Commercially Retailed L96A1 Rifle

[Promo]

Have been made aware of rifle 90PM0707, so the fourth and therefore last one to that batch mine also came from. It seemingly now belongs to a company in Austria and they published a [German] video on it on YouTube. At around 23:35 in that video they show off the original price list and manual from the importer Spindler.

[Peter Laidler]

Talking of UK military L96's and the little green S&B L13 telescopes. Generally speaking, the serial number of the telescope was usually quite close to the serial number of the rifle. For instance. I had 85A-1191, one of the very last of the UK military contract and the telescope was AI-1098. Likewise I had 0711 and the telescope number was, as I remember, AI-0727.

I have mentioned several times that there were steps afoot to upgrade the expensive S&B 6x42 green scope to an image magnification type. S&B didn't come out tops in the trial. It was a Bushnell but amazingly, the manufacturers wouldn't change a couple of specs for the small number (about 1300) required.

[southwell]

Talking of UK military L96's and the little green S&B L13 telescopes. Generally speaking, the serial number of the telescope was usually quite close to the serial number of the rifle. For instance. I had 85A-1191, one of the very last of the UK military contract and the telescope was AI-1098. Likewise I had 0711 and the telescope number was, as I remember, AI-0727.

I have mentioned several times that there were steps afoot to upgrade the expensive S&B 6x42 green scope to an image magnification type. S&B didn't come out tops in the trial. It was a Bushnell but amazingly, the manufacturers wouldn't change a couple of specs for the small number (about 1300) required.

I have the transit case for a late production one. Do you know why some rifles were UA85 and others were UA86? There is a sticker with a C-suffix serial number on mine. I would’ve thought by the time they’d got to my serial number, they’d have been doing things in house and therefore there would’ve been no need for the concession mark from Pylon’s mistakes.

[Peter Laidler]

Yes. The UA 86 rifles were made and taken into service in 1986 whereas the 85's were 1985. Production and acceptance was slow, believe me. The C indicates that the rifle body was subject to an extremely high standard of crack testing after the remote proofing. There were a couple of failures before that. The joke at the time was that if the rifle didn't have a C serial numb er suffix, it shouldn't fire anything more powerful than blanks!

And another AI scope serial number. AI 0537 and rifle number 85A 0561. They were always quite close

The IPR's and certain features of the L96 always belonged to the UK MoD. Outside buyers of an L96 rifle or its commercial derivative were required to pay royalties for the privilege

[southwell]

Yes. The UA 86 rifles were made and taken into service in 1986 whereas the 85's were 1985. Production and acceptance was slow, believe me. The C indicates that the rifle body was subject to an extremely high standard of crack testing after the remote proofing. There were a couple of failures before that. The joke at the time was that if the rifle didn't have a C serial numb er suffix, it shouldn't fire anything more powerful than blanks!

And another AI scope serial number. AI 0537 and rifle number 85A 0561. They were always quite close

The IPR's and certain features of the L96 always belonged to the UK MoD. Outside buyers of an L96 rifle or its commercial derivative were required to pay royalties for the privilege

Thanks Peter. I'll be honest, I've never seen a UA85 rifle. L96s started production in 1986 if anything. Royal Armouries has UA86 A0001 and some in the 1000s that I've seen are also UA86.

Did you ever see one of these in your time by any chance? L96 with a STIC bracket and bipod extension mount. I'd only ever seen the bipod extension mount in the Green Meanie book, so made some copies for myself and a friend with a PM rifle. I spoke to some others, and apparently only very few units got these.

[Peter Laidler]

Nope....., never saw an extension like tat in my service. Not even at the sniper div classroom here. Simply cannot understand the rail attachment either. To achieve what exactly? No point putting a sight on it as it is too remote from the actual barrel. Infra red?> Thermal imager?

I seem to recall that the bipod was a bought-in commercial type. It was cheaper to buy them in than buy them from AI

[southwell]

Nope....., never saw an extension like tat in my service. Not even at the sniper div classroom here. Simply cannot understand the rail attachment either. To achieve what exactly? No point putting a sight on it as it is too remote from the actual barrel. Infra red?> Thermal imager?

I seem to recall that the bipod was a bought-in commercial type. It was cheaper to buy them in than buy them from AI

It is for the STIC night sight with the L17A1, while retaining the possibility of using the original bipod. The L96 bipods weren’t outsourced. The AW ones are similar to Parker Hale. AI say they produced their own, but they are identical.

[Peter Laidler]

Mmmmmm...., bipods. I think that they were American made. Does Harris ring any bells? I am not sure of the US manufacturer except that name is a generic bipod maker. Maybe one of the US owners can tell us.

Always worth reminding L96 fans that it didn't come tops for accuracy. What it did come tops at was reliability, durability and maintainability on the work bench. So on balance it won on that. And rightly so

[bigduke6]

Can’t remember the facts and figures but does anyone remember how many of L96 that were sold off by mistake by one of the UK Police Force ( A northern constabulary rings a bell)

[southwell]

Can’t remember the facts and figures but does anyone remember how many of L96 that were sold off by mistake by one of the UK Police Force ( A northern constabulary rings a bell)

The number is about 25 according to Steve Houghton. This comprises 12-13 by Bedfordshire police, at least 2 by Durham/Northumbria Constabulary, and at least 2 by Hampshire Police. Hampshire Police also released a single shot target rifle in a wooden stock which I have seen, but I don’t think that counts.

There are also a few later PM rifles, which I’m not sure of the origin. I imagine it was a lesser known batch of ex-police PM rifles. There are also some, much fewer, PM rifles of other origin, but not ex-police. I can only recall 4 or so genuine L96s legally making it out into the wild. Two are re-captured rifles.