Bingo!! It's a sad state of affairs but the now-active import destruction regs pretty much have killed off the idea of re-buildable parts kits for almost everything.

The "good news" is that all of the earlier imported kits are all out there still.......and I'd venture to say that probably 95% of those who bought one never end up trying to build it.

-TomH

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So true. I still have two of the Interordnance 3 cut demilled Mk2 Bren kits and will probably use one of these to build the L4A3 as .303 surplus ammo is scarce and new .303 ammo is expensive.

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Joe,

Thanks for the post on the Sarco L4 parts kits. I was considering selling my Mk II kit to buy an L4 kit as that's what my end-goal is - after seeing those photos, I think I'll stick with what I have and wait for the barrels to become available!

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I understand that 7.62mm barrels are being formulated as we speak. They're probably already being made.........

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That's one less headache to deal with. I was never able to locate an L4 barrel in the states and while I did get a response from the Lithgow museum (stating they couldn't sell copies of engineering drawings) my inquiries to the Canadian War Museum and Nottingham all went unanswered.

On a somewhat related note, in your professional opinion, how difficult is modifying a .303 breechblock to 7.62x51mm?

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Breech blocks....... Supposedly, a .303 breech block is said to work by simply fitting a 7.62mm extractor!

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Yep! As stated here several times lately, a std .303 bolt will work just fine after you install a std 8mm/7.62NATO extractor. If you don't care about historical replication of the L4 mechanically, you can be up and running shooting .308 perfectly with three drop in parts:

-7.62 extractor (installed in a std .303 bolt)
-South African/DENEL 7.62 NATO BBL
-Bulgarian ZB39 mags ( filled to the 25rd capacity)

I must point out though, that this recipe is based upon you being able to source all three of those parts......which is not always easy anymore......and then, that this is based upon their installation into a factory original (uncut) machine gun receiver. Any variation upon that originality, such as a welded receiver and/or re-built to semiautomatic-only function......may impair the "plug-and-play" compatibility of the above parts. It will undoubtedly be able to make it all work, but custom fitting of the various interfaces will likely be required.

It does work flawlessly in an original factory gun. Not an "L4", but that isn't the goal with this recipe.

-TomH

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Also works with a semi made from a weld up demil receiver (assuming it's done correctly). I've done it.
A little grinding in the Mag well and you can use the ZB26-30 mag with .308

Joe

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My goal is an L4 clone for my reenacting unit.

I've got a small stockpile of L4 magazines, so that's not an issue. And as long as Sarco produces more barrels than they have kits, that problem is sorted as well. Which just leaves the breechblock. And I don't care if the gun is 100% authentic on the inside!

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I have a Historic Arms L4 clone. It has the L4 mag. I had to change the butt stock, carrying handle and bipod to the correct ones. It has the South African barrel so the flash eliminator is not correct, but other than that it looks good.

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