Unusual Brit L1A1 Plastic

[mrclark303]

Hi all,

Well, I bought a Lithgow L1A1 fitted with a very unusaul 8 slot British Plastic handguard...any ideas guys?

Removed them last night to see if any info was on them, but alas nothing.

The additional slots are clearly moulded into them and not cut, this is evidenced by the smooth raised border around them being identical to the rest.

I can only assume made for some trials perhaps, the heat haze would make sighting "interesting" after a few rounds!

For the life of me I can't think of a good reason to do this on a semi auto L1.

Over to you...anyone??

Information

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[Peter Laidler]

A close look at the steen ends that attach to the gas block and they don't look UK/L1A1 spec to me. Anyone out there got any ideas? Certainly nothing we ever had at the Small Arms School

The heat haze from the barrel was always noticeable during run-downs and rapids so what it'd be like with open topped hanndguards would be interesting.

[mrclark303]

Just a thought Peter,

With regard to heat haze, how about the Lithgow L2A1, that must have had an interesting sighting plane after a few mags had been through it...must have been like a desert shimmer!

[mrclark303]

Mystery solved!

I noticed last night while carefully examining the rest of the plastic, scratched numbers on the side of the pistol grip.

As Peter had very kindly confirmed this rifle as former New Zealand military, I thought to myself, they look suspiciously like typical NZ military wrack numbers.

Long story short- just heard back from an old Kiwi Friend of mine and the handguards are of New Zealand manufacture and design.

Apparently, the Kiwis manufactured their own plastic parts (much cheaper than buying from Lithgow apparently) for the Lithgow L1's, as well as fitting imported Brit plastic.

The butt and Forend are NZ and the pistol grip and carry handle are British - the reason for vertical slots - still a mystery!

Anyone got pics of them in service with the top slot handguards?

Any of our Antipodean friends care to pitch in and explain that one!

[mrclark303]

Ok guys, after much searching I have found some more info and pics over at fal files New Zealand Made L1A1 Items Display - The FAL Files

They still won't let me join, so I won't copy and paste the picture without permission, but follow the link and look at the display, 2 x "top slot" handgurds...one yellow plastic pattern and one production type.

[Peter Laidler]

Can you comment Kevin the Kiwi? We never had plastic furniture when I was in NZ. We did have L2A1's but the big diameter barrel took a long time to heat up and it was open to the elements too so any heat haze wasn't vented through a sort of funnel. Mind you, firing the L2's first opened my eyes - and ears - to the splitting flash eliminators that split with a loud 'PING' that you'd hear over the roar

[jmoore]

Mind you, firing the L2's first opened my eyes - and ears - to the splitting flash eliminators that split with a loud 'PING' that you'd hear over the roar

Interesting to find that not only the Belgian flash eliminators split. (I've got one still somewhere.) Never saw a split flash eliminator on any other rifle that wasn't caused by an obstruction.

[Peter Laidler]

Our investigation with our splitting 5 pronged flash eliminators showed it to be gas wash/erosion at the end of the flutes where the gas deflects upwards and forwards. Most damage was caused by the gas emerging ahead of the bullet as opposed to that following it.

I saw plenty during the investigation phase but it was only the top and top-side prongs that went and never the actual front 'ring' part (although I heard that it did go too...). Sometimes the snapped flute/prong would cause the front 'ring' part to droop or move into the path of the next bullet which would hit it and could send it flying off into orbit.

You coulkd certainly hear it ping as it snapped.........

[jmoore]

That makes sense. The M14 flash hiders also suffer erosion up front. The sharper the bottom of the flute, the worse it seems to be. Probably not as much of an issue due to the rather shorter service life of the '14.

The Belgian flesh eliminator problem was largely thought to be a material or heat threat drama. Many would split on fairly new rifles that showed no erosion. I first heard about it in the 1980's when some of the US imports developed the same problem. Replaced a few, but haven't though about it in a while.

Back on topic: Are the other two slots on the bottom of the handguards (as a guess) near the front as well?

[mrclark303]

Back on topic: Are the other two slots on the bottom of the handguards (as a guess) near the front as well?

Hi, yep in the same position as the rest, very interesting and frustrating as I just can't get any further with the history of this design....I would really love to know why the designers (NZ MOD) thought it necessary to do this? Also how common these handguards are?