The FN C1A1 mystique - from "if you could have just one prohib"

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I noticed a LOT of people from the "if you could just have ONE prohib" thread posted the FNC1.

I find that interesting :) I'd like to know why?

Personally, it was the MBR of my years in the forces, I got out just before we switched to the C7's.

The FNC1 was heavy, it had a crappy gas system, it had a weak mag well, and 100 other things that were horrible about it..

At the same time I remember it with such fondness.. It was your field #####... you lugged it around, babied it, cleaned that ####ing gas plug every 20 seconds with the extra tooth brush you always had for just that occasion... You Varsol'd it, oiled it, could put it together in the dark, slept with it, took it EVERYWHERE you went.........

My first FN was actually 10 years older than I was.... :D

Trying to remember the serial, something like 6L 00007 or something like that...

But, just the rifle itself, and the sight of one brings back so many good memories of times spent with your "brothers" and getting through exercises and being wet and not having enough sleep and laughing about sleeping for 27 hours after being in the field for 4 weeks or whatever.. :D

So...

WHY are so many others interested in this old Belgian #####? :) Stories please... :)
 
I didn't post in that thread, but I can certainly sympathise with that choice. I started in the militia and quickly learned to love the FAL with its faults, and I wish I could have one for that nostalgic reason. I moved on to serve in the British Army and came to prefer the version I used there, but there are a couple of features of the C1 I would like to incorporate into the SLR.

(I, too, used rifles and other equipment that was older than me, in both armies.)
 
I did not post in the mentioned thread either.
But I would like the FN for:
Historical value
Looks
The simple fact that someone, somewhere said I could not have one, (no Prohib)
 
FNC1 is like

Bumping into an ex girlfriend... and ending up in the sack...

you remember how good it was... then after you remember why she is EX

I learned to shoot on the LEE ENFIELD then in the reserves the FNC1 .. I got out a few years after we went to the C7

But you know... there is something about wood and gun metal ... and that big long f**king rifle that got inside you. You loved to hate it in a way that you never come to feel about the C7.
 
It was my first experience with a centerfire. I was 14 years old and visibly afraid (anxious) of what the powerful .308 would do. I can recall laying down at 100 yards and trying to tell myself to shoot it like my good old .22.
I can still remember the first shot. I loved it. It actually went where I wanted it to go. I emptied the whole mag. People joked about the big smile on my face. I loved that gun.
I then tried 200 yards. I dropped 3 plates in four shots. I still recall the excitement of beating everyone on points at 200 yards. That was it for me. I was convinced I was an artist with that rifle. The skinny teen was in love with the big beautiful rifle. I couldn't wait to shoot it again.

Sadly, it seems I will never get that chance.
 
Bentleg said:
Bumping into an ex girlfriend... and ending up in the sack...

you remember how good it was... then after you remember why she is EX

I learned to shoot on the LEE ENFIELD then in the reserves the FNC1 .. I got out a few years after we went to the C7

But you know... there is something about wood and gun metal ... and that big long f**king rifle that got inside you. You loved to hate it in a way that you never come to feel about the C7.
Click to expand...

Hahaa! good post! :D

And right "on target"
 
to me the FN is like the lee enfield at 15 I could strip and assemble blindfolded. i carried the pig and loved every minute of it sure the C7/C8 are better but its like your first car
 
There's something "###ier" about the wood and metal as opposed to plastic and metal eh?? :D

I saw a dewat at the local gun show a couple weeks back.. it was so nice to just pick it up and hold it.. :) What memories...
 
I used one in the forces, and own an 8L series one, but I never really liked shooting them. When I finally got a TRW M14 I could not believe how much easier it was to shoot well.
Still, if you collect the FNs are an important part of any collection, and many others consider them to be very easy to shoot.
 
Twelve years old first, time ever shooting a firearm. Laying down prone at the 100m range mound. Trembling in excitement and still nervous from seeing the pencil be snapped by the bolt in a demo. Shoot a five round grouping the size of the target screen. Set my self up for a life time of shooting enjoyment. I learned how to shoot that summer with a Lee Enfield at cadet camp but the FNC1A1 will always be my first. I went on to the reserves and shot the C7 at CFSAC. I own a Lee Enfield and I might buy an AR varient, I can never own an FN and will always regret that.
 
I was fortunate to have been able to buy an 8L before the silly re-classification stuff happened.

It was unrestricted when I bought it, and put a few down range.

When it became prohib, I dutifully obtained SAPs when required and
had to join DCRA/ORA in order to gain access to military ranges to shoot
it.

Bill 10A put the axe to that.

Bastards! Death by a thousand cuts!

(It was a real carbon magnet, though.)
 
Loved the FNC1A1..First time I ever shot at 500 yards was with that rifle. Got me hooked on target shooting. THAT WAS OVER 40 YEARS BACK.We were just being issued combat uniforms from the old bush jackets.
 
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