S&B on the L42A1

[Peter Laidler]

I wish the author of said 'document' would make it known how you could convert No71's, 42's and 53's to L1A1 standard. In 1981/82 the last of the L42 conversions were still ongoing as we can see by the conversion dates so there wasn't a shortage as such. The rifles and telescopes were showing their age. Mk3/L1A1 telescope spare parts were still in production and available as were some spares and Mk2/1's. As were most No4/L42 parts but there was a reluctance to re-order the special parts. Fore-ends, cheek pieces and handguards were always 'dues-out' and constant patching just made them look shoddy. Strangely, magazines were never in short supply as there were 60,000 produced for a reason that has been told before. Brackets became available but these weren't without their problems as they had to be very accurately matched to the needy rifles in Ordnance.

There was some good ideas put forwards to give the L42 a bit of a longer life but it was at its sell-by date. One good one was to solve the disintegrating front end of the fore-end but time wasn't on its side.