Clinton,

 

IIRC the Imbel manual is available online if you just need a generic one, Ill try to find the url for you, been a couple/three years....

 

Cheers'

Butch

 

oops, nevermind... brain burp,you want a maintenance manual not a owners manual

 

tapco has a great deal on some repro aussie manuals, and if you look in our file cabinet you will find copies of the most requested British EMER's

 

and for all the hard to find specs go to our specs page:

 

HTH's...

Butch

OK, I had a guy on another board ask:

 

 

 

 

The differences between the inch-pattern and metric-pattern magazines are (1) the forward latch lug and (2) the magazine floor plate.

 

The cut in the inch-pattern receiver's magazine well is much larger than the metric's cut.  That is because the inch-pattern magazine has a large latch lug silver-soldered to the front of the magazine.  The metric magazine's latch lug is punched by a forming die (from the inside of the body outwards).  This means that an inch-pattern magazine will NOT fit a metric receiver unless the lug is ground down to fit the notch. 

 

On the other hand, a metric-pattern magazine will fit an inch-pattern receiver.  The magazine will probably show a considerable mount of looseness in the fit.  As a result of the loose fit, rounds may or may not feed reliably from the metric-pattern magazine.

 

Metric-pattern magazines have tabs on their bottoms that bend inwards (towards each other).  The tabs retain the magazine floor plate.

 

Inch-pattern magazines have tabs on their bottoms that bend outwards (away from each other).  The magazine spring fits into a spacer plate with a detent.  The inch-pattern floor plate slides onto the body tabs and the detent on the magazine spring space snaps into the hole in the floor plate to keep it from sliding off while in use. 

 

Inch-pattern magazines were designed for repair by armourers in the field if they became dented.  The armourer would drive a mandrel that was the same shape of the magazine interior into the body of the dented magazine to push out the dent.  Because metric-pattern magazines have floor plate tabs that face inwards, the mandrel approach to repair dented magazines cannot be used.  If a metric-pattern magazine is dented, it will probably be scrapped or salvaged for parts and the body thrown away.

The dimensions of the 20-round FN FAL magazine are:

 

Rear of magazine, bottom to top -- 5.980 inches.

Front of magazine, bottom to top -- 5.458 inches.

Width of magazine, side to side -- 0.990 inches.

Length of magazine, over lugs -- 3.228 inches.

  Height of front lug -- 0.075 inch.

  Height of rear lug -- 0.056 inch.

Length of magazine, no lugs -- 3.075 inches.

 

Measurements were taken from a metric magazine and may not be exact.  However, they should be close enough to help out.

i have 2 covers for my L1A1(bolt/ejection port) one cover has the mount for my trilux scope the other is naked,my question is... the cover with the scope mount fits perfectly and is flush with the receiver at all points,but the naked cover when put/slid on leaves a slit or gap about 2mm across directly opposite the ejection port just above the cocking handle..is this normal?????

If I understand your question correctly, you're talking about that small gap on the left side between the front edge of the top cover and the side of the receiver where it curves up towards the top where the carrying handle and gas piston tube nut install.

 

I have tried different covers of different manufactures and some have the gap and some do not.  As far as I can determine, this is a condition that depends upon the manufacture of the receiver and the manufacture of the top cover. 

 

I would not worry about it.  If the parts fit securely in the receiver and they don't have any kind of fore and aft movement, and the back end of the top cover is flush with the end of the receiver (does not interfere with closing the upper and lower receivers), you should be OK.

 

MG

thankyou thankyou thankyou...yes what you described is the problem...mine is a (australian) lithgow made L1A1 made in 1984.everything you said is right..so the worst i can expect is some smoke to come out from there as a caseing is being ejected...

hi,is it possible to change the mounts on my receiver slide from the trilux to a piccitini??i have an Australian inch L1A1,and would like to mount a better scope for distance,i also have a spare (naked) slide if anyone knows of an attacgment for that instead of changing the trilux set up??

thanks,also my SLR has a S, F located next to the safety switch...but if i open the receiver in the first stage of feild stripping,i can move the safety witch around to an A marking,what is this for and what does the A stand for?????.....thanks.....

The FN FAL and derivative Commonwealth rifles were all equipped to become select fire rifles from the factory.  (See my artice about Safety Sears.)  Of the Commonwealth countries -- Australia, Britain, and Canada -- only the first and last adopted the FAL as an automatic rifle.  The Australians fielded their L2A1 heavy barrel version automatic rifle and the Canadians did the same with the C2A1.  Both rifles used 30-round magazines, had integral bipods, and had heavy barrels for sustained automatic fire.  They were tactical equivalents to the American M1918-series Browning Automatic Rifle in the infantry squad.  The British adopted the L4-series of WW2 Bren gun as their automatic rifle.  Second World War Brens were converted to the 7.62 NATO caliber and a redesigned magazine (that also fit the L1A1 rifle and vice versa) was made for them. 

 

So, if the rifles were set-up for selective fire from the start, how was this prevented in the field?  Simply by designing two kinds of safety selector.  Look at the picture below of an Aussie L1A1 (top), Brit (L1A1) middle, and Canadian C1A1 (bottom).  Note that all of the safety selectors have a lobe on them; these are SEMI-AUTOMATIC safety selectors.  As the safety selector is moved from S ("safe") to R ("rapid" or semi-auto), the lobe on the selector hits the bottom of the upper receiver (as shown on the Canadian C1A1 rifle).  Note also that there are three cutouts for the safety selector's spring-loaded detent in the lower receiver.  Also, the forward cutout has a pin installed.  This is the stop for the AUTOMATIC safety selector.  The difference between the SEMI-AUTOMATIC and AUTOMATIC safety selector is this "lobe" that prevents complete rotation to the third or A ("automatic") position.  If your lower receiver reads S-F-A (instead of S-R-A), it could be that whoever made your rifle redid the "R" to "F" to make the function more understandable; that is, S = safe and F = fire.

 

All newly produced upper receivers are specifically designed not to accept the safety sear and sear spring of the original rifles.  The cut in the upper receiver for the safety sear is deleted and a semi-automatic only ejector block is riveted into the upper receiver.  Installation of a L2A1 or C2A1 safety selector will allow full rotation, but without the other parts, the rifle will only function in semi-automatic.