People associate the BREN TEN with bad guys, babes, and helicopters. To be sure, the pistol is effective on all three.

The original Dornaus & Dixon 10mm was not known for reliability, but it was touted as an extremely accurate pistol. The proprietary “Power Seal” rifling, and the overall design, which borrowed heavily from the Sig P210/ CZ-75 frame rail arrangement, both contributed to the gun’s reputation for accuracy.

On one occasion, I managed to experience both facets of the BREN’s mythos.

One winter afternoon, while exploring some rural property with the then-current girlfriend, I managed to take a bale of mistletoe from the top of an oak tree with one shot. As I recall, the BREN was loaded with Winchester Silvertips, which were considered full-power loads at the time.

The mistletoe came down, the girlfriend agreed to the requisite kiss, and the gun broke. The stout recoil apparently had rattled the magazine catch lock loose, and it shot out the side of the frame under spring pressure.

I went back to the property with a metal detector for the next three days, and proceeded to set up a fruitless grid search for that little bastard of an unattainable part. (D&D had been bankrupt for several years at that point.)

After several months, I eventually found a local machine shop that managed to make a crude facsimile of the original catch lock… But for a while there, all I had was a $1,500 paperweight…