Did Canadian FN's ever come with plastic stocks?

curtton said:
no , this was a brits trial, stated in r.blake stevens THE FAL RIFLE book, page 149.

it state "trials reveals that the nylon handguard is less efficient for heat insulation than the wooden pattern".
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thanks for that, My info came from the list of changes which doesnt record trials data. Funny that it didnt seem to stop the introduction did it? Maybe it wasnt enough of an issue as we rarely went to a proper war and the ammo scales were only 80 rds per rifleman. That said it probably was cost and heat was less of an issue as we didnt have full auto versions and there would be more risk of a cook off than burning your hands. We were taught to open the working parts after sustained rapid to allow cooling but nothing regarding our personal comfort or safety regarding heat and I joined in 81 when the marylon was standard even on the GPMG.
 
TimC said:
thanks for that, My info came from the list of changes which doesnt record trials data. Funny that it didnt seem to stop the introduction did it? Maybe it wasnt enough of an issue as we rarely went to a proper war and the ammo scales were only 80 rds per rifleman. That said it probably was cost and heat was less of an issue as we didnt have full auto versions and there would be more risk of a cook off than burning your hands. We were taught to open the working parts after sustained rapid to allow cooling but nothing regarding our personal comfort or safety regarding heat and I joined in 81 when the marylon was standard even on the GPMG.
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very interesting, that you said you were issued 80 rds, well, this solve the heating problem , according to the trials " the nylon handguard became too hot to be held correctly in the bare hand after approx 100 rds fired in 7 1/2 min compared with 250 rds fired in 15 min using a laminated wood handguard" .

to help with cooling, did your bolt stayed open after the last shot or you had to manual do it?
 
Rapid fire is 10 - 15 aimed shots in a minute, deliberate is 5-10 aimed shots in a minute. That was 1981. In 1982 The Falklands made a mess of the planning and logistics of the post war army and woke a lot of people up about suppressing fire and battlefield conditions that had been forgotten since korea. This was obviously not a concern in 1967. I think that was the only year since 1945 that the British Army havent been on Operations.
 
... Although we're getting a little off topic here, just to throw a kink into the Wood vs Plastic "furniture" debate, didn't all the FAL versions come with plastic, as did the German HKs . These incorporated F/A capability thus would have been vulnerable to extreme over heating from rapid fire . I certainly know my FAL had really hard plastic furniture. ..... Type of plastic employed being the difference perhaps ? .... David K.
 
I once fired 2700 rounds through a gpmg in 45 minutes burning out a gas plug and wrecking another spare barrel.
 
DavidK it was called Maranyl. If you emptied a 20 round mag on FA you would be on your backside!
 
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TimC said:
. This was obviously not a concern in 1967. I think that was the only year since 1945 that the British Army havent been on Operations.
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Except in Aden, Hong Kong and some other obscure places. 80 rounds= 4 mags in the 58 webbing ammo pouches. Should there be another 20 rounds inserted in the SLR?
 
David K said:
... Although we're getting a little off topic here, just to throw a kink into the Wood vs Plastic "furniture" debate, didn't all the FAL versions come with plastic, as did the German HKs . These incorporated F/A capability thus would have been vulnerable to extreme over heating from rapid fire . I certainly know my FAL had really hard plastic furniture. ..... Type of plastic employed being the difference perhaps ? .... David K.
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I believe German G1s had metal handguards. Israeli FNs were a mixture of metal/wood/plastic furnitures.
 
sf said:
Except in Aden, Hong Kong and some other obscure places. 80 rounds= 4 mags in the 58 webbing ammo pouches. Should there be another 20 rounds inserted in the SLR?
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No more in those places than a bit of police action soldiering, admittedly enemy bullets still kill. The 5th magazine was in the cqms stores for spares.
I'd have thought some serious ammo expended in contact in borneo and Malaya or Radfan but according to records patrolling troops carried war scales of 80 rounds in mags, 50 link per man and 2 grenades each. A good job the argies used the FN!
 
diopter said:
Don't be surprised if the some C1s get reissued with plastic funiture for "Hot" climate conditions.
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???

You'll have to explain that statement. The only "hot" climate the C1s are going to see now (if there are even any left) is the smelter, where they have been going to by the truckload in the last year or two.
 
sarge said:
Didn't they sell them to some banana republic?:dancingbanana:
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There were some SMG C1s at one point given to the Congo, but this was way back (and likely was against the liscencing agreement with Sterling arms). As to C1A1s going to any foreign government, not that I have heard of. The military has either now completely smelted or is still in the process of smelting, the war reserve stocks of the C1A1, the C2A1, the SMG C1, and the 106 recoiless rifles.

There were some C1A1s given, a few years back, to some Canadian artist to make into a big anti-war trash pile, but that is a whole nother story.
 
stencollector said:
There were some SMG C1s at one point given to the Congo, but this was way back (and likely was against the liscencing agreement with Sterling arms). As to C1A1s going to any foreign government, not that I have heard of. The military has either now completely smelted or is still in the process of smelting, the war reserve stocks of the C1A1, the C2A1, the SMG C1, and the 106 recoiless rifles.

There were some C1A1s given, a few years back, to some Canadian artist to make into a big anti-war trash pile, but that is a whole nother story.
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Too bad, used them all, brings back good memories and a few stories.
 
At least some were given to the Cdn Forces military museums, so you can still readily see them. There are small numbers of all of the above (with the exception of the 106 recoiless) in private hands in Canada, and although they generally can't be shot, they are still, for the time being, out there.
 
diopter said:
Don't be surprised if the some C1s get reissued with plastic funiture for "Hot" climate conditions.
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from what i heard , there was 300 saved for the museum, now there isnt that many war museum in canada so i wouldnt be surprised if a FEW went to "hot " climate (to test snipering capability).
 
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curtton said:
(to test snipering capability).
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The FN can be very accurate with a good shooter, but it is not a sniper rifle. That was tried in the 60's with the C1 sniper sight and the C.F. went with the Parker Hale rifle in the 70's.
 
Heard a rumor they might be re-issued at unit level for house to house type operations where 5.56mm doesn't cut it for penetration on stone walls.
 
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