BOTR : L1A1 good and bad points

This video brought back lots of memories of my days when i was issued the Canadian version of the Brit L1A1 rifle, our FN C1A1, manufactured by Canadian Arsenals Limited , the same factory that produced the great Long Branch No.4 mk.1* rifle,

Our FN's never had the Brit plastic handguards, and buttstock, but our FN rifles had a stripper clip guide,so that you could "top up" the mag, and last shot bolt hold open,which i thought were very good features, and the folding dial rear sight, stripping was the same as the Brit rifle
 
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Not if they manned up and got proper training. :)

https://imgur.com/t/history/gg3Ey

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I luv and miss shooting my FN FAL's.

Now, they are just shooting dust in the back of my safe and I rarely pull them out.

HEY!!!!!!!!!!! ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, how come I alway's ended up carrying the C2 and the radio (25 Set) at the same time in my army days.
 
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Nasty rifles. Heavy and even after 'balancing', the recoil against the cheek bone was plain unpleasant. Out of the box my Norinco M305's shot sweeter and more accurately than any C1 I every fired. As for the '25' set...nothing worse than humping that POS for 48hrs under radio silence only to discover that when you really needed it... you couldnt raise a soul. Imo the most satisfactory use for a 25 set was to tie down a poncho corner for a shelter half. Anyone who remembers otherwise is delusional. I recall doing radio checks for the platoon and 4 guys standing in a large circle approx 25m apart couldnt hear each other. There is a reason why during the invasion of Grenada...the yanks had to use pay phones to call fire missions and give sitreps.
 
I would rather it had been lighter and shorter for better balance, the ergonomics worked well otherwise. I would love to fire the original model on full auto, I think that would have worked:
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I would rather it had been lighter and shorter for better balance, the ergonomics worked well otherwise. I would love to fire the original model on full auto, I think that would have worked:]

I doubt full auto would work with a lighter and shorter when it didn't work with the heavier.
 
Had one on my first Aussie Lithgow L1A1. Defective, detente would work loose after a few rounds and drove me crazy. Switched it back to original issue.

When you said the detente , you means the screws? Didnt it have the S spring?
 
Nasty rifles. Heavy and even after 'balancing', the recoil against the cheek bone was plain unpleasant. Out of the box my Norinco M305's shot sweeter and more accurately than any C1 I every fired. As for the '25' set...nothing worse than humping that POS for 48hrs under radio silence only to discover that when you really needed it... you couldnt raise a soul. Imo the most satisfactory use for a 25 set was to tie down a poncho corner for a shelter half. Anyone who remembers otherwise is delusional. I recall doing radio checks for the platoon and 4 guys standing in a large circle approx 25m apart couldnt hear each other. There is a reason why during the invasion of Grenada...the yanks had to use pay phones to call fire missions and give sitreps.

Ohhhh, my god!

I have not laughed so hard in years.

Every single word is true, but as far as FN's go I still love them even though they can be nasty beeches at times.

My issue C1 was really accurate at 600 yards using stock IVI ball rounds.

I had a XL butt stock on mine and it made a real difference from smackin me in the chops.

Ahhhh, CFB Petawawa and Borden in the good old days.
 
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Nasty rifles. Heavy and even after 'balancing', the recoil against the cheek bone was plain unpleasant. Out of the box my Norinco M305's shot sweeter and more accurately than any C1 I every fired. As for the '25' set...nothing worse than humping that POS for 48hrs under radio silence only to discover that when you really needed it... you couldnt raise a soul. Imo the most satisfactory use for a 25 set was to tie down a poncho corner for a shelter half. Anyone who remembers otherwise is delusional. I recall doing radio checks for the platoon and 4 guys standing in a large circle approx 25m apart couldnt hear each other. There is a reason why during the invasion of Grenada...the yanks had to use pay phones to call fire missions and give sitreps.

you are right about the recoil smacking your cheek bone, i found my M1 Garand, much more pleasant to shoot
 
Ohhhh, my god!

I have not laughed so hard in years.

Every single word is true, but as far as FN's go I still love them even though they can be nasty beeches at times.

My issue C1 was really accurate at 600 yards using stock IVI ball rounds.

I had a XL butt stock on mine and it made a real difference from smackin me in the chops.

Ahhhh, CFB Petawawa and Borden in the good old days.
As for Grenada....digging deep in my memory...I believe the Americans even had a tough time using the Pay Phones...until they found a young reservist Lt. that had a valid 'AT&T Calling Card' because they were long distance calls and nobody at the Pentagon would accept a collect call...FFS!
 
Just knocking that stupidly long flash hider off the rifle would have been a significant improvement, even at the cost of a couple of inches of barrel. H&K fires the same round and is much handier.

Grizz
 
Had A HK91. Maybe better inside a APC, but found total ergonomics on L1A1 much better overall. I hated the cocking handle on the HK.

If both were closer to the STG90, then that would be great.
Steyr AUG is sweet, except for the catchy regular trigger pull,but still great on moving targets due to it's reticle.
 
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Nasty rifles. Heavy and even after 'balancing', the recoil against the cheek bone was plain unpleasant.

Then you had the wrong butt length for you. They came with butt stocks marked with the length: S (short), N (normal), L (long), etc.

It mattered when doing rifle drill as well. Tall guys hated the shorter length butts as they had to hook a finger under the front sight in order to 'Shoulder Arms', for which you got a wrap on the knuckles from the Platoon Sgt.

I think the folding cocking handle was a mistake as it used to get jammed shut with fine grit or ice up, requiring a bayonet to pry it open. I don't recall ever using the stripper clip guide of the body cover after basic training.

I fired the Bundeswehr 7.62mm rifle on FA with their lowered power ammo - virtually uncontrollable. It lacked a hold open device after the last shot, a stupid idea on an infantry rifle. The C1 made a distinct sound and you also felt the lock open when the device engaged.
 
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Then you had the wrong butt length for you. They came with butt stocks marked with the length: S (short), N (normal), L (long), etc.

It mattered when doing rifle drill as well. Tall guys hated the shorter length butts as they had to hook a finger under the front sight in order to 'Shoulder Arms', for which you got a wrap on the knuckles from the Platoon Sgt.

I think the folding cocking handle was a mistake as it used to get jammed shut with fine grit or ice up, requiring a bayonet to pry it open. I don't recall ever using the stripper clip guide of the body cover after basic training.

I fired the Bundeswehr 7.62mm rifle on FA with their lowered power ammo - virtually uncontrollable. It lacked a hold open device after the last shot, a stupid idea on an infantry rifle. The C1 made a distinct sound and you also felt the lock open when the device engaged.
:) Sorry but that is absolute BS...and I am betting you werent infantry and obviously didnt spend much range time with the C1... you can select any stock length you like...the stock length had no bearing on where your cheek had to be positioned in order to use the rear aperature and get a proper sight picture... unless you had some sort of very unusual eye sight....did you wear corrective eye glasses?
 
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