How Britain made the L1A1 SLR

Issued a wooden one, and a plastic one, plus carried an ex-Argy, de-activated FN on P-Coy. Love them, but hated the fixed cocking lever on the FN. Some proper scars from carrying that on the stretcher race in Brecon.
 
Nords said:
Issued a wooden one, and a plastic one, plus carried an ex-Argy, de-activated FN on P-Coy. Love them, but hated the fixed cocking lever on the FN. Some proper scars from carrying that on the stretcher race in Brecon.
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That's an interesting little anecdote about having an ex-Argy deac, I read a lot of military histories and memoirs and have never heard of something like that before

Was that so you could carry a rifle the same weight and size etc, without worrying about beating up the issued SLRs?

I know thousands were of FAL's were captured after the Falklands, I guess that answers where at least some of them ended up
 
Captain_Slackbladder said:
Those Royal Armouries videos are all really well produced and informative. Also well worth a visit if you are in Leeds.
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I was lucky enough to be allowed into the ROF at Nottingham for night shift tea and look ‘round the museum 😉.
If I’d known it would disbanded sold off and flattened I would’ve paid more attention to what was in there! That being said it was still fascinating 👍🏻
 
Offa said:
That's an interesting little anecdote about having an ex-Argy deac, I read a lot of military histories and memoirs and have never heard of something like that before

Was that so you could carry a rifle the same weight and size etc, without worrying about beating up the issued SLRs?

I know thousands were of FAL's were captured after the Falklands, I guess that answers where at least some of them ended up
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Exactly that Offa. I did the second from last P-Coy in Aldershot / Brecon before it moved to Catterick. We were all issued them to run with. The issued rifle was the L85A1 at that time though…
 
Interesting from an engineering viewpoint that they increased efficiency via repetition with dies and fixtures. I imagine the old tool and fixture industry is dying off now, with the introduction of modern workholding and CNC.
 
Nords said:
Exactly that Offa. I did the second from last P-Coy in Aldershot / Brecon before it moved to Catterick. We were all issued them to run with. The issued rifle was the L85A1 at that time though…
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That's really cool, thanks for the story
 
Rollo said:
During the Falklands war, some of the British troops swapped their issued SLRs for Argy ones as they were capable of fully auto and ours were not..
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The problem there is that it's a breach closed weapon so if you bang mags through spraying and praying you can chamber a round that cooks off. In auto I doubt you would hit much after the first couple
 
I didn't realise the Argy ones had a fixed cocking lever and were full auto.
I think I still have a brand new cocking lever and carrying handle still in its grease and rust proof paper somewhere.
 
Beaver said:
I have no live rounds or empty cases in my possession, SIR 😳😂😜
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Believe or not, I found them laying in the gutter in the 80's with loads of glass around, can only think a car was broken in to and somehow these were dumped ? and the car was gone.
 
Crazylegs said:
The problem there is that it's a breach closed weapon so if you bang mags through spraying and praying you can chamber a round that cooks off. In auto I doubt you would hit much after the first couple
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Yep, it must have been a hand full on full auto. The kick off 7.62 in single shot was enough with the SLR, so full auto would not have been that accurate, but enough for you to keep your head down for a while..
 
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