once delayed, always delayed,
no nics is work days not calendar days, so if he was delayed on monday, he can pick it up on friday, BUT since the 4th is a holliday, he could pick it up on monday(the next business day)
now the brady law says that after 3 business days, the firearm can be transfered to the purchaser without a resolution from nics. BUT at the shops discretion, they can wait longer, gander mountain waits till they get notice from nics, i know one shop that waits 5 business days, the shop i work at transfers after 3 business days(the minimum)
as for the same name part, no differance, he's getting delayed because someone has his exact name(i assume) and is close to his birth date(ssn wont help that)
i work at a gunshop and always do my own nics check, and everytime, i get sent for further review, they always chuckled when they read back the info(name and nics number) i always said "thats me", but it turns out that there is a person with my exact same name who lives in my town, i asked one time if me getting a "upin" would help me, she said no, i'll always get "further review" but since i approve i never got a "upin", that might (MIGHT no promise) help your brother
for those who dont know, the steps are this
gunshop calls nics
nics asks for info, name birthday,height weight, birthstate, (all the info you fill out on the 4473)
nics reads back a series of numbers and letters and gives the response of, either "approved" or "further review", if you are approved at that point all is done and you can leave
if the first person replies "further review" you are sent to a second person who does a little more checking on you, and the second person will respond with a "procede" "delay" or "deny", if the responce is delayed, the person at nics will tell the gunshop employee that the brady bill does not prohibit the transfer of the firearm on such and such date, and you'll have to wait 3 working days to pick up the firearm
(fyi they dont tell us why you are denied or delayed)
if you are denied it's not the end of the world, there is an apeal process you can go through, and sometimes it works and sometimes it dosent