L42A1 Plastic bottle / lens cleaning brush

I like everyone I have every spoken to has always said that the plastic bottle in the lid of the L42 A1 transit case was for a lens cleaning brush, however I have just got hold of a illustrated parts catalogue for the 7.62mm L42A1 rifle Army code number 60776 which seems to contradict this.
It lists the bottle as "Container, Pullthrough, Mk1" stock number M3/1005-12-142-8021. It does not list or show any kind of brush that would fit but it does show a "Brush, Artist,flat 1/2inch" part number F1/8020-99-943-0422. which appears to be for lens cleaning. Does anyone know the right answer??

For clarity, what Buccaneer is referring to in his question is shown in the phoro montage for this MKL entry … :)

1971 L42A1 Enfield Sniper Rifle (click here)

http://photos.imageevent.com/badgerd...20_Medium_.JPG(Clic PIC to Enlarge)http://photos.imageevent.com/badgerd...20_Medium_.JPG

http://photos.imageevent.com/badgerd...20_Medium_.JPG(Clic PIC to Enlarge)http://photos.imageevent.com/badgerd...20_Medium_.JPG

Regards,
Doug

You need to go back through the threads on this forum. Somewhere along the line I explain fully the designation, the previous use and reasons why it's called what it is. But I can't be bothered to go through it all again.

Can someone resurrect this thread...................... But very briefly, it was a pullthrough container in a previous life. Then came the L42, economics came into play and it morphed..........

Thanks for the info Peter I guessed that there would be a simple explanation. The reason that I asked is that the parts list shows the plastic bottle as item number 6 with the pullthrough drawn next to it as item number 7, the "Brush, Artist flat 1/2inch" is drawn next to the scope can and is drawn at a similar length to the can itself giving the impression that it is be stored in the can, is the drawing just artistic license or a mistake as the "Brush cleaning Small Arms ", item number 3 has been shown correctly.

The bottles started their service life as a pull through container for the Carl Gustav, ("Charlie G") rocket launcher, hence the nomenclature "Contaiiner, Pullthrough, Mk.1". I have lovely reprints of the L39/L42 Illustrated Parts Catalogue available for those who want to complete their kit with the books too. All of this information is there.

Bottles like this. Three brand new, still in the Ordnance wrapper. These little bottles started their life as part of the cleaning kit for the sub-calibre device used in the 84mm Carl Gustav anti-tank rocket. Hence the M3 Ordnance category and peculiar sounding designation.

Bucaneer,
You've no doubt twigged by now, but the handles on the brushes were cut off short to fit their new containers. Hence the apparent discrepancy.

ATB

The L42A1 bottle on that other site, is now at £155 WTF is going on have I just awoken from a deep slumber after 20 years in hibernation.
Absolutely ridiculous. Time I went in the loft and dug out the twenty I have somewhere filled as well with oil. I'll do a buy it now for the container which will be a £1.00 and £300 for the oil on that basis:D:D

saw a cheep one at the War and Peace show this year ... saw it been removed from the original packing (to check it was not a reproduction , they can not reproduce the smell!!!!) it went for £400-£500 half the price one sold for on "that" auction site

Don't put oil in these bottles Gil, it will soften the plastic to a point of melting. Even old oily 4x2 flanlette left on the pullthrough cord used to soften them. Sure you ain't thinking of oil bottles?

Only tongue on cheek response mate, I wish I had a few to sell. The price is ridiculous on that other site and elsewhere, and as I said in another thread, no sensible comparison to the 4T or the Enforcer bits or indeed the price of the rifles.
Another unexplained myth!!
Mind you next time I'm in China might get them to russle up a few sample bottles:lol:, now where did I put that old MOD bog chain to attach to them, no one will ever notice:lol::lol::lol:

Sniper lense brush as per pics and clear pull through container for sale on flea bay seperate items I think the container is a $351.00AU

Here's what the lense brush went for on flea bay auction finished last night :yikes:

L42A1 LEE ENFIELD SNIPER LENS BRUSH CES GBP 266.00 AU $469.41
16 bids

And the brush bottle over £500 absolutely ridiculous.................I am doing a nice line in a better product called a urine sample bottle fitted with a **** house chain any takers??:super::super::super::

I am lucky enough to have a couple of the correct containers, but I used to put universal containers* into transit chests of the rifles I sold, rather than leaving a space. They lack the chain but are otherwise much the same & are far more readily available.

*piXXle pots, in plain English.

While I’m something of a collector, and all for complete-ism (L42 CES etc), for me, the object itself has to have some kind of ‘worth’ or interest to justify lashing out on. In this case, for me, it is a brush, and as such is as interesting as every other brush in the world.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by PrinzEugen

While I’m something of a collector, and all for complete-ism (L42 CES etc), for me, the object itself has to have some kind of ‘worth’ or interest to justify lashing out on. In this case, for me, it is a brush, and as such is as interesting as every other brush in the world.

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But in this case not just the brush, the container too, I,m like you Prinz, (but more of a hoarder than collector), for the collector to fill that gap then good for them, but myself I cant justify that kind of cost for a plastic bottle and half a paint brush...

Unfortunately as with all things precious, when demand outstrips supply the price goes up! I've seen around 4 of these bottles sell on that auction site for around £500 - £700 which is where the price seems to have settled and nothing will drive that down unless a massive cache of originals flood the market. In the absence of the "massive cache" people will want and pay for authentic originals. I think there are three main camps people fall in. A) Achieving the ownership of a special rifle is the goal. B) Owning the rifle and cobbling together any ancillary that will do, fake or genuine. C) Owning a special rifle and doing it justice by completing it with nothing else than the best original ancillaries you can find.

I fall in to category C and I wouldn't sleep at night knowing I had a **** sample bottle in my L42 chest bluffing a lens brush bottle, repop lens covers on my 32 scope or an SLR pull through in my No4 T cleaning kit. To some people these things matter, a lot.

And something else tp ponder too. They're probably getting less and less every day as sure as god made little green apples, there'll be someone who drops the lid down on the chest, the little bottle won't be in the recess fully or properly and it'll get smashed between the lid and the butt. Just mark my words............

And whether we like it or not, and many don't, the auction room is the place that dictates the price. Not the value - or the worth, but the price.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by chosenman

I wouldn't sleep at night knowing I had a **** sample bottle in my L42 chest

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You don't have to use a used one !!

To think I got called a crook when I had a quantity of them priced at $75 each. Jeez, wish I had them all back!!

My advice to anyone who considers them selves nothing more than the custodian of their L42 & CES and who wants their pride & joy to go to the next generation in mint order is to wrap their lens brush bottle in plastic and keep it out of day light. Air and UV are its biggest enemy and will slowly break it down. If you look at a range of bottles and compare those that have survived a service life to those that have been wrapped in its ordnance packaging the old bottle is often yellow an discoloured. This is the effects of UV which slowly makes the plastic brittle. Remember these are the product of 1970's technology and don't have the inhibitor additives that modern plastics have.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by chosenman

Unfortunately as with all things precious, when demand outstrips supply the price goes up! I've seen around 4 of these bottles sell on that auction site for around £500 - £700 which is where the price seems to have settled and nothing will drive that down unless a massive cache of originals flood the market.

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A more general search for the bottles using terms that a seller who doesn't know what they are might list them as rather than 'L42A1 Plastic lens brush bottle' saw one sold for £10 this April on Ebay UK,so not all of them fetch big money.
You just need to be lucky sometimes rather than have the biggest wallet :)

ATB Kevin

Still looking for one .

For $4 you can get a twin-bottle set, use your jeweller's saw to separate them and file away the bump, and have two.

https://www.libertytreecollectors.co...?idproduct=254

You can go this route, but you only get 1 as there is only 1 chain and 1 plastic loop to hold the chain on after cutting. The other problem is the diameter of the bottle is smaller than the original so it ends up looking about 3/4 scale. It is better than nothing and does not look too bad. I even made a label for mine by looking at an original pictures and messing about with type styles and sizes in WORD

A better option at filling the slot until the real thing can be found is to carve one out of a Swedish AK4 oiler. The center chamber is the exact dimensions as the L42 brush bottle. Cutting off the smaller chambers and shaping the chamber tab is easy, the real chore is grinding ouT the divider that is molded into the larger chamber. Once done, it is a perfeCT fit inside the chest.

They might as well have used shortened cigar tubes! No need to cut the brush handle down then. Or for extreme cleverness LOL, secure the cap of the cigar tube to the end of the brush handle at a point where it prevents the bristles pushing against the end of the tube and being deformed.

Excuse my digression. ;)