This is the story of a company, a new pistol and a new cartridge.....
It started with a dream, the dream of building the best pistol possible, one that could take away that title from the venerable M1911.
In December of 1979 Thomas F. Dornaus and Michael W. Dixon formed Dornaus & Dixon Enterprises.
On July 15th, 1981 Dornaus & Dixon Enterprises became a legal entity.
They found a suitable manufacturing facility (if a bit on the small side) in Hunting Beach, California. Located about a block from Marina Park at 15896 Manufacturing Lane. and on November 1st, 1982 the new facility was dedicated.
The guns were emblazoned with Jeff Cooper's trademark, the Gunsite Raven
After a good showing at the 1983 SHOT Show, finished pistols began shipping later that year.
An attempt to resurrect the pistol came from an investor named Richard Voit (of Voit Sporting goods) who renamed the company "Peregrine" and the pistol models "Falcon" and "Phoenix". This attempt was futile and Peregrine was soon also seeking bankruptcy protection.
After production had ended the Bren Ten and the 10mm Auto got a boost from a very popular TV show.
For the first two seasons of Miami Vice, Sonny Crockett (played by Don Johnson) carried a Bren Ten pistol. What resulted was a huge increase in demand for the pistols, which also lead to a huge increase in their value.
For a while it appeared VLTOR Weapon Systems would bring the Bren Ten back, but that has yet to happen.
The building once occupied by Dornaus & Dixon as well as Peregrine is still there.
After the page was turned on the Bren Ten, the 10mm Auto's story continued.
1979 Dornaus & Dixon start development of the pistol and 10mm Auto cartridge
1981 Dornaus & Dixon Enterprises becomes a legal entity
1982 The D&D production facility is dedicated
1983 Finished Bren Ten pistols begin shipping to customers
1986 Dornaus & Dixon close their doors
1986 Peregrine Industries formed to save the Bren Ten (now called the Falcon)
1987 Colt introduces the Delta Elite 1911 in 10mm Auto
1990 S&W introduces several 1000 series pistols in 10mm
1990 FBI adopts the S&W model 1076 in 10mm
1990 The FBI experiments with a "10mm Lite" cartridge, which becomes the .40 S&W
1990 S&W introduced the model 610 revolver in 10mm
1990 Virginia State Police adopt the S&W model 1026 in 10mm
1991 Glock introduces their full size model 20 in 10mm
1992 S&W discontinues the model 610 revolver
1994 Virginia State Police trade in their S&W 10mm pistols for Sig P228 pistols in 9mm
1995 S&W discontinues the 1000 series pistols in 10mm
1998 Due to increased popularity of the 10mm, S&W reintroduced the model 610 revolver
2012 Para USA announced a long-slide double stack 10mm 1911 pistol
2014 VLTOR Weapons Systems announces their intent to bring back the Bren Ten to production
2015 Sig introduces their first 10mm, in the model P220
2015 Glock introduces the long-slide model 40 in 10mm
2015 Dan Wesson introduces their "Razorback" 1911 in 10mm
2016 Rock Island Armory introduces two 1911 pistols in 10mm
2017 Ruger introduces a 10mm version of their SR1911 pistol
2017 Kimber introduces the Super Jagare 1911 pistol
2018 Hi-Point introduced their model 1095TS Carbine
2018 Lone Wolf introduced their "Alpha Wolf" carbine in 10mm
Virtually every ammunition maker produces a 10mm Auto option.
The cartridge is perhaps more popular today than it ever has been and appears it will be sticking around for awhile.
References
Guns and Ammo
Wikipedia
BrenTen.com
Gun Digest
Guns.com
In December of 1979 Thomas F. Dornaus and Michael W. Dixon formed Dornaus & Dixon Enterprises.
They sought advice from many experts, probably the most notable was Jeff Cooper.
John Dean "Jeff" Cooper was a retired Marine Colonel, college professor, author, hunter and gun writer. He was also perhaps the biggest advocate of the 1911 pistol and .45 ACP cartridge, which makes his contribution a bit of an enigma.
Dornaus and Dixon met with Cooper and found he had already been planning a pistol to replace the 1911.
Dornaus and Dixon met with Cooper and found he had already been planning a pistol to replace the 1911.
In Cooper's mind in order for a new pistol to be better than the 1911, they needed a new, more powerful cartridge.
Cooper figured the ideal cartridge would have a bullet weighing 200 grains, have a truncated cone and be able to deliver the bullet at velocities meeting or exceeding 1000 fps at 50 meters.
This cartridge would exceed the .357 Magnum and the .45 ACP in stopping power. Cooper wanted it to be 1/2 way in diameter between the 9mm (.355") and the .45 ACP, which would make it a .400" caliber. Cooper called the concept cartridge the ".40 Special" (I have also seen reference to him calling it the ".40 Super"). It was basically a .41 Magnum in an automatic, rimless case.
The D&D team asked Swedish ammunition maker Norma to finish development and produce the round.
What they came up with was a .400" diameter bullet in a case that was 10mm by 25 mm (10.17 actually). The original cases were made by trimming a .30 Remington case to 25.2mm tall and resizing to fit the .400" diameter bullet. The factory cartridges actually exceeded the power and specifications laid out by Cooper.
Now that they had a cartridge to work from they needed to design a pistol around it. The team chose to design their new pistol around the CZ-75 which in turn was a modified version of John Browning's other pistol design: the Browning High Power.
The design team up-sized the CZ design to handle both the size and power of the new cartridge. With Cooper's blessing it was time to start production.
They chose the name "BREN" as it was previously used on a light machine gun that was developed by CZ in BRNO (Czechoslovakia at the time) and was built in Enfield (England). BR from BRNO and EN from Enfield made BREN.
Cooper figured the ideal cartridge would have a bullet weighing 200 grains, have a truncated cone and be able to deliver the bullet at velocities meeting or exceeding 1000 fps at 50 meters.
This cartridge would exceed the .357 Magnum and the .45 ACP in stopping power. Cooper wanted it to be 1/2 way in diameter between the 9mm (.355") and the .45 ACP, which would make it a .400" caliber. Cooper called the concept cartridge the ".40 Special" (I have also seen reference to him calling it the ".40 Super"). It was basically a .41 Magnum in an automatic, rimless case.
The D&D team asked Swedish ammunition maker Norma to finish development and produce the round.
What they came up with was a .400" diameter bullet in a case that was 10mm by 25 mm (10.17 actually). The original cases were made by trimming a .30 Remington case to 25.2mm tall and resizing to fit the .400" diameter bullet. The factory cartridges actually exceeded the power and specifications laid out by Cooper.
Now that they had a cartridge to work from they needed to design a pistol around it. The team chose to design their new pistol around the CZ-75 which in turn was a modified version of John Browning's other pistol design: the Browning High Power.
The design team up-sized the CZ design to handle both the size and power of the new cartridge. With Cooper's blessing it was time to start production.
They chose the name "BREN" as it was previously used on a light machine gun that was developed by CZ in BRNO (Czechoslovakia at the time) and was built in Enfield (England). BR from BRNO and EN from Enfield made BREN.
We should back up a minute and tell you that what the D&D/Cooper team were attempting had already been tried,..... well sort of.
Back in the later 40's and early 50's North American Arms Corp. (the Canadian gun maker) made a pistol called the Brigadier, it was a upsized version of the Browning Hi-Power using a proprietary cartridge.
To make the new cartridge they stretched the .45 ACP case from .898" to 1.198" allowing for more powder and used the standard 230 grain round nose bullet. The velocities were in the 1,600 fps range. Winchester made an updated version of the cartridge called the .45 Winchester Magnum.
Only one prototype of the Brigadier was built, but the ground work was laid....
On July 15th, 1981 Dornaus & Dixon Enterprises became a legal entity.
They found a suitable manufacturing facility (if a bit on the small side) in Hunting Beach, California. Located about a block from Marina Park at 15896 Manufacturing Lane. and on November 1st, 1982 the new facility was dedicated.
The guns were emblazoned with Jeff Cooper's trademark, the Gunsite Raven
After a good showing at the 1983 SHOT Show, finished pistols began shipping later that year.
From the beginning there were problems, orders were slow to come in and many gun writers didn't pay attention or were silent about the pistols shortcomings, perhaps in professional courtesy to fellow gun writer Jeff Cooper.
There was also the infamous shortage of magazines, which didn't help matters, believe it or not, they actually shipped some pistols without magazines.....
By 1986 the company was closing its doors.
By 1986 the company was closing its doors.
An attempt to resurrect the pistol came from an investor named Richard Voit (of Voit Sporting goods) who renamed the company "Peregrine" and the pistol models "Falcon" and "Phoenix". This attempt was futile and Peregrine was soon also seeking bankruptcy protection.
After production had ended the Bren Ten and the 10mm Auto got a boost from a very popular TV show.
For the first two seasons of Miami Vice, Sonny Crockett (played by Don Johnson) carried a Bren Ten pistol. What resulted was a huge increase in demand for the pistols, which also lead to a huge increase in their value.
For a while it appeared VLTOR Weapon Systems would bring the Bren Ten back, but that has yet to happen.
The building once occupied by Dornaus & Dixon as well as Peregrine is still there.
After the page was turned on the Bren Ten, the 10mm Auto's story continued.
1979 Dornaus & Dixon start development of the pistol and 10mm Auto cartridge
1981 Dornaus & Dixon Enterprises becomes a legal entity
1982 The D&D production facility is dedicated
1983 Finished Bren Ten pistols begin shipping to customers
1986 Dornaus & Dixon close their doors
1986 Peregrine Industries formed to save the Bren Ten (now called the Falcon)
1987 Colt introduces the Delta Elite 1911 in 10mm Auto
1990 S&W introduces several 1000 series pistols in 10mm
1990 FBI adopts the S&W model 1076 in 10mm
1990 The FBI experiments with a "10mm Lite" cartridge, which becomes the .40 S&W
1990 S&W introduced the model 610 revolver in 10mm
1990 Virginia State Police adopt the S&W model 1026 in 10mm
1991 Glock introduces their full size model 20 in 10mm
1992 S&W discontinues the model 610 revolver
1994 Virginia State Police trade in their S&W 10mm pistols for Sig P228 pistols in 9mm
1995 S&W discontinues the 1000 series pistols in 10mm
1998 Due to increased popularity of the 10mm, S&W reintroduced the model 610 revolver
2012 Para USA announced a long-slide double stack 10mm 1911 pistol
2014 VLTOR Weapons Systems announces their intent to bring back the Bren Ten to production
2015 Sig introduces their first 10mm, in the model P220
2015 Glock introduces the long-slide model 40 in 10mm
2015 Dan Wesson introduces their "Razorback" 1911 in 10mm
2016 Rock Island Armory introduces two 1911 pistols in 10mm
2017 Ruger introduces a 10mm version of their SR1911 pistol
2017 Kimber introduces the Super Jagare 1911 pistol
2018 Hi-Point introduced their model 1095TS Carbine
2018 Lone Wolf introduced their "Alpha Wolf" carbine in 10mm
Virtually every ammunition maker produces a 10mm Auto option.
The cartridge is perhaps more popular today than it ever has been and appears it will be sticking around for awhile.
References
Guns and Ammo
Wikipedia
BrenTen.com
Gun Digest
Guns.com
I have wanted of these for years but its not to be. I thought Vltor was really going to make it work but they just seemed to drop the ball and walk away after a lot of promises. Thanks for the grea write up11
ReplyDeleteI find it interesting that the Italian government restricted exportation of Bren Ten magazines just before Beretta's 9mm pistol would be adopted by the U.S. Military in 1985. The Bren Ten was supposed to be the 1911's replacement, according to Dornaus and Dixon Enterprises. Perhaps the lesson to learn here is, "Can you really trust your vendors?" Enough about the past! What is the future of the 10mm service pistol? Too much recoil for FBI agents to qualify with? This led to the development of the 40S&W. High pressure semi-auto handguns requiring too much maintenance and experiencing shortened service life because of the recoil? This recently brought an end to the 40S&W in law enforcement. Mostly, hunters are using the 10mm in handguns. Larger, heavier handguns with longer barrels give the hunters the power to take game while taming the recoil. So everyone wants the ballistic performance of the 10mm. But nobody wants the recoil. I've got the solution! Develop a new semi-auto handgun operating system, designed from the onset to better manage recoil. John M. Browning provided what the U.S. Army wanted in 1911, a reliable semi-auto to replace their trusted revolvers. I want to provide a low recoil 10mm option for all handgun users, especially the EDC category. To maintain the benefit of 10mm ballistics, it can't be a subcompact pistol. However, a compact 10mm handgun is within the realm of possibility. Imagine carrying a lightweight, powerful handgun that is easy to shoot and manipulate. Polymer framed, scandium/aluminum slide, 4.6 inch barrel, stack and a half magazine capacity, low bore axis, easy to rack, and increased ergonomic features all in a new 10mm handgun. I'm proposing the handgun of the future! Underlying everything that went wrong with the Dornaus and Dixon Enterprises attempt, was the recoil. Dornaus and Dixon Enterprises couldn't see beyond Browning's short-recoil, locked breech operating system. I can! I've got the conceptual design. I'm looking to put together a team of engineers and form a new firearms manufacturing company. All interest and comments are welcome.
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