My SLR

Hello all
At last I picked up my L1A1 from the dealer last week and shot it for the first time yesterday. This is an ex war reserve example I believe and is in pretty much as new condition which isn't bad as it is the same age as me, 1958 Enfield body. It functions perfectly and grouped well except that case neck was slightly distorted on every round and also the hold open didn't function on last round. The magazine is a brand new metric FAL example, could this be the problem? When I bought the rifle I also bought a 1944 vintage Remington M1911A1 which also shoots very well.
The pics are not very good. I shall try and do some better ones if anyone is interested.

The spent round spins back on itself when it is ejected and hits the rear of the body, hence the ding in the case. It ells me that you have the gas regulator far too closed, too much gas and violent ejection.

On the British L1A1's the holding open device (the HOD) is a manual operation and doesn't operate when the magazine is empty. To be really honest, HOD's are a a bag of trouble right from the start. If I was even more honest, I can tell you that when you are using a rifle or an SMG for real - and I mean for REAL - , then you don't need a HOD. As soon as you hear that hollow metallic ring of the bolt closing on an empty chamber you just KNOW that you need to do a mag change PDQ. Drills kick in and it happens, as fast as light. And something else........... it doesn't matter how much noise is going on around you, you'll ALWAYS he that metallic ring

Thanks for the info I will try again on Saturday.
Its on number six at the moment. To be honest I've forgotten what setting it should be on. I also forgot that the hold open is only manual. It has been 30 years plus since I last used one and I haven't touched one since.

Adjust the gas regulator until the case drops about a metre from the rifle and cycles dependably.

A 1958 matching Enfield, very nice indeed!

Gas setting 5 or 6 is usually the norm using Nato spec ball ammunition.

Nothing like the sound of the working parts hitting metal when a magazine is empty. As said...they never made a HOD, only a manual one so you could pull the working parts to the rear and use the real HOD for that purpose.

The start of the text above sounded like "Nothing like the smell of napalm in the morning" from Apocalypse Now :lol::lol:

In the far east, we occasionally used to shoot them without shirts, just our skeleton-order webbing - especially if zeroing or range testing them. If there were a few of us on the ranges you would set the gas so that the spent case would flick over to the right and lodge under the next blokes belly or chest. That made them jump up and down like a frog on fire!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Peter Laidler

made them jump up and down like a frog on fire!

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I had a guy take a fresh fired blank round down the back of his neck in winter kit in the field one snowy day. He went down like he was shot...

I've had a spent case down the back of my shirt, feels like you've been hit with the branding iron!

And they say I can't dance, I sure did that day!

Morrison29,

Can I ask an obvious question?
Has the piston had a really good clean as well as the gas regulator recently, as these often get neglected by those who dont shoot L1A1 regulary!

All these "hot brass" stories make me chuckle :) I'm quietly infamous for badly consoling the hot brass wounded. Not a SLR story, but while showing a rapid fire drill of an LE with "long" blanks there were shouts from the guy behind me - he took one down his tunic and he was in an enclosed space for the "wiggly worm dance" and I advised that "war is hell". Similarly my best words of wisdom are "keep your mouth closed" when the brass starts flying... There is nothing like the rush of massed fire..except the brass hunt afterwards - wishing you all tight cuffs and collars.

It's a right of passage, getting branded by red hot brass:lol:

I've had two, .308 down the back of my shirt and one of the rather hot (1650 fps) CCI high velocity .22lr cases down the front ... Out of the chamber, bounce off the firing point wall and straight down my shirt, I sweat that little sod burnt more than .308!

Those hot loaded little rounds are ejected from the rifle white hot!

The guy on next firing point said helpfully "who's cooking burgers"?:lol:

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Originally Posted by browningautorifle

I had a guy take a fresh fired blank round down the back of his neck in winter kit in the field one snowy day. He went down like he was shot...

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A friend here in the States had a similar story of a classmate from when his Basic class was training on Garands, back in the early 60s. His words, "Never knew a man could actually LEVITATE like that!"

More recently, a fellow I used to know was going through National Guard training, and saw an, ahem, "well endowed" member of his training group take an M16 case down the front of her shirt...the result was not pretty!

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Originally Posted by mrclark303

It's a right of passage, getting branded by red hot brass

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Have had a few cases bounce of me in the past, most memorable was during the second phase training for the reserves, when a smart arse in our section thought he would position the change lever to full auto on our rifles before a range shoot, it had become to a point we all needed the toilet due to long wait to get on the range, so two were left with the rifles....... obvious it was picked up by everyone when on the range and going through the drill at "Make Ready" but someone was in a bit of a panic and missed out the change lever and started off in full auto, I was the one next to him........ there was hell on at the time but it all calmed down, the character in question had stolen my apple from my lunch bag the previous day so it was a time for a lesson, the next day he had the shits for nearly 24 hours........

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Originally Posted by morison29

Hello all
At last I picked up my L1A1 from the dealer last week and shot it for the first time yesterday. ...

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So you are actually in France? I'm amazed they let you own the FAL, we can't even own them here in the Peoples republic of Kalif. what are le gun laws like there? How do you go about owning an FN FAL in France?

Illegally :lol:;)

It is all legal and above board, even after the latest tweaks to the french gun laws which made all full auto to semi conversions and rifles with folding stocks, illegal. L1A1 was never full auto as I am sure you are aware. I will have to modify the mag to accept max 10 rounds as part of this but it seems there is confusion there so maybe I will not have to do it.
The FN FAL is now illegal as it was originally full auto.
Those who hold these weapons (and there are lots of them plus Brens, MG42s, AKs, M16s and so on, probably 100s in my club alone) cannot sell or transfer but they can keep and shoot them. Doh...
Pistols have not been effected so my CZ75 is fine.

Morison,
Thats Freedom and Liberte at its best. One knows in your countries particular situation that with all the WW2 stuff still in private hands its going to be an uphill struggle to properly legislate against.
Yes agreed that the FN FAL is illegal, but I understood the L1A1 was untouched including the 20 round mag over there, or has that changed legally??

Oh how we would love to have common sense like that in the UK...........an SLR as it was used in the semi automatic role which so many other weapons enjoy.

The situation with 20 plus round magazines is that they must be modified before next July to accept only 10 rounds but only for use in the weapon. It seems it is still legal to own magazines up to 30 rds capacity if you have the authorisation but only becomes forbidden if inserted into a weapon. The actual weapon remains unchanged as long as it was originally manufactured as a semi auto.
For those who purchased straight pull L1s the law has now relaxed in that the magazine used to be welded onto the receiver and limited to 10 rounds. Now that is not the case I believe, with Beretta BM59s and M1 carbines now being advertised strait pull with removable magazines. Confusing eh.
The Gendarmes etc are equally confused by the way.

In that case, I would soldier on with the 20 round mags, as it is clear noone understands where the law should be on this, and you are afterall within the confines of ranges categorized for the use of the rifle!;)

It would be wise to "archive" his 20's as they are still legal, as he says, just not for use in the rifle, and make up a couple of "10's", from either MORE plentiful FAL mags (as is the case in the US) or some of the plastic aftermarket types where there is no real collector value. We can all hope for sunnier days when it comes to our countries firearms laws. The march always seems towards more RESTRICTIONS, not less.

That is a beautiful L1A1. I love seeing them with the original receivers as those are few and far between in the US. There is always something just a bit less satisfying having to go with one that was cobbled back together onto an aftermarket receiver and rebuilt by questionable methods or builders. Don't get me wrong, we have some beautiful builds by competent folks, but it is always best case scenario to own a piece that is whole and complete as yours is. Thank you for sharing.

Can you get something like this?
5 Round Metric FN FAL Magazine - Rifle Magazines Rifle Clips at GunBroker.com : 789906614
Looks like they cut down an FAL Metric and flared out tabs to take the L1A1 base plate...

Looks like the ones we had to accompany the grenade launcher.