L42A1 Sling Nomecluture?

[Strangely Brown]

I recently sold a sling marked as L8A1, which I bought as a "correct" sling for an L42.
The guy who I sold it to has queried it's authenticity and tells me he believes its for the L8 conversions.

Can anybody confirm the correct nomecluture of the sling for the L42A1 please?

Information

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[PrinzEugen]

Hi Strangeley - I've got two - one marked L42A1 and one L8A1 and they're identical. The eminent Brian Dick here Misc. Militaria and Surplus for Sale sells the "Sling Small Arms Rifle L8A1, correct sling for Enfield L42A1 and Accuracy International L96A1". I'm sure ex service expert members will be able to clear it up exactly.

[Thunderbox]

Strangeley,

The L42A1 sling is indeed the L8A1, which is also described as "Sling Small Arms L42A1 CN/1005-99-132-3199" (where the "L42A1" actually refers to the rifle, and not the sling).

Sounds like your buyer probably doesn't understand that the British Army "L" equipment numbers duplicate in different sequences, depending upon what the material is. I.e. "L42A1" 7.62mm ball ammunition is just an ammo model number, and does not have anything to do with the rifle itself.

Why would he think a special sling was developed for an L8 rifle? If such a thing existed, I'm sure it would be so rare that he'd be lucky to have acquired it anyway!

[Peter Laidler]

There were THREE slings for the L42. The original old (and truth be told, absolutely crap.........) leather sling taken from the No4T. Then there was the sky-high priced wide shiny nylon sling. This was also marginal because it was so slippery that it had to be clamped with the buckle. This was withdrawn/discontinued after the Falklands war due to the fact that the nylon was of the must highly burnable type! After that a new cotton webbing type was introduced that wouldn't burn and best of all, it wouldn't slip and even better, everyone liked it. IT continued over into the L96 era. They were all called the SLING, L8 but the 'L8' relates to the SLING type and not the rifle.

The cotton sling operates as the nylon sling does

We did the trials of the cotton sling here. It's a very versatile bit of kit and I see some Police forces are using it on their rifles too But maybe because they think that they're 'snipers'. Good shots, maybe - but snipers......................... I don't think so!

I seem to recall doing a short article on the slings for the CSP forum some time ago if anyone can bring it up. But in short, the narrower cotton sling is one of the L42 alternatives. The reason that none or not many found their way into the L42 kits at the time of disposal was because they had to be transferred over to the replacement L96

[Strangely Brown]

Thanks guys appreciate your input!

[Peter Laidler]

I've got one on my No4T and a smart-arse came up to me and told me that it wasn't the right sling. I told him that in all probability, the rifle wasn't exactly as it should be either - but I didn't care because it shoots like a dream, even with the wrong sling!

[Cold_Zero]

There were THREE slings for the L42. The original old (and truth be told, absolutely crap.........) leather sling taken from the No4T. Then there was the sky-high priced wide shiny nylon sling. This was also marginal because it was so slippery that it had to be clamped with the buckle. This was withdrawn/discontinued after the Falklands war due to the fact that the nylon was of the must highly burnable type! After that a new cotton webbing type was introduced that wouldn't burn and best of all, it wouldn't slip and even better, everyone liked it. IT continued over into the L96 era. They were all called the SLING, L8 but the 'L8' relates to the SLING type and not the rifle.

The cotton sling operates as the nylon sling does

We did the trials of the cotton sling here. It's a very versatile bit of kit and I see some Police forces are using it on their rifles too But maybe because they think that they're 'snipers'. Good shots, maybe - but snipers......................... I don't think so!

I seem to recall doing a short article on the slings for the CSP forum some time ago if anyone can bring it up. But in short, the narrower cotton sling is one of the L42 alternatives. The reason that none or not many found their way into the L42 kits at the time of disposal was because they had to be transferred over to the replacement L96

Some pictures of the wide nylon sling and thin cotton sling. The wide sling has a consistency very similar to seatbelt material.

[Peter Laidler]

That's the one CZ. The newer narrower cotton non-burn slings are/were made by a little Belgian company as I seem to recall. That's a good descripton of the big wide older sling. They were about as slippery and shiny as seat belt material. They were made by GQ-IRVING who bought out the original firm of AEROLEX. The old L8 spec sling is still in the system (Skippy..........!) but is not the sling issued with the big .338 rifle. However, because it's so good and versatile, I see that the snipers are still using the old cotton slings.

Get one while you can I say.................

[MJ1]

Well I have been wrong then for the longest time. I always thought it was "SLING-EXPENSIVE MkI", my bad as they say.

...MJ...

[m4carbine]

If the cotton L8A1 is a good choice how did the British military end up with the (two steps backward) Nylon slings now found on the L118A1 and the L115A3?