Introduction

The BESA machine gun was developed by BSA (Birmingham Small Arms) company from the Czech ZB 53 (Model 37) machine gun and used by the United Kingdom for tank and armoured car armament. In 1936, BSA signed an agreement with 'Zbrojovka' Brno allowing them to make the 7.92 mm ZB 53. The War Office placed its first order in April 1938 and production began in 1939.
BSA was founded in 1861 and produced a wide range of wartime equipment for the Armed Forces.

This is a brief look at a new release from Resicast, set No 35.2331 BESA Guns. The guns were mastered by L Davis.

The Set

The set comes in the standard small packaging used by Resicast and consists of 4 BESA 7.92mm machine guns and 4 ammo boxes for same. Also included in the set is a fret of 5 ammo belts for the guns.

The weapons and ammo boxes are moulded in a light grey resin and appear free from any damage.

The detail on the weapons is excellent and they come with the front portion of the cradle attached to the machine gun for use as vehicle mounted weapons. The barrels are pre drilled which is good. These are a really nice set of machine guns, with very fine detail.

To attach to and accompany each gun you also get an open ammo container in a mounting bracket. Again these are very nicely produced with nice detail and an open top.

5 ammo belts are provided on a PE fret. The belts appear to be in 3 parts; the rounds, upper and lower ‘cloth’ belt to hold them.

Conclusion

This set of weapons will make a very useful addition for British and Commonwealth AFV builders. This type of MG can be found across a wide variety of British tanks and armoured cars, so to have a good replacement available for any substandard kit parts is a very welcome addition.

Provision of the feed boxes and belts simply add to the overall quality of the set.

These are not a must have item but a very welcome addition should you need a good replacement MG for your vehicle, or simply just want to add that little extra touch.

The guns appear very accurately produced compared against my reference pictures. Resicast also make a set of BESA Ammo boxes (kit No 35.2313) should you need additional boxes.

It might have been good to do the MG housing as a separate item thereby making the use for the guns more flexible.

I have attached photographs of the finished weapons from Resicast for further reference.