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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 9x19mm Parabellum CZ-75. The Bren Ten was produced only in small numbers before the company went bankrupt. A subsequent attempt to resurrect it by Peregrine 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 Colt Delta Elite, a 10 mm 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 & Dixon Enterprises Inc. 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 sourcesdate=March 2009. 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 Inc. was forced to file for bankruptcy.

Design details

Basically the Bren Ten models are clones of the famous CZ-75 pistol design.

The Bren Ten was offered in several variants in full sized and compact pistol frame sizes, made out of stainless steel. The slides where made out of carbon steel and had a blued or hard chromed finish. A .45 ACP conversion kit and an ambidextrous competition thumb safety was available for all Bren Ten variants. A .22 Long Rifle conversion kit was also offered for the full size variants. All full sized models contain a dual screw driver set that fits all screws used in the pistol as an emergency tool for performing field repairs.

The Bren Ten is a short recoil operated, locked breech semi-automatic pistol that uses a Browning Hi-Power style link less system. The pistol has the capability of being fired single and double action and feature an ambidextrous frame-mounted combat ''switch'' style manual safety that locks the sear so the trigger cannot be moved rearward as well as an internal firing pin block safety which stops the firing pin from traveling forward. The manual safety allows the pistol to be carried with the hammer back, ready for use just by switching the safety off, a configuration known as ''condition one''. It is unusual for pistols to have a manual safety, most of them having a safety-decocker combination. Unlike most other semi-automatic pistols, the slide rides inside the frame rails rather than outside similar to the SIG P210. This provides a very tight slide-to-frame fit, very good barrel lock-up and contributes to good accuracy. The Bren Ten has adjustable iron sights with three dots for increased visibility. The Bren Ten standard grips are made of black textured nylon and made by Hogue.

Magazines

The capacity of the detachable box magazines of the Bren Ten pistols varies from chambering to chambering and the exact Bren Ten variant. Technically the length of the magazine well in the handgrip dictates the shortest possible magazine length and accompanying minimum ammunition capacity. The maximum capacity of handgun magazines can however also be restricted by law in some jurisdictions.

The manufacturer offered the following default factory magazine capacities:

The magazines of all full size Bren Tens handle both 10 mm Auto cartridges and .45 ACP cartridges.

Variants

Standard Models

The Bren Ten Standard Model is the basis for the entire line of Bren Ten pistols. Basically, the only differences between the Standard Model and the rest of the Bren Ten line deal with finish, barrel length and chambering. In the case of the Dual-Master and Initial Issue/Jeff Cooper Commemorative other extras include special engraving, a special wooden case and, for the Dual-Master, an extra slide and barrel. Basically, these guns were Standard Models with added window dressing. The Bren Ten Standard Models could combine a stainless steel frame and a blued carbon steel slide, though some collectors/owners opted for aftermarket hard chroming factory blued slides to make the pistols look like the Miami Vice Bren Tens.

The full size models were made in the following variations:

Compact Models

The Bren Ten Special Forces Models are basically short barreled versions of the full sized Bren Ten. The Special Forces Bren Ten Model was offered in two variants; L (Light) with a hard chromed slide and D (Dark) with a blued slide, both where introduced at the 1984 SHOT Show.

Pocket Model

The Bren Ten Pocket Model is a true subcompact short barreled Bren Ten variant with a special compact frame that deviates from the Standard and Compact models. Further it retained all the features of the Bren Ten Standard Model. Reportedly only two pistols where made.

Bren Ten resurrection attempts

In 1986 after Dornaus & Dixon Enterprises Inc. 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 Ten 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 1990-ties and saw their loans dry up. Consequently, while many Falcon and Phoenix prototypes were produced, none ever hit the market.

February 1, 2008, Vltor Weapon Systems of Tucson, AZ announced that they would be resurrecting the Bren Ten with the launch of their Fortis pistol project. They have hinted that it will be a more modern version of the famous design.

Bren Ten/CZ-75 inspired semi-automatic pistols

Some firearms enthusiasts consider the Tanfoglio T95 Combat/Standard pistol and Tanfoglio TZ-75 Force (the polymer frame version of the T95 Combat/Standard) chambered in 10 mm Auto the ''natural'' heirs of the Bren Ten pistol. These handguns are all based on a beefed up CZ-75 platform and are close in appearance and size.

Trivia

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.