L1A1 shorter return spring housing ?

[Peter Laidler]

1.6325 go. 1.643 no-go. They were a one-off for the L1A1 as I recall. Anyone in the UK who's got a set now will be well out of calibration

[skiprat]

Modifications 4 and 7 ( No 4 and 7 stamped on the inside of the butt plate trap door, on wooden butt)
One mod was the drilling of a hole in the return spring tube, I think the other was a change to a new pattern screw. It's been a long time.......

[tankhunter]

Yes Pete, But without digging My on E.M.E.Rs out of the attic. I cannot state accurately what it was. But I used Loctite to fix 'em in place!
Problem eliminated!

IF, you ever then needed to remove a loctited RST. You would have to use heat from a blow torch to warm the TMH up to kill the loctitite.
Of course this would burn the paint off of it. & it would have to be rustproofed again. But Hey! When you have a command workshop down the road
that has that facility. You simply jump in your car & take the TMH with you. Chucked in with a LOAD of other weapon components for rustproofing at the same time. I could turn one around in an Hour!......

[Peter Laidler]

Just been told that it was to bevel the leed into the RST thread with a scraper and slightly bevel the first thread of the screw so that the threads didn't pick-up, lock-up and jamb-up - to create a fxxxx-up when you tried to undo the nut! (as described to me by Sgt Roger XXXX!). The screw was changed eventually as Skippy says. But just be advised if you need to do anything to the butt assembly.

It got me thinking......... When did we last see L1A1's in service? I seem to remember seeing the last few floating around in 1998/9 or so.

[mrclark303]

I would have thought the last few on the books were used to train Sierra Leone Army Personnel in 2000ish (I believe some were trained in the UK)?

At least the Australians still use their Lithgow L1's for parade use and very smart examples they look too!

[Peter Laidler]

Mmmmmmmm. That'd be about right but they'd have been taken out of Ordnance reserve stocks for that and probably not have been weapons held by a unit at that late stage in the game. We had a similar encounter/need for L2A3's for training at about the same time. We needed 8 but by then they'd all been smelted.

[tankhunter]

I would have thought the last few on the books were used to train Sierra Leone Army Personnel in 2000ish (I believe some were trained in the UK)?

At least the Australians still use their Lithgow L1's for parade use and very smart examples they look too!

I covered this on a previous thread. They L1A1's for Sierra Leone were 'Gifted' by this Country's Government. Those particular weapons had been purchased by a Private Individual @ £5.00 Each!.......There were six thousand of them. The Unfortuante who purchased the weapons, was not allowed an export permit. & after six months still in military storage, he was going to then be charged for storage after that time.

He ended up selling them BACK to the MOD for £1 Each!!! So they had still been paid for. But we could then afford to 'Gift' them very Generously. To the SL Government!............................

[mrclark303]

Morning Mike,

I would assume they were all top notch refurbished war reserve pieces too, most of the examples seen in the hands of those drug fuelled "gangs", in the old news clips appear to be in excellent condition.

[Peter Laidler]

Anything that was retuened to Ordnance had to be in perfect condition and as per the current CES. The only things that I can recall recently where this didn't apply were 2" mortars and Bren/L4's which were long obsolescent so it only included the return of the actual guns and SOME parts of the old L42 CES

[tankhunter]

Morning Mike,

I would assume they were all top notch refurbished war reserve pieces too, most of the examples seen in the hands of those drug fuelled "gangs", in the old news clips appear to be in excellent condition.

Morning John, Yes you are quite correct. ( & as you can see, Peter backs this up) They were ALL refurbished stock weapons.
Anything going back into stock. Would as a matter of routine. Have been totally refurbed to as new standard before being put back into reserve.
It would be pointless quite frankly, to have done anything else. If they were ever needed, thy could be issued out with confidence.
That they were fit for purpose & Ready for further service. As required.

(And the 'Bounus' of this procedure was. That it kept the Civvy Employee's workflow going!.....)