L1A1 how to tell if it has

[Enfield trader]

the ejector block cut in it to accept the "Safety sear" (auto sear). I saw one for sale that had a small Century import marking under the barrel but is marked L1A1 and has the British markings on the upper and lower receivers. Someone on another forum said don't buy because of the cut for the safety sear, he said you can see the retangular cut at the underside at the side of the hinge point of the upper and lower receivers. Now this has me concerned as I don't want any issues or trouble. Does someone have a pick of the retangular cut he is talking about and how can one tell if the rifle is ok to buy? Was traded in by the local police.

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[tomovich]

It should have a slot on he other side of the block from the mag release that also encompasses the hinge pin area. If it does have that and it is a Century build they probably put a blob of weld in there so you can't insert the FA disconnector as I believe it would be illegal with that slot open and functional.

[nzl1a1collector]

The slot they are referring to (which can't be simply filled in) is in the Body (Upper Receiver). The rifle they are referring to is from a small batch that Century sold to Police departments and individual officers who had official Police letterhead papers.

These rifles are a very gray area, some say bad ju ju other go yes please I'll take it. The rifles are unaltered semi auto L1A1 rifles. BATF consider these rifles as "once a MG always a MG" because of a silly little slot for a very important safety device... the SAFETY SEAR (not an auto sear). In no way dose this sear make the rifle automatic, for that you need a auto trigger plunger and auto selector. The SAFETY SEAR is there to stop the rifle firing before the bolt is full engaged and locked. Problem is you can't argue with the G-men.

Heres a pic of the offending cutout in the BODY (highlighted in white)
[IMG][/IMG]

[Peter Laidler]

The other side of the coin NZ is that this is a double edged sword because it's this 'safety' sear that actually FIRES the rifle after it is positively locked. It's ironic that we (the Commonwealth) were the only ones to call it a safety sear. The rest of 'em actually called it the automatic sear......... what it effectively is!

I had to debate this issue in great depth once for reasons I won't go into here but if the 'safety sear' wasn't there and the rifle did manage to fire BEFORE the breech block was fully locked down, then the hammer would be released and ride up the back of the breech block carrier and THEN strike the head of the firing pin/firing pin.
HOWEVER, in all of our tests, done under controlled conditions, the hammer blow will always fail to cause the round to be fired due to the diminished force of blow to the primer.

We agreed among ourselves that it was an AUTO sear but the Court of Enquiry that were sitting would only hear of it as a 'safety sear' I was a Captain and they were all Majors and higher....., so guess who won the day!