New wood for the L1A1

[sirhrmechanic]

So after several years of 'meaning to get around to it' finally put some cool new wood on the L1A1 SLR. The nasty plastic stock just didn't cut it!

Great shout out to Confluence Wood/Kalashnicarver Customs which did the wood kit. Not only is it gorgeous but the 'fitting' was little more than shaving one tiny bit of wood away from the gas tube. so that the forend would line up. Their customer service is also fantastic! Great communications... even after hours and on weekends! Their backlog means that orders can take a while (I ordered this set in March-ish. And they told me it would be about 6 months. It was actually less than that, it just took some time for me to get around to putting it together! We also had a couple of bits for a Metric Pattern, but sorted it out super fast and they swapped out the stock in a matter of days! Absolutely great company!!

https://www.kalashnicarver.com/

Kukri's and Jambiya because.... why not?

Sirhr

 

[Stevo86]

So after several years of 'meaning to get around to it' finally put some cool new wood on the L1A1 SLR. The nasty plastic stock just didn't cut it!

Great shout out to Confluence Wood/Kalashnicarver Customs which did the wood kit. Not only is it gorgeous but the 'fitting' was little more than shaving one tiny bit of wood away from the gas tube. so that the forend would line up. Their customer service is also fantastic! Great communications... even after hours and on weekends! Their backlog means that orders can take a while (I ordered this set in March-ish. And they told me it would be about 6 months. It was actually less than that, it just took some time for me to get around to putting it together! We also had a couple of bits for a Metric Pattern, but sorted it out super fast and they swapped out the stock in a matter of days! Absolutely great company!!

https://www.kalashnicarver.com/

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Kukri's and Jambiya because.... why not?

Sirhr

Needs neon yellow and lime green paint

 

[Rodney65]

Neat! How does it shoot and how do you like the optic? I always wondered why FAL optics only really caught on with the UK and not other countries.

 

[sirhrmechanic]

Neat! How does it shoot and how do you like the optic? I always wondered why FAL optics only really caught on with the UK and not other countries.

It's not a precision match rifle by any means. But I have shot a lot of coyotes with it! It shoots Minute of Yote just fine.

I like the optic. I have a tritium element for it that I built using a tritium lamp from a keychain! It's a really good combat optic. It's not a great precision optic. But was never intended to be. Minute of Argie!

Sirhr

 

[sirhrmechanic]

Needs neon yellow and lime green paint

Don't think I have not contemplated it!

Sirhr

 

[ZG47A]

That takes me back. The grease-covered spare rifles in our unit's cage at the main camp armoury had their original wood with triangular fore-end. The issued rifles either had a wood-plastic mixture or all-plastic furniture.

 

[Aftermath]

FUCKINAYE!!! That's nice!

Mine is the shorter variant, all plastic and Krylon and a Leupold.

 

[Sniff]

The triangular coachwood fore ends always looked the nicest. They weren't as durable as the later laminated oval shaped ones or the black plastic ones, but certainly looked good.

In the late 1980's there were some SLRs (Self Loading Rifle, as the L1A1 was known in the military. ) in the camp armoury at Trentham Military Camp, north of Wellington. They belonged to HMNZS Wakefield, a navy command and admin unit. They were almost mint except for a few scratches on the brass butt plates. They had only ever been used as parade weapons.

The rest in the armoury were army rifles with 30 years of hard use. They had a mixture of furniture, the original coachwood, later wooden and black plastic. One rifle could have three different styles of furniture on it. NZ army only replaced bits as they broke, not a wholesale replacement of wood with plastic like the British forces did.

Almost all NZ ones were made by Lithgow in Australia. I'd have to dig out a book to find the details.

I brought two after they were sold off by the army when replaced with the Steyr AUG.

Even after being replaced by the Steyr, the Navy kept some SLRs for conversion to line throwing guns. Some of the Navy guns were jazzed up with picatinny rails and suppressors and taken to Afghanistan by NZSAS when they wanted extra the hitting power of the 7.62x51 round.

 

[sirhrmechanic]

How my love affair with the FAL began..

IYKYK!!!

Sirhr