Beech Aussie Handguards

[newcastle]

Q for you Peter. How would a Lithgow L1A1 end up with you in the British Army. Did we buy them from Australia or woudl it just be by circumstance / changing in the Falklands or any other combat or exercises etc.

[Peter Laidler]

Two good reasons. a) I was attached to the Australian Army for almost 3 years between 1967 and 70 and in Malaya we had pooled Ordnance stocks where we had UK and Australian rifles, ammunition, Land Rovers and Bedfords and the usual other stuff. and b) we purchased some from Aust to bolster our dwindling stocks during the 80's

[scoobsean]

When I was in the ACF back in the mid 1980s we used to occasionally get to shoot L1A1s when we went away on camps. Sometimes they had a mix of wood and plastic stocking. Was this the usual practice too?

[Peter Laidler]

Yes it was permitted but generally speaking if a rifle had wood h/guards then it'd be fitted with wood p/grip and butt. What was not permitted was a mix of wood/plastic h/guards

[nzl1a1collector]

The British MOD purchased a quantity of Australian built L1A1 rifles direct from Lithgow, they were sold to the MOD without furniture and fittings in 1972 and 1973. Its noted in the EMER's that Australian rifle will be en counted and just because they have some slightly different design features these differences were to be accepted when inspected. A lot of the differences had been given production concession codes.

1972 MOD London: 31 Rifles (no furniture or fittings) AD7208114 - AD7208144
1972 MOD London: 392 Rifles (no furniture or fittings) AD7208147 - AD7208538
1973 MOD London: 1625 Rifles (no furniture) AD7300043 - AD7301667

1975 UK Ordnance Depot: 156 rifles (Long Hinge Pin) AD7501744 - AD7501899
1975 RSAF Enfield: 8 Rifles (no furniture) AD7501900 - AD7501907

[Peter Laidler]

That's pretty well definitive. We definately had Lithgow rifles mixed in with the usual UK made L1's. If you see any of these you'll find that some of them have been allocated one of the codified numbers such as SA79A12345. I can assume that they came as bare bodies/barrels(?) as they'd be cheaper and we could fit our own plentiful plastic furniture and other stuff.

[newcastle]

This is what i have. Attachment 66083

Looks pretty beechy to me. Are there any otehr woods used that look similar?

[mrclark303]

Yep, looks like British pattern beech to me too...

Any luck finding a forend?

[Brian Dick]

I've never seen British beech handguards over here that I can remember. I've got an nos beech buttstock and a couple of pistol grips too so they must exist. Decent British walnut and beech have always been scarce on the ground in these parts. There used to be a lot of Australian coachwood available, both the early solid and later laminated handguards too. Try Rav at Dealer's Warehouse in Sacramento. He may be able to help with a set of wood that will match up, even if it's coachwood.