Indian parts on a BSA L1A1

[mrclark303]

Afternoon chaps,

Started another L1A1 rebuild, this time on a BSA 1962, it had a surprising amount of Indian 1A1 parts on it including cocking handle, receiver hinge pin ***, bolt carrier and bolt carrier (the bolt is Lithgow).

It never ceases to astonish me the poor quality of the 1A1 components, they all look blacksmith made ... but I guess like all fals, it still worked just fine when it counted.

Its a given that these were fitted when it was deactivated, but I wonder, who imported 1A1 parts back then (early 1990's)?

I assume there must have been 1A1's in the UK before the semi auto ban came in in 1988 and perhaps many were broken down for parts use post ban..

Very interested to know who imported them..and how much they sold for back then..

Information

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[Beerhunter]

I assume there must have been 1A1's in the UK before the semi auto ban came in in 1988 and perhaps many were broken down for parts use post ban..

At time of the ban I remember very few SLRs, if any. AR15s, AR18s and Chinese Types 56s were more popular. (The latter were only about three hundred quid - brand new!)

At that time, as the SA80s were being issued, I assume that the SLRs were being put into war Reserve. I (TA) was still armed with an SLR in the late 1980s.

So I reckon your rifle was sold off to India at some point were it was repaired with locally made parts. Possibly originally made for their indigenous FAL/SLR lookalike. (Which I believe they claim was NOT a reverse engineered SLR.)

[mrclark303]

I didn't consider the possibility that its a former Indian example, I know they bought small batches of Fals, Lithgow's and British rifles as part of their begrudging agreement with Fn that the 1A1 was in fact a Fal!

How they thought they would get away without paying Fn royalties beggers belief.

Anyway... I think this BSA is just a bog standard ex British army example, fitted with 1A1 bits during reassembly following deactivation.

I was chatting to a guy at my local range last year, he recalled Lithgow L1A1's avalable in the 1980's (mostly ex Singapore contract I would surmise) but couldn't remember 1A1's for sale.

They were about it seems, but not in any number from what I can see.

So did anyone here have a live 1A1 franken-fal back in the day?

[tankhunter]

John, Go over the Reciever & Barrel with a small Magnifying glass. Check for Inspection & proofmarks. That should tell you if it's British or not.

[mrclark303]

Morning Mike,

Will do, I am back in the workshop tomorrow mate. I had to laugh, the 1A1 cocking handle has been hand fettled to fit, it would have been a lost easier to just fit a British handle, but I suppose people just use what's at hand..

The 1A1 bolt carrier is a lot better, when comparing it side by side with a British example, it is pretty close ... its just finish that lets it down, with deep machining tracks left. It was an interesting exercise studying your 1A1 Mike, interesting rifles, a sort of half breed with both Fal and L1A1 features combined.

[Peter Laidler]

But don't forget............ they're battle tested. They fought the Chinese to a standstill in the Himalayas and routed the Pakistan Army in the West (AND East in 1972 pre-Bangladesh)!

[mrclark303]

Out in the open Himalaya Peter, I know what rifle I would trust my life too and it wouldn't be the AK47/AKM!

The Chinese troops must have been at a serous disadvantage in that wide open terrain, having a 1A1 at hand must have been some comfort to the Indian troops fighting in what must have been very difficult conditions.

A combination of long range hitting power and excellent reliability thanks to those sand/snow cuts.

[browningautorifle]

I'm just wondering about the sub standard parts...would someone have pilfered the good parts when doing the deac and stuck these in and on knowing it would never shoot again? I've seen that done here...more than once...?

[mrclark303]

Quite possibly Jim, as I understand it (told by someone who worked for a certain large contractor back in the late 1980's) it worked like this, a batch of rifles would be bought from the MOD, they would then be graded for resale, some refurbished, civilian proofed and sold on as live rifles, some just reduced to parts, others slated for deactivation and stripped to component parts.

These receivers, barrels bolts etc would then be deactivated and placed in bins, then rifles built up from the parts. Thats why old spec ( pre 1995) deactivated British L1A1's very rarely have any matching numbers, those that do are very few and far between in my experience and command really strong money today.

Now if that company had also reduced a consignment of 1A1's to parts, then they would just fit any cocking handle or bolt carrier, whether 1A1 or L1A1, no one gave a toss back then, bang it together, does it cock and dry fire, yep, JOB DONE!
As with most facets of life these days, its only over the last 10 years or so that collectors have got a lot more choosy about these things and demand matching numbers, full correct parts etc

[browningautorifle]

It was only an observation as a casual witness to it being done here...and because I'd think rifles would be accompanied by spares when sold to anyone for service...the parts you mentioned too, hardly break down on any kind of regularity. Two of them maybe. Hard to say. I wasn't there...