Soviet SKS.

The Russian bear pressed ever harder and the Czechs were forced to rechamber their vz.52’s for the Combloc standard 7.62x39mm. Versions in both calibers were widely exported and turned up in war zones around the globe. While the 7.62x45mm was and is a radically effective Infantry combat round, its unconventional parentage meant ammo was always scarce. Many of the non-import marked vz.52 rifles available on the American collector’s market were actually vet bringback guns from Operation Urgent Fury, the 1983 invasion of Grenada.

The vz.58

Czechoslovakia holds the distinction of the being the only Warsaw Pact nation to successfully avoid adopting a variation of the Kalashnikov rifle. Their vz.58 fired the Combloc standard 7.62x39mm round from a 30-round curved box magazine, but this is where the similarities between the vz.58 and the AK end. Magazines are not interchangeable between the two guns and the weapon’s mechanics are wholly original.

The vz.58 employs a tilting lock action not philosophically unlike the Walther P.38 pistol. The gun is also striker-fired, eschewing a more conventional hammer system. The end result is a rugged and reliable rifle weighing nearly a pound less than a comparable AKM. The receiver of the vz.58 is milled from forged steel, and stocks can be exchanged between fixed and folding versions with nothing more than a beefy screwdriver.

The vz.58 soldiered on from 1958 until the fall of the Iron Curtain. After the Warsaw Pact imploded Czechoslovakia peacefully split into the Czech Republic and Slovakia during the Velvet Revolution. This remarkable six-week transition is also called the Gentle Revolution. This event ultimately led to the ejection of more than 73,000 Soviet troops. By 1993 the Czech Republic stood on its own.

The Czech Republic in short order aligned itself with NATO, achieving full membership in 1999. As a result, the Czechs began looking for a new Infantry rifle that would run the NATO-standard 5.56x45mm round. In 2006 this was the CZ 805 BREN.

What's in a name?

The name BREN embodies powerful firearm juju. The BREN gun was a superlative British light machinegun adopted by the UK in the 1930s. A license-built version of the Czech ZB vz.26 designed by Vaclev Holek, the BREN soldiered on through the Falklands conflict and was not retired until 1992.

The name BREN is a portmanteau formed from Brno and Enfield, the location of the Royal Small Arms Factory. The BREN feeds from a characteristic curved top-mounted magazine and runs at about 500 rpm. No less a firearms luminary than Peter G. Kokalis felt the BREN was the finest LMG ever made.

Modern BRENs

Fast forward to today. The military 805 BREN is a thoroughly modern gas-operated selective-fire self-loading rifle running via a short-stroke gas piston system. Initially produced in 2006 around a common aluminum receiver, the 805 BREN could be configured to fire either 5.56x45mm or 7.62x39mm rounds. Given the Czech Republic’s unfortunate location right between the world’s two major superpowers, this seems an eminently sensible feature.

The 805 BREN features an extendable, side-folding buttstock and three different barrel lengths. The fire control unit offers safe, semi, two-round burst and full-auto options. A manual gas regulator allows the gas system to be optimized for battlefield conditions, and there is a top rail for mounting optics. The charging handle reciprocates with the action, and the gun can be fitted with an underbarrel 40mm grenade launcher. The 5.56mm version uses STANAG 30-round magazines.

The CZ BREN 2 is a product-improved version of the previous 805 BREN introduced in 2016. This new and enhanced military rifle now sports a non-reciprocating charging handle that can double as a forward assist as well as a conventional three-position fire control unit. The two-round burst feature was eliminated.

Coming up short?

This is the best time in all of American history to be a gun nerd. Thanks to some poorly veiled legislative threats fomented by the previous Presidential administration, the gun industry remains vibrant and well funded today. As a result, the inexorable engine that is capitalism peppers the marketplace with exciting, cool and oily stuff. The end result is the BREN 2 Ms, a semi-automatic pistol version of the Czech BREN 2 rifle. The BREN 2 Ms is radical, fresh and different.

When initially you heft the BREN 2 Ms your first impression is of its modest weight. The gun orbits around an aircraft aluminum receiver and carbon fiber-reinforced fire control unit. This conspires to make the gun dreamy to tote. Barrels are easy to exchange, and there is the expected bevy of M-LOK slots as well as a full-length optics rail up top.

The gun’s controls are clearly designed by folks who shoot for a living. The bilateral safety lever rotates through about 30 degrees and is easily accessible. The magazine release is mirrored on both sides of the gun. The bolt catch is on the left in the expected spot, but there is also a second catch located along the midline inside the front of the trigger guard. This makes running the gun equally pleasant regardless of your particular handedness.

From muzzle to butt, the flash suppressor is a rugged, open-tipped spiral affair that just looks cool. Unlike many adjustable gas guns, the gas regulator on the BREN 2 Ms is large enough to be readily manipulated using nothing more than a standard set of fingers. The gun comes with a superb set of steel backup iron sights that fold down to stow.

There are M-LOK slots on the sides and bottom, though they are a bit short. The front part of the receiver is plenty comfortable as is, and the sides will readily accommodate enough railed real estate for lights and lasers. The aforementioned charging handle is easy to run with the weak hand. The gun is festooned with sling attachment points.

The rear portion of the receiver is capped with a brace/stock mount for any standard M4 accessories. There is a handy warning tag zip-tied to the gun reminding you braces are OK but buttstocks are not in the absence of NFA SBR registration. It is nice having the gun ready to plug-and-play right out of the box.

Disassembly is easy without tools and the piston-driven gas system keeps the gun both tidy and cool. The charging handle is readily reversible without tools. The workmanship and execution of all the components are in keeping with any truly high-end name-brand manufacturer. My copy, a 5.56mm version with an 11″ barrel, is literally without flaw.

Accessorizing

The BREN 2 Ms is fun to run just as it comes. The gun is compact, controllable and neat. However, to really wring out such a rarefied piece of iron requires a little accessorizing.

An SB Tactical SBA3 set me back $130 with free shipping from Optics Planet. The Pistol Stabilizing Brace (PSB) is the coolest invention since man discovered fire. No gun-related gadget since the Crimean War has so revolutionized the American shooting scene.

A firearm of this pedigree needs something properly sparkly up top. In this case it is the SIG SAUER Romeo8H. The Romeo8H offers four different integrated reticle options and 100,000-hour operation on a single CR123A side-loading battery. MOTAC (Motion-Activated) Illumination powers the unit up or down based upon its movement so as not to waste juice. The aircraft aluminum housing is indestructible, and the mount is tougher than Chuck Norris’ beard.

The controls on the Romeo8H are designed for real humans, and the particulars are top-flight throughout. The sight comes with a NASA-grade mounting wrench and features perfect optical quality. If there’s anything else you could want in an electro-optical sight I have yet to find it.

Mounting up a Streamlight TLR-8G combination light and laser offers brilliant 500-lumen white light illumination along with the most powerful green visible laser available on the civilian market. Green and red lasers put out the same amount of power, but the human eye perceives the green sort much more brightly. The TLR-8G offers stupid-long run times on a single CR123A battery and is not much bigger than my thumb. The controls are intuitive and readily accessible, and the light is as tough as the host gun. The TLR-8G is also cheaper than its competition.

If you really want to eat at the cool kids’ table you need a sound suppressor hanging off the snout of your favorite utility gun. These delightful accessories make you a more neighborly shooter and look just slicker than snot. The downside is the $200 transfer tax is not exactly chicken feed and the wait for the paperwork to process would strain the prophet Job’s imperturbability. The answer to all this is the Silent Legion Complete Multi-Caliber Kit.

The Silent Legion Complete Multi-Caliber Kit consists of a single rugged sound suppressor, supporting disassembly equipment and four different mounts. By mixing and matching mounts this state of the art indestructible can will run on everything from short-barreled fire-breathing 5.56mm pistols up to .300 Win Mag monsters along with everything in between. One transfer tax and one interminable wait let you suppress an entire spectrum of guns. It also works as well as or better than any other rifle can I have thus far encountered.

Ruminations

The final product exudes tactical synergy. The gun is small enough to run in tight spaces yet sufficiently stable as to offer precision fires out to a couple hundred meters or more. The trigger has some scant predictable take-up, an exceptionally crisp break, and a much more professional personality than your typical rack-grade AR. The tricked-out BREN 2 Ms is equally at home both daylight and dark. Recoil is a joke, and the optimized controls make the gun shockingly fast.

Everybody and their aunt keep an AR-15 in the gun safe. If you really want to stand out from the crowd, CZ has your iron. Svelte, accurate, hardcore and cool, the BREN 2 Ms lives up to its remarkable lineage.

For more info:

CZ-USA, www.cz-usa.com

SIG SAUER, www.sigsauer.com, (603) 610-3000

Streamlight, www.streamlight.com, (800) 523-7488

Silent Legion, www.silentlegion.com, (336) 202-9013