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1961 Enfield
1961 BSA
1959 Enfield (ex war reserve)
1959 Enfield (ex war reserve)
https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...t4gkgbhy-1.jpg
https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...3krgjzth-1.jpg
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1961 Enfield
1961 BSA
1959 Enfield (ex war reserve)
1959 Enfield (ex war reserve)
https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...t4gkgbhy-1.jpg
https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...3krgjzth-1.jpg
As ever, outstanding examples Kevin, you must have the finest collection of Inch pattern rifles and accessories in public ownership anywhere ... Never seen a better one .. Have you ever managed to add a Canadian C1?
My own meagre collection has been a labour of love to assemble over the last five years.
Enfield 1962 (live)
Lithgow 1964 ex NZ (live)
BSA L1A1 Cutaway
Ex Singapore contract Lithgow (deactivated)
Ex Malaysian contract Lithgow (deactivated)
Plus numerous L2A1/L2A2 SUIT's and other bits and bobs...
I don't have a C1 rifle, but I do have a late production C1A1 rifle. You have done well for 5 years, mines taken over 27 years to scrape together and there is still things I have to track down or have still yet to discover.
Well done on the C1A1 Kevin, mind me asking how you came across her. I have been trying to get hold of a C1 kit to complete my Inch pattern live rifles .... but its a no go here in the UK unfortunately.
The C1A1 came out of Canada, its one of the ex OPP rifles that were sold out Canada and then imported back into Canada. They went via the UK. It was a similar situation that happened here in the mid nineties, the government wouldn't sell the weapons to collectors within New Zealand so they were sold to an overseas 'company' and then some were imported back into New Zealand because collectors were legally allowed to import the weapons. All this did was double the price of the Rifle/MG/SMG to the collector due to the extra shipping and put BNP markings all over it.
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1961 Enfield L1A1 Rifle
Fitted with Wood Furniture, L1A1 Bayonet and Khaki Web Sling.
1961 BSA L1A1 Rifle
Fitted with Laminated Handguards, L1A3 (short fuller) Bayonet, L2A1 SUIT sight with Pattn 72 SUIT Sight Pouch and Khaki Web Sling.
1959 Enfield L1A1 Rifle
Fitted with Plastics, L1A4 Bayonet, L1A1 IWS Scope, L7A2 GPMG Bi-pod and Green Nylon Sling.
1959 Enfield L1A1 Rifle
Fitted with Plastics, Arctic Butt Stock, Rubber Muzzle Cover, Lanyard, Handguard Band, Foresight Cover, L2A2 SUIT Sight, Pattn 58 SUIT Sight Pouch and Nylon 'Army' Arctic Sling.
The only C1A1 rifles I know of in the UK are in the Leeds based pattern room collection and the examples Peter eluded to in the Warminster collection. There must be others I would guess, but never seen or heard of any avalable to the public either live or deactivated.
Even in Canada they only seem to exist as a handful of deactivated or a tiny number of Grandfatherd examples. Have they all been destroyed?
Getting weapons out of Canada was extremely difficult, even Govt. to Govt. We had a couple of C1's at Warminster and asked the Cdn Dept of Defence for a Canadian Sterling SMG which was agreed. What a palava! Even for us it was only ever on 'loan' and accountable annually..... I mean!
I can't understand it either especially when you hear that bodies/master component were available for No4 rifles, Brg pistols (and so presumably the Bren et-al too) at Cdn Base workshops as a repair item. So were they available as spare parts for the C1's? Or only No4's
Well, I know some of the people who chopped up the C1 FN-FAL in the early 2000s. Truly sad, the one guy was telling me how they still had some NOS in the box from 1960 and they were just taken out of the box, wood taken off for burning and the metal chopped with a torch.
There are only two legal sources the C1 FN-FAL could have come from that I am aware of. One being the ex-OPP rifles, the other was back when the C1 was being made they offered some for sale to members of the DCRA so they could buy them for service rifle competitions. From what I understand very few took up the offer, as the catalog I saw it in advertised show it as 150 or 160$ back then (in comparison to 10$ Lee Enfields).
Yes, it's true that only a handful of FN C1s (A1) exist out in the civilian market. Most were bought by DCRA members way back when that was the thing. Some were sold by the OPP when they changed rifles, but most were destroyed when they were no longer required in war reserve...just in time for the war... There's the odd one deactivated, but most are Aussie or UK...the live ones too.