DP- ugly head raised again

[Peter Laidler]

I didn't think that you could have semi autos in Oz any more. We did a lot (?) of DP L1A1's and the three main ZF faults that put them into the DP category were a) oversize locking shoulder holes and b) worn out locking catch lugs on the rear of the body or c) where the cutting action of the carrying handle stem had chomped away at the recess in the body making it too wide/oversize to support the carrying handle in its position.

The locking shoulder opening/hole problem could be overcome by using the oversized locking shoulders but really, once they were oversize, nothing would solve the problem. The DP ones were locktited in place with a splodge of tig weld on the right (?) side - on the basis that they weren't going to get a pasting so would stay in place. The worn locking catch lug could be re-ground and welded then re-machined once, then it was scrap. There was also an oversize locking catch too but once you'd used up your options, it was DP or the big scrapyard in the sky. The carrying handle stem slot was beyond any repair except just keep on bending the stem to fit the ever increasing width opening. There was a 'fix' being formulkated in the 80's but so far as I remember, it never got past the initial stage (WO1 Ian K----- from 14 MAG was looking at it...) and was abandoned due to the rifle being shelved in a few years time. I'd bet that it will be one of these almost invisible faults that are on these Australian L1A1's