My Rifle - Aussie clone.

[dcollector]

Inch pattern receivers have been made intermittently (and of varying quality) by several American manufacturers.

DSA is probably the best known; their early Australian-pattern examples (made by a subcontractor called LMT) were of excellent quality, while their in-house examples (both Australian and British pattern) have been hit and miss.

Two now-defunct companies, Entreprise Arms of California and Coonan Arms of Minnesota, also made inch pattern receivers in the past. Outside of early Entreprise examples (also made by a subcontractor, also excellent), they tended to be problematic, ranging from "minor issues" to "blatantly unsafe".

IMBEL of Brazil (a legitimate FAL manufacturer) produced semi-automatic versions of metric Type 3 receivers for the US market in the 1980s. Century Arms had some of them cut to accept inch pattern mags for their "R1A1" rifles (assembled in Canada from a mixture of inch and metric parts), and some have machined the British-pattern profile cuts into those receivers. Many consider that the best option for building a proper-looking British rifle today,

I have two Imbels built as L1A1's (The Aussie clone in the OP, and an NZ clone with black plastic furniture.) and one DSA made up as an STG58.

I went hunting for the Imbel receivers as they were recommended to me as the best ones to build a kit on.
The old DSA STG is a great rifle, it's 20 years old, but apparently DSA receivers are no longer to be trusted.

I chose to have these built to accept metric magazines, as I own a supply of metric magazines.

All personal choice.

[NearSightedSniper]

I know I’m late to the game here in this thread but I can’t believe that nobody has pointed this out to you yet. I’m not breaking balls & I do agree that you have a Beautiful riFAL, HOWEVER….. that is NOT an Imbel receiver. It’s an Argy receiver which is every bit as good as an Imbel. I have 2 Argentinian FAL’s both have Argy receivers, both serial numbers are in the exact same place as yours & begin with a “C”. I guarantee you that Mark force matched your Lower with the serial number of the receiver to make the rifle look more original. I currently have 21 FAL’s & Mark has built all but a few of mine. He forced matched my STG 58 the same way. I also have an inch cut Imbel that he added the British lighting cuts to, it accepts inch mags & also has a folding charging handle.
I currently have 8 of the commonwealth SLR’s, 3 Brit, 3 Ausi, 1 Canadian & 1 Indian. I have a NZ kit waiting for a receiver that will be sent to ARS for completion. I do not ( as of yet) have the elusive L2 in my collection. One day

[Brian Dick]

I noticed something on your rifle that's out of spec. You need to check and change out the body locking catch to a longer one. The locking catch lever should not bear on the recoil plate of the trigger mechanism housing when closed. There should be a slight clearance. The catches came in three different sizes if memory serves. I have a few copies left of the EMERs for these rifles if you like to read. It's the bible for working on them. Graham at ARS bought one from me years ago at SAR West in Phoenix if memory serves. He should be paying more attention to detail. I have a few locking catches here. If you tell me what size yours is, I may be able to help.

Brian

---------- Post added at 02:20 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:19 PM ----------

I meant Mark not Graham.

[Woodsy]

When Lithgow began L1A1 production in 1959, the carry handle was non-rotating wooden (the end of the handle engaged the wire by half the wire diameter). These soon changed to the rotating wood then in the '60's to the green finger-moulded plastic. NZ removed all the carry handles during the mid '60's so the rifles would always be carried in a semi-ready position. The attached photo shows my 1959 NZ first issue SLR with the non-rotating handle.

[dcollector]

Sorry guys, traveling and dealing with other broken guns when I got back.
2X Brens, 1XC93, 1XHK91, 1XMP44 that all need repairs, lol.
I just noticed there were quite a few replies here, apologies for my late responses.

Browning auto rifle - yes, the sound is distinctive and pleasantly unique.

Daan Kemp - The 30 round mag I have has worked flawlessly, did several movies on the stg58 I own, so likely in the region of 10K Austrian Hirtenberger blanks without a stoppage. Worked great until an armourer who should have known better accidentally put a Swanson blank through it, 20 years first stoppage. He paid to fix it and it has been retired from film work, lol.

Mrclark303 - Mark does re-engrave to match the registered receiver serial for an extra charge.

Ovidio - I have space restrictions now, and 2 x Bren guns take up four bolt actions so I uam sympathetic to your plight.

Bruce in OZ - The receivers on my 2 L1A1 clones are Brazilian Imbel and Argentinian both are “good to go” - quality-wise. I have an old DSA receiver on my STG58 which has been good for 20+ years of heavy use, too. The receivers are fitted beautifully by ARS and I have no concerns about him using the correct manner to check fit and finish the parts. But I appreciate your words of advice, if he were an amateur home builder it would be very valuable info.

Flying 10 UK - I don’t know, I have a green plastic carry handle on the Aussie clone.

Mrclark 303 - I also bought an NZ plastic example, pictures below. Trying to find a UK kit, but the NZ kit was at the local gun shop and cheap, so I sent it to Mark to do right. See pics.

Enbloc - ref.recievers - yes, the lightening cuts to my Imbel receiver would be great to make this look like the real thing, but, I am OK with it being near enough.

Nearsighted - You are absolutely correct. Thank you for pointing that out, the Aussie has an Argentinian receiver.
Sounds like you went the full hog on your Brit clone, when I find a Brit L1A1 donor or parts kit I will do a UK build and maybe ask for the cuts to be made to the receiver, if Mark is still offering that service. I’m not in a hurry. The Aussie and NZ are fun to shoot and I don’t have much spare time for that anyway, lol.

*I also would love to find an L2 sustained fire variant, have been looking for some time, but, they seem to sell quickly. But it is a fun looking rifle/LMG/support weapon.


Brian Dick - thank you, I am usually at SAR for at least a day, but have been overseas the last two years. I’ll take a look at that part.

Here is the NZ Mark just built for me:





And the Aussie again:



And the MP44 - that now has a new-made barrel on it: