SAS L1A1 (but not really)

[tankhunter]

Pete, I never encountered any mix of wood & plastic together, on any L1A1's I inspected or worked on in Service. Even doing inspections on War Reserve stocks, did not reveal any either!

I would only imagine, if in an 'up the sharp end' situation. if a lack of spares forced the change of particular component. Then it would be fitted to keep the weapon in Action. (if Safe!)
& when spares became sufficient, the weapon in question called in to the Armourer. For replacement of the correct component/ part.

[Woodsy]

When I bought 1,000 L1A1's off the NZ Army in 1988 (changeover to Steyr AUG), plastic/wood mixing was common. NZ Army removed most of the carry handles years before (a soldier carrying his rifle by the handle was no use to anyone) and filled the slot with a rubber washer, but the few that had carry handles were a mixture of wood and plastic. The Maranyl plastic furniture was made in NZ for a few years. I will see if I can dig out some old photos of the shipment. I stripped, checked, and rebuilt every rifle with the correct matching of furniture. Only about 10 rifles were U/S out of the thousand (mostly damaged barrels) and these were rebarrelled in either .308 or .243 and refurbished as target or hunting rifles. I also did a couple in 7mm/08 in later years.

[browningautorifle]

rebarrelled in either .308 or .243 and refurbished as target or hunting rifles. I also did a couple in 7mm/08 in later years.

I wonder how they would work in 22-250?

[enbloc8]

When I bought 1,000 L1A1's off the NZ Army in 1988 (changeover to Steyr AUG), plastic/wood mixing was common. NZ Army removed most of the carry handles years before (a soldier carrying his rifle by the handle was no use to anyone) and filled the slot with a rubber washer, but the few that had carry handles were a mixture of wood and plastic. The Maranyl plastic furniture was made in NZ for a few years. I will see if I can dig out some old photos of the shipment. I stripped, checked, and rebuilt every rifle with the correct matching of furniture. Only about 10 rifles were U/S out of the thousand (mostly damaged barrels) and these were rebarrelled in either .308 or .243 and refurbished as target or hunting rifles. I also did a couple in 7mm/08 in later years.

I'm curious, are there any "official" numbers on how many of NZ's L1A1s stayed in NZ, as opposed to being exported to the US or elsewhere?

[Woodsy]

I'm curious, are there any "official" numbers on how many of NZ's L1A1s stayed in NZ, as opposed to being exported to the US or elsewhere?

NZ had 15,663 L1A1's and 375 L2A1's. 2,500 L1A1's were put up for public tender in 1988 (where my 1,000 came from), and the Police subsequently objected to the influx of semi-auto rifles at low prices so all future internal sales by NZ Defence ceased. All subsequent disposals were overseas. A few of each were retained by the NZ Army Museum and some L2A1's, L4 Brens, and M16A1's have been sold by the Musuem to collectors at auction. Therefore the number of NZ L1A1's sold internally was 2,500, plus there have also been private and dealer imports from overseas of British and Australian L1A1's, probably not exceeding 200. The number of NZ L2A1's sold by the museum would be about 10, but a reasonable number of Singaporean contract guns were imported by a dealer about 15 years ago (20-30?).

---------- Post added at 09:42 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:36 PM ----------

I wonder how they would work in 22-250?

I had thought about that but they did not work at all well in the magazines so I flagged the idea as being more work than it was worth. One day, just for fun, I built one into a select-fire, fully suppressed .45 ACP using M3 magazines. It was straight blow-back and I ground off the locking shoulder on the bolt and welded it into the carrier in the full battery position. It was only as a workshop toy and it worked (and apparently still does) extremely well. I sold it a few years ago to a mate.

[browningautorifle]

I built one into a select-fire, fully suppressed .45 ACP using M3 magazines. It was straight blow-back and I ground off the locking shoulder on the bolt and welded it into the carrier in the full battery position.

That would be interesting to get my nose over and check out...curiosity... It fired from the closed bolt and the lack of lock allowed it to function? The strength of the return spring(s) were enough to hold it together... The rest of the function follows. I always wondered why Colt didn't just use it's original rotating bolt and hot gas system to operate the 9mm and .45 cal versions. But that's not what we're doing here...

[Woodsy]

Attachment 83488
This is not the clearest photo but it appears to be the only one I have of the .45 conversion (I did it about 1990). The weight of the welded bolt assembly was a smidge on the light side so the cyclic rate was quite high (in the 1000-1200 rpm range) but it never missed a beat. I made a filler block for the rear of the mag well, and an AR15 style mag catch. The filler block also had a vertical ejector post. Apart from the new 10" barrel, welded bolt, L2A1 selector, and mag assembly, everything else was standard L1A1. When I sold it I fitted a scope base to the dust cover. I used to demonstrate it to customers in the lawn outside my business (out of sight of the road!). None of the surrounding businesses ever heard a thing, including the toolmaker in the front premises (20 metres away) who worked with his big workshop door open.

[mrclark303]

Very interesting concept rifle Woodsy, facinating idea,I was wondering about the cyclic rate.

Got to ask, when you first test fired it, did you pull the trigger or was it fired remotely?

Do you know were it is these days?

With the exception of the .22 conversion kits, it must be the only blow back L1A1 hybrid out there.

PS Nice Krag in The corner!

[Woodsy]

Very interesting concept rifle Woodsy, facinating idea,I was wondering about the cyclic rate.

Got to ask, when you first test fired it, did you pull the trigger or was it fired remotely?

Do you know were it is these days?

With the exception of the .22 conversion kits, it must be the only blow back L1A1 hybrid out there.

PS Nice Krag in The corner!

I hand fired it, first with one round in the mag, then with 3 on semi-auto, then a burst with 3 rounds in the mag. All good to go after that! Yes, I know where it is as I sold it to a mate. I saw him a month ago and he was still all smiles about it.

I had 2 .30/40 Krags, an 1899 rifle and a 1900 carbine. I found the carbine in NZ and bought the rifle from a gun shop in Surfers Paradise, QLD. It took 18 months to get it
back to NZ. I sold them both about 5 years ago.

[browningautorifle]

bought the rifle from a gun shop in Surfers Paradise

I didn't find any gun shops there when I was there, but that was long ago. The can would get hot during a shoot I should think, I'd be going through lots for sure with it. Looks about like an M3A1 I did some years back. That thing got unbelievably hot. Neat concept gun...