British L1A1 snow camo question

[Peter Laidler]

Yes Jeff. It could be slung across the front, flat against the chest so that it was quickly available, didn't interfere with the skiing. I suppose there were a few more reasons too but while I fitted a few sets to rifles, never went anywhere colder than North Germany.........brrrrrrrrr.

There was a similar kit that fitted to the Sterling SMG too except that it fouled the foresight and was useless if the butt was folded!

[harry mac]

There was a similar kit that fitted to the Sterling SMG too except that it fouled the foresight and was useless if the butt was folded!

I never saw the set for the SMG, we just used the standard SMG sling for that.
My unit's first time out there was 1987 and we were armed mainly with SMGs, but support troop (cavalry version of assault pioneers) had SLR's. 1988 saw us out there again, still with SMG and SLR, but by this time I'd got myself into support troop. Sabre troops were on CVR(T), and they are a very cold vehicle to work in/on when the temperature is hovering around the "minus daft" mark, but support troop had the wonderful, WARM Haglund BV 206.
Shortly after we got back from Norway in 1988 we lost our SLRs, SMGs and LMGs and were given SA80 and LSW instead. SA80 was/is good to ski with, but the LSW is a real pain in the arse. There's nothing you can do to stop it swinging down around your legs, and that means you end up falling over a lot

[Peter Laidler]

Happily, the LSW is now relegated to the really rear echelon troops as it really isn't/wasn't man enough for the job. The L86 LSW's were culled during the last tranche of the A2 programme and converted back to either rifles or carbines. The carbine is....., well....., that's another bit of a sad story! It's certainly sad if you're lumbered with one...................