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Thread: Lithgow SAF Wooden L1A1 Rifle Servicing Stand..... looking for one.

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  1. #1
    Legacy Member nzl1a1collector's Avatar
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    Lithgow SAF Wooden L1A1 Rifle Servicing Stand..... looking for one.

    After reading the request for information about the Britishicon Armourers horse, it reminded me of an item I'm chasing and as the title says, I'm looking for one of the Lithgowicon SAF L1A1 Rifle servicing stands OR a plan or dimensions of one so I could have one made.

    Do any of the Aussie members have one in their collection they could take some photos and measurements of.

    Here's what they look like. These are out of the Lithgow Technical Brochure Supplement, sorry about the quality, they haven't scanned very well.



    Information
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    Legacy Member tankhunter's Avatar
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    The Hydraulic press behind the stand. I would say, was for pressing out/ inserting locking shoulders on the L1A1.

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    Legacy Member nzl1a1collector's Avatar
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    Yep, its a Lithgowicon SAF Shoulder Locking Fixture Assembly


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    Contributing Member mrclark303's Avatar
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    I would love one myself Kevin, what a useful bit of kit for rifle maintenance.

    Would these have been purely base workshop issue?

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    Looks like a CHS gauge left under the breech too. I appreciate that there's something collectable about these things but.......... If it was me having to fix or service a rifle - having done it once or twice as I recall - I'd just put the butt in the soft jawed vice, swing the horse out to support the barrel, tighten up and then set about the repair

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    Legacy Member nzl1a1collector's Avatar
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    Its a base workshops issued item and ideal if you are working on 100 rifles a week

    Lithgowicon suggest you use the following items for changing out a locking shoulder manually.



    Removing Punch and drift


    Positioning Key and Punch

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    Legacy Member nzl1a1collector's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Peter Laidlericon View Post
    Looks like a CHS gauge left under the breech too. I appreciate that there's something collectable about these things but.......... If it was me having to fix or service a rifle - having done it once or twice as I recall - I'd just put the butt in the soft jawed vice, swing the horse out to support the barrel, tighten up and then set about the repair
    That's why someone at Base workshops made this piece. Just put it in the vice, fit a rifle and then headspace it. Remove, replace, headspace repeat, repeat, repeat......


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    We had those servicing blocks issued but better still and cheaper was an old magazine filled with resin or wood. Probably not as durable though

    One of our Corporals, I think it was John Dxxxxx from the pineapple lands of Qld put up a good suggestion regarding locking shoulders at unit level. We weren't allowed to use any impact method (such as a hammer or drift) to remove or replace locking shoulders due to the danger of internally fracturing the locking shoulder. Because we used to put the old used/removed ones back in the tray to reuse so there was a danger there. Anyway....... Can I assume that the tools shown above are hard brass KtK?

    His idea to test for loose L/S's was a small mathematically calculated drop test, similar to the wood/fibre block above but using a holding plate and brass drift. If a 2lb hammer head was dropped down onto the drift and L/S from a set height, and the L/S remained secure, then it was acceptable. If it moved out, even slightly, it was loose. It went up - or down in this case to the REME Inspectorate blokes in Singapore where it was tested at the big base workshop engineering facility - and then back to Bandiana but I don't think he heard any more. But we used it thereafter to test for loose ones. Otherwise there was no true test except '......can you press it out?' by which time you'd gone past the point of any (?) repair. An oil squeeze was not acceptable for various mechanical reasons

    Locking shoulders and CHS wasn't a major problem because the breech blocks were numbered to the rifle (unlike the current L85's and 86's which aren't....., heaven knows why I am bound to ask.... but loose locking shoulders were something that you had to keep an eye on because the recoil load made its way through the L/S and directly but radially onto the solid block behind it.

    Interesting thread seeing these tools again. Do you have a white handled bayonet with a 3" or so chopped-off blade KtK. We had an old gripless one as a slave for testing flash eliminator alignment, tightness and serviceability

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    Legacy Member nzl1a1collector's Avatar
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    In the Manual, it doesn't detail the material to use, just the dimensions, so I made them out of steel and of course with this system of removal you wouldn't be able to reuse the old locking shoulder.

    The official test in the Australianicon instructions IIRC was to use an automatic punch with a maximum blow of 50 lbs. If the locking shoulder moved then it was to be replaced. This is probably stems from John Dxxxxx idea of using a hammer. In fact I think in an early version of the EMER, they talk about a a hammer blow..... but that was then superseded by the automatic punch.

    I've never seen a white handle bayonet with the blade chopped, or a slave version.

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