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Contributing Member
ANZAC SAS L1A1 recreation..
Afternoon all,
Heading off to the workshop this weekend to re-create a display example of the fabled SAS selective fire Vietnam L1 specials.
I was very kindly sent a number of detailed pictures of an original example to assist in this and will be basing my reproduction as close as possible to that example right down the colour.
The rifle I am using is a welded up and rusty old deactivated Malay contract Lithgow L1A1 complete with battered Brit plastic. A truly beaten up old warrior that looks like its gone 10 rounds with Mike Tyson.
Woodwork put aside and ready to go
Before and after pics next week guys..
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01-12-2017 12:45 PM
# ADS
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Originally Posted by
mrclark303
its gone 10 rounds with Mike Tyson.
how are you going to put the ears back on?
btw its SASR if you dont mind.
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Thank You to ActionYobbo For This Useful Post:
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Advisory Panel
Originally Posted by
mrclark303
Before and after pics next week
And...we'll be watching.
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Originally Posted by
Mr E
how are you going to put the ears back on?
btw its SASR if you dont mind.
Very funny.....
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Contributing Member
Evening all,
I spent the entire (extremely enjoyable) dreary wet weekend in my mates engineering workshop working on a few projects, first off the deactivated display reproduction of an ANZAC SASR, Selective fire L1A1.
As mentioned in my first post, I had been waiting for some really clear images of an example of these rare rifles in order to re-produce one as accurately as possible. I was very fortunately (and generously) sent a lot of pictures of a very rare surviving original example in a collection.
Enough information to give me the "green" light and to crack on with the project. The rifle had a pistol grip mounted on a laminate forend (via two screws attached to the lower left half). the FE cut back with the bayonet boss and key cut away, leaving the remains of the FE, re-crowned and mounted on the barrel as a sort of break.
It had a selective fire L2A1 safety (and obviously the shortened trigger plunger), then it was painted an overall olive green (no camouflage pattern), little of the original paint remained, but there was enough to reasonably closely gauge the colour for a match and allow me to make a small amount for my re-creation.
The rifle I used for the build was as I said, a rather down trodden miserable looking Malay contract L1A1 that had had the arse used out of it, like so many Malay contract examples it had been flogged to death!
I bought this rifle at an arms fair a few years ago, it was new spec deactivated, no bolt and carrier welded into the receiver, though the safety and the trigger worked, the hammer was welded to the back of the carrier and to the sides of the TMH, in short a mess!
It gets better, when this rifle was deactivated ( by a large UK dealer who will remain anonymous), they cut through the pivot rings in the TMH and broke one clean off. While this is repairable and it still went to the Proof House for its cert, the profit margins were so tight they eventually decided not to sell it, but use any parts they could retrieve and eventually just cut the remains up for scrap.... or desk ornaments!
So this beaten up old war horse was stripped of useful parts for the other deac L1A1's in their stock. It lost its gas plug, top cover, pistol grip and had most of its FE cut off to be mounted on a block of wood as a pen holder .... I kid you not, I think I can remember it on ebay a few years back!!
It was however saved from the final chop by me buying it to use it as a clothes horse while restoring L1A1 wood work, perfect for the job! Well, I happened to have a spare laminate forend and various cracked and split butts and pistol grips that weren't suitable for repairing, but they were perfect for this..
I adjusted the profile of the original safety to match as closely as possible the L2A1 example and set about the remains of the FE (bloody hard material to work with).
I mounted the modified pistol grip (modified by gluing a block of wood into the grips cavity and shaping to profile) to the forend exactly as per the original rifle, its a surprisingly solid feel in the laminate forend and I must admit the rifle "points" very well with the extra grip, I can see why they did this...
So here she is, I am pleased with the final result, a bit of fun was had and a basket case of an L1 was resurrected to boot!
Cheers, John
Last edited by mrclark303; 01-16-2017 at 05:13 PM.
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Another nice job John, one of them busy weekends with no interruptions I guess.......
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Contributing Member
Originally Posted by
bigduke6
Another nice job John, one of them busy weekends with no interruptions I guess.......
Had last weekend in the diary since last year mate, I told my wife I would be heading off on a Milsurps retreat for the weekend..
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Very nice they certainly did not leave you much to work with MC303, it is important these (tailored field mods) are not forgotten to show that special forces troops soon learn what works and what does not work.
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Thank You to CINDERS For This Useful Post:
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Looks like my post and pics dissapered into the ether!!
Doug, help! What did I do..
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It was there hence the reply....... have you edited it ?
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