City went in front on the half-hour but were forced to play a man short for the entire second half.
They defended superbly only to concede a late equaliser.
Lincoln had the better chances early on with Ben Wright missing a great opportunity midway through the first half.
Left with only the keeper to beat, he shot tamely wide from six yards out.
Then Dany N'Guessan cut in and blasted in a left-foot shot which was kept out by Wayne Brown.
Bury tried to hit back and Lincoln keeper Rob Burch did well to push away a long-range shot from Mike Jones.
But Lincoln edged in front on the half-hour when Michael O'Connor fired the ball into the box and Aaron Brown laid off a pass to leave Wright with the simplest of goals.
Andy Bishop wasted two good chances to equalise but, in the closing stages of the first half, the game spilled over.
Anthony Elding, booked for kicking Efe Sodje, was shown a straight red card in the 45th minute after getting involved in a scuffle with Bury defender Ryan Cresswell.
Both players appeared to end up wrestling on the pitch but Cresswell escaped with a yellow card.
Then Elding was jostled by the Bury bench as he left the pitch, sparking a mass brawl which had to be broken up by stewards.
Lincoln pulled all ten men back in the second half but almost snatched a second goal in the 69th minute.
A mistake by Cresswell allowed Wright to run clear but the striker dragged his shot wide.
Lincoln held out until the 83rd minute when their defence fell asleep and Elliott Bennett set up Bishop for an easy goal.
Bury went looking for the winner but Rob Burch produced an excellent save to keep out a free-kick by Brian Barry-Murphy.
Burch was in action again in stoppage time when he did well to save shot from Jones after Bury opened up the Lincoln defence again.