Sand Cuts: What Are They And What Are They Supposed To Do? L1A1 SLR FN FAL / L2A3 Sterling Mk.4 

Oh, if I had such documentation I'd have shared it of course!

@@BlokeontheRange Information is probably in the RA archive.

Have a thumb up for warning of Leopard issues ;-)

They're not buried THAT deep. I came across some of that stuff researching the EM2. I'd be glad to help Bloke access it 😊

Drove past Warcop a few months back on the A66 but couldn't really divert to go back down memory lane as I had a caravan in tow

what straight blowback does to a mf

Heavy weight helps when you are getting pushed around all day with no support. 😁

Sterling 1956 Lazer Gun ...

The FAL has tilting bolt which locks the breech closed on the locking shoulder, so at the moment of firing the bolt is locked closed, recoil unlocks the bolt to recycle via the gas system, a Sterling fires from an open bolt so at the moment of firing only the mass of the bolt seals the breech, recoil overcomes that but the mass of the bolt delays it moving backwards long enough for thr chamber pressure to drop. So in short the FAL uses geometry and mechanical advantage to lock and unlock the breech, the Sterling uses mass and inertia to keep the breech sealed.

@@robbell3217more locked breach smg’s!

Lolno, still no solvents. Just an instruction not to use abrasives on any parts which have been coated. So you can imagine how little coating is left once John Squaddy has been at it with the Scotchbrite for hour after hour trying to make it look shiny, lol...

@@BlokeontheRange SF platoons jetwash the L7s.

Understandably! :D

Nothing new. They had to ban using the ramrod to burnish musket barrels bright as investigations into burst barrels and reports from the Tower on muskets turned in after their 12 year life showed that they were being rubbed so thin that they burst. Squaddies still did it though. Meanwhile SNCOs were still b*locking the peasantry for their barrels being not shiny enough……. Nothing changes.

@@BlokeontheRange You're in your own time now.

Issued Radway Green RG 2z 9mm funnily enough was /is a hotter than normal 9mm so that SMG's would function reliably, guess the Indian stuff was not up to that spec. Not good for shooting in Lugers and old 9mm pistols though as was known to wreck them due to higher pressures. Never had any problems in my Walther P1 or issued FN high power though.

Yup, 2z is hot stuff, developed to please the STEN and its particularities.... What I find particularly interesting about the Sterling is that, since it's a commercial product, it's designed to cope with a huge variety of ammo. Mine rather likes Geco 115gn (Hungarian-made, white box). Shoots bang on the sights, and has no vices with it, but it'll function with anything except the Hirtenberger L7A1 hot ammo, which bursts cases (that stuff runs fine in a STEN though).

Nice choice! Also how about a Winchester Model 1873 and a Colt Single Action Army?

As a seven year U.S. Army vet, I'm genuinely curious as to your definition of what a bearing surface is. The AR/M-16 bolt has seven locking lugs (I've got one on my desk right now).

@@andrewcappiello5585 Oops! Busted!!😖 I meant 'bolt carrier'. Thanks for calling that out--corrected

finger out of trigger guard when racking etc also desirable

Read a later STEN pamphlet, they went back on that

First serious combat use of the STEN was North Africa so yes the pamphlets will have said run it dry - but then again as little oil as possible was the prevailing advice for both the SMLE and the Bren in that particular theatre. I can see that changing for cool temperate though just to stop it rusting.

The trials report by Lt. Col Thornton dated 28 July 1941 refers to the gun needing to be run dry. These trials were carried out by the Small Arms School at Hythe.

The bolt carrier has no influence on headspace

nope, wheelbarrow, folding shovel, 5litres of water and the same patch of Arizona soil/dust/caliche everytime ;-) oh and a foamie ear plug for the muzzle...

When SLR was acquired by us Brits, we were engaged in the business of exiting Empire and (O BTW) trying not to lose control over the Suez Canal. Easy, then, to understand why sand was the problem, not mud. Maybe.😎

Hmmmm, interesting idea - I've got some powder coating powder in some garish colours so that would show up really well if I used bright pink powder!

​@@BlokeontheRangedo you think board chalk or a ground up crayon might also do the job?

Or the Doctor will bother to tell UNIT not to use copper-jacketed bullets.

ITAR shouldnt prohibit a scope mount. Email DS Arms, they're good people.

Into the 90's, and even in remf hands in operation desert storm

@@BlokeontheRange yeah, its a ok platform , I still had a crappy sloppy mismatched Ithaca Remington Rand with a horrible trigger , a 1911 from the 40s in 87.

It was 94 before my TA medical unit got the SA80, I carried an SMG in Germany on exercise in '92.

@@cmck472 I had a 1911 and regardless of what you hear they were horrible, the GI 1911 had horrible sights and the worst trigger imaginable, yeah they sucked, sloppy worn out mismatched used up until 88 at least.

Best way into the sport is to find a local club, or otherwise a commercial Schiesskeller near you.

@@BlokeontheRange sorry for the delayed response, I will give it a try, thank you!!

I 'think' Bloke did a previous video talking to Ian about FALs and it seems that most if not all the US FALs are made from parts kits. It was hypothesised that's why US owners always have 'issues' with their FALs. Blokes L1A1 is a factory refurbed rifle, not a parts kit rebuild and doesn't appear to suffer from the same issues.

@@jcorbett9620 That is why I was asking. Most US FALs are parts kits and quality will vary heavily with the manufacture of the receiver.

I think that particular rifle is a DS build from a parts kit.

Strangely, I've never had an SLR malfunction while resting it on the magazine...

The malfunctions he was having I have seen on many long magazine auto rifles, this is one of the reasons that the military still teaches troops to cradle the handguard.

The British military explicitly teaches to rest the SA-80 on the magazine whenever possible... Jordan's stoppages were due to the rifle being dirty and undergassed.

​@@BlokeontheRange He got feed issues while racking the bolt too (@7:25). I would rather go for a bad magazine, as it seems to not be lifting the rounds enough... And based on the summary video "evidence" you can't say anything about potential dirt.

@@BlokeontheRange It does now, but that was not the practice with the SLR. Although the mag rest method was in the first SA80 pamphlet, many were not taught it as it was considered bad practice by people that had been using SLRS. When switching from SLR to SA80 the first thing I noted was how much higher a prone unsupported position was.

No

Well it makes a nice exotic Background for the war News.

Spaghetti and meatballs.

In 1956 a British built L1A1 prototype with sand-cuts was test-fired at Fort Benning, it was noted that the L1a1 was noticeably more reliable than the FAL!!

Well yes, and if his rifle hadn't been tragically undergassed...

A very good question I've been asking myself the whole time!!!

Except, from what is shown here, it doesn't let crap out, it provides a place for crap to go after it gets in.

It was proven to work in various trials including one at Fort Benning in the US, when a British Trials L1a1 was tested against a standard FN FAL, notes from trials state that the L1a1 was noticeably more reliable.