NZ contact L2A1

[browningautorifle]

Lithgow made 9,557 L2A1's and 30 rd magazines

Do we have any pics of the markings? I'm guessing they are marked like the UK did theirs?

[mrclark303]

Do we have any pics of the markings? I'm guessing they are marked like the UK did theirs?

Here's the markings on my Malay contract example Jim, with regard to the magazines, there is no information on them whatsoever. I have two straight 30rd mags, both identical.

You can clearly see the pin stop hole, pinned at one time to prevent full auto operation (that and the longer L1A1 trigger plunger). A reminder of a time when common sense was applied to firearms legislation in the UK, a time sadly now long gone!

Attachment 78200Attachment 78201Attachment 78202

[Peter Laidler]

The 'stop in hole' you mention. Is this the little hole just ahead of the change lever radius (photo 1)? I don't remember this on our L2's although I only saw and fired a few. Is this a commercial afterthought? As Woody says in thread 17, it was really a heavy rifle as opposed to an LMG.

I do remember on our 1st class course in Singapore, the Australians and NZers always referred to the 'safety sear' as the 'automatic sear' which it effectively was. Thereafter, and in our exams it was always the auto-sear!

[mrclark303]

Thanks for that info Woodsy, I have never had the pleasure of shooting an L2, but it is somewhat awkward, unlike most other areas of the inch pattern Fal, it really doesn't come over as particularly well thought out, bit of an evolutionary dead end if you will.

I guess the "all things to all men" temptation was too strong at the time, a bit like the similarly poorly thought out British L86A1/2. At least we in the UK had the good sense to stick with the Bren at the time.

---------- Post added at 12:01 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:56 AM ----------

The 'stop in hole' you mention. Is this the little hole just ahead of the change lever radius (photo 1)? I don't remember this on our L2's although I only saw and fired a few. Is this a commercial afterthought? As Woody says in thread 17, it was really a heavy rifle as opposed to an LMG.

Yep, a UK pre 1988 semi auto ban civilian modification Peter, stop pin added and longer trigger plunger. I am surprised they didn't just replace the L2A1 selective fire safety with an L1A1 example.

I guess this was the cheapest route to make it a UK legal Semi automatic at the time.

[browningautorifle]

it was really a heavy rifle

Absolutely agree...that's why I applied the hose clamp. That selector is a carefully manicured two position model. Just a bit of grinding done and the shaft welded in. Are there any markings on the long straight mags? Or do they resemble Canadian mags with no markings at all?

[mrclark303]

Absolutely agree...that's why I applied the hose clamp. That selector is a carefully manicured two position model. Just a bit of grinding done and the shaft welded in. Are there any markings on the long straight mags? Or do they resemble Canadian mags with no markings at all?

Hi Jim, talk about hidden in plain sight! You are quite right, It had not occurred to me to check the selector, no second indent..

So, a more thorough semi auto build than I thought, to be honest I never carried out an automatic function check following the cosmetic rebuild.

Just checked the ex NZ L2, its the correct L2 type.

No markings of any kind on the magazine shell Jim.

[browningautorifle]

Our FA selector has a shorter head and the top end is about round like a dime. The selector would rotate all the way round and stop against the Trigger axis pin. Guess these did too. We didn't have any stop pins, the top end of the selector body stopped against the upper receiver. Our SA selector didn't have the under cut for the trigger axis pin either I think, just the FA did.

[mrclark303]

The adjusted example rotates round (almost) to the full auto position, but it doesn't have the cutout to ride over the trigger access pin and locate in the TMH "A" indent.

It's become so engrained over the years to dry fire firearms as little as possible, I rarely work the actions of my deactivated collection .. I know, doesn't make any sense, after all what damage could it cause on a deac!

Had I done a full functionality check after I reassembled the refurbished Malay L2, then it would have been bleeding obvious!

[muffett.2008]

Always had a love affair with the aussie L2A1, most of my MG Trophies were won with it.
1st round hits on figure targets from 600m, lighter than the Bren and just an all round great weapon for the Machine Gun Rundowns.
Used to really pee the Line Battallions teams off to be beat by RAEME Wallers at their own game.

[browningautorifle]

beat by RAEME Wallers

A hatbadge doesn't denote the best shots. The queen's medal does. We used to see some of the finest shots come from air force or navy and same with the drill competition teams... A friend of mine was a armorer and he shot like ringin' a bell. Just means the others have to work harder and not rest on their laurels...