Since the end of the Second World War, many countries around the world had adopted some form of self loading rifle for general service. This means that once an initial round of ammunition had been fed into the chamber of the barrel firing that round produced pressure, some of which could he used to extract, eject, feed and chamber another round without any help from the user. Germany in particular, had developed many outstanding “assault rifles” during the war while the Americans were almost totally equipped with the 8 shot Garand. We, well, we still used the No.4, Lee-Enfield.303” bolt action rifle. A manually operated arm, splendid thing but in the main, still in service because “Arms Drill” centered around “Slope Arms”, and the rifle favoured by us being the F.N. F.A.L. which had a projecting cocking handle would have dug into the shoulder when being carried at the “slope” and therefore could not have been seen as a replacement rifle for service by us. Discipline on Gods Hallowed Acre”, the drill square ruled over by the Regimental Sergeant Major was total, and therefore, a thing that could not be carried at the slope would not be tolerated. However, world events that involved us were being fought against people with access to tremendous fire power and our bolt action rifles were at a disadvantage compared with such as the Kalashnikov. User trials by us favoured the F. N. self loading rifle. In fact weapon trials showed that the bull-pup .280” rifle known as the EM2. was streets ahead but politics put an end to that one and we were left with the F N. which although trialed in Aden and Malaya, that showed many fundamental faults, was eventually adopted for service in 1957. Our version, made both at Enfield and B.S.A. in Birmingham had several improvements such as sand cuts in the carrier and body that resulted in better performance in sand and mud. It still fell far short of the standards deemed to be the basis for a service arm used by us. For those who might remember the L.I.A.I.,(SLR), the millions of “check zero” rounds that were fired while the foresights were screwed up and down and the backsights wound left and right and the whole dreadful process had to he repeated every day for ever! A much minor fault of wandering zero resulted in the Rifle. No5, (jungle carbine) being binned within 3 years of service. Remember “failure to fire on gas setting 4” and all those other faults that plagued the SLR? It did however, fire a man stopping bullet. It was quite tough. It did generally keep going when the conditions were dreadful. Compared to the SA80, it was a dream! And, add to that a folding cocking handle developed by us for slope arms drill, there was in the end, no need to modify our drill to “Shoulder Arms”, which looked rather like some city fellow carrying his folded umbrella! Never mind that it might not be very good as a rifle, “damn it man, we’ll have to change our drill” After the mid 1980’s, the L.I.A.I… Rifle was replaced by the totally dreadful tin and broken weld SA80 which totally plumbed dreaded depths never seen by the British service before. Roll on de-mob!
The good old SLR may have fired a ‘Man Stopping Round’ but how many of us have seen people who have been hit with it’s round and just kept running!! Problem was that if the round did not hit a ‘bony’ bit on entry it would keep on going and exit the other side. Small hole on side, bloody great hole the other.
Having used the SA80 the only good thing I have to say about it is the fact that with the optic sight it was easier to zero and held the zero longer. It is also easier for the technophobs when it came to the zeroing, ie just follow the arrows on both parts of the sighting system. The days of trying to work out which way to turn the rear sight ended.
To be fair, the A2 does now go bang when you pull the trigger…
Australia modified drill to carry the weapon in the hand of the vertical right arm with the hand holding the pistol grip. Small picture but it’s the best I could find.
One advantage of the SLR was its wooden stock. Could be, and at times was, used as a club in Vietnam. Can’t do that with modern plastic stocks.
So gas setting 4 was the one to stop it firing? Presumably that was with ball. All gas settings stopped it firing with blank firing attachments. Completely defeated the purposes of (a) designing, manufacturing, issuing, and fitting a blank firing attachment and (b) engaging in any blank firing exercise involving semi-automatic fire, although provided solid training in single shot, hand cocking operation of no practical value.
Australian SAS in Vietnam had a shortened barrel version (possibly with flash eliminator removed - can’t remember) commonly known as “The Bitch”. I believe it had a fair recoil and was prone to climb on full auto, although often fitted with a grenade launcher so that might have compensated. Made a much louder bang than the standard SLR, which I think was one of the attractions. I think the armourers modified them to order rather than being factory models.
Standard issue Australian factory models were produced in Australia at the Small Arms Factory at Lithgow.
Australian soldiers in Vietnam seem generally to have been fond of the SLR in action.
City fellows carrying umbrellas? 
As the Australians performed the same drill as the British, did the instructors attend Purbrite, or did they just get hold of the manuals?
What’s Purbrite? A special issue Brasso for shining up cats? 
(Which might suggest it was navy issue. )
More seriously, it’s obviously a place of instruction but the name doesn’t mean anything to me.
I might have got on the wrong tram here. I gathered from earlier posts that the British SLR / FN drill was to slope arms with the rifle on the shoulder and the forearm bent at a right angle to the vertical upper arm so that the rifle is held in the cupped hand at an angle to the body, as in WWII.
No, the SLR was held at the shoulder, as in your photo above.
If you scroll down the link a little:
http://www.36regimentra.org.uk/id34.htm
Sorry, should have read - Pirbright!
My ignorance remains intact.
What was it?
Off topic, but related. In my strange mind, anyway.
The sad part about some of those parades of soldiers returning from Vietnam, such as in the picture in my earlier post, was the protest activity they had to endure from well-intentioned (and in retrospect probably right in their views) but publicity-seeking anti-war dickheads, such as screeching sheilas covered in red paint mauling the leading elements. It’s a measure of the troops’ discipline that they just kept marching and ignored it**, and doubly so as these blokes were returning almost directly from active war service where a lot of them had been used to doing some real harm to people who even looked like attacking them. The early coming-home parades disappeared and the Army arranged for the returning troops to slink home out of sight. What a great tribute by a grateful nation! :evil:
** But not necessarily. During my five minutes of selfless but wholly undistinguished service to the nation as a weekend warrior, my unit (=Territorial in UK) was in a ceremonial parade around the height of the anti-Vietnam protests when public opinion had swung very much against the war. The parade involved marching with the unit’s (very rarely displayed) colours along some streets and then onto a field for the main ceremony. The colours had a distinguished heritage in WWI and WWII, and even involvement early in Vietnam due to some odd military arrangements regarding my unit which had a regular element early on in Vietnam.
Our RSM, a regular soldier and a fearsome man with an impeccable service record, including an MM, anticipated trouble from protesters. He drilled us remorselessly for a long time beforehand in how the colours were to be defended. The essence was that at the first sign of any protesters attacking the colour party, a series of commands would be given which would result in the unit forming a double British square around the colours with bayonets fixed. Outer front rank kneeling. Outer rear rank standing. Inner (nearest colour party) front rank kneeling. Inner rear rank standing. Our RSM made it clear that he would be most displeased if any protester managed to get through this military porcupine and get anywhere near the colours. If we looked like being overwhelmed by numbers and lacked command, we were free to do what was necessary (bearing in mind that we were limited to unloaded weapons with bayonets fixed), but in a disciplined and violently effective fashion. I may be one of the few Australian soldiers ever trained in forming a British square.
Like a lot of the blokes, I wouldn’t have minded a stoush at the time. Like a few of them I attended a Vietnam moratorium maybe 12 or 18 months later, having turned against the war. But not against my country.
The oddest thing about that parade is probably that I happened to end up working with the adjutant of my old unit in the late 1990’s, in civilian life with nothing to do with military service, and we got to discussing that parade. Neither of us knew the other existed at the time of that parade. The adjutant, although a militia officer, had served in Vietnam for some months on attachment to a regular unit. He told me that he knew we were thoroughly buggered as a nation in Vietnam when he’d come back from Vietnam to find that the unit was training for that parade to injure other Australians exercising their legitimate right to protest against a war being fought to protect their freedom to protest, under direction of a government which had its troops slinking back home in the dead of night to avoid a focus for protests.
It wasn’t a great time in our military and national history.
People may exercise their democratic rights and protest as much as they wish…but don’t mess with the Colours, it’s akin to messing wih war graves - fixed bayonets sounds quite reasonable to me!
When the Colours (you’re right - I should have capitalised the word) were unfurled for the benefit of those of us detailed to defend them, there wasn’t any great ceremony or profound lecture beforehand. Just a clear but unemotional summary by the RSM of the battles and sacrifices and achievements, by the men and for the nation, that they represented and a quiet assurance that we were the inheritors (we weren’t in a fit!) and defenders of those traditions and that we would respect, defend and continue them.
We got the talk on some Saturday or Sunday while the colours were still furled before us in the drill hall. We were assured that they were rarely unfurled. When they were unfurled, after the talk, we felt privileged to have seen them, and obliged to defend what they represented.
It was a reverential event.
Such is tradition instilled.
You are probably aware of this, but, for any other interested parties - with British regiments, when the Colours are paraded they are escorted not only by senior ranks with fixed bayonets, but also the Pioneer Platoon Sergeant, armed with a bloody, great axe, just in case anyone feels like being naughty.
The wandering zero problem of the No.5 is largely mythical, and appears to stem from Fulton’s et al trying to bed the rifle the same as the number 4 (i.e. six pounds pressure against the wood, instead of free-floating like it is meant to be).
Reference the yummy gorgeous SLR, if you pack it with a bit of foam between the upper and the lower receiver, then the zero does not wander anywhere near as much. I’m shooting mine in a competition next week, so we will have to see how it performs (I have replaced the rear sight with a non folding one though, which is also packed).
Are yours allowed a beard?
Yes, same traditions; same drill, same chopper.
Would there be any variations?
Or am I confusing potentially vicious mascots with Colour guards?
Is that a goatie beard on the Welsh chap.
Probably not. It’s dark.
The goat is white.
A dark beard is what you get down the mine, Dai!
P.S. It gets lonely down the mines, Dai, but it’s good that the goat doesn’t have any dark smudges on it, Dai!
Pirbright’s one of our Basic Training depots down in southern England, primarily responsible these days for training recruits to the Royal Regiment of Artillery, Household Cavalry Regiment, Royal Logistics Corps and Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers. In days past it was the depot of the Guards Division.
To be fair to the poor old Bob Marley - the A2 variant was tested against a lot of other rifles and was far superior in terms of accuracy and reliability than most (all?) of them. Considering the gripes about the M16 family coming from US troops in Iraq, it now appears to be far superior to its American cousin. I certainly never had a problem with it on Salisbury Plain or in Iraq.