L1A1 (SLR) 7.62mm self-loading rifle

01. Original name L1A1 (SLR) 7.62mm self-loading rifle  
02. Other official names Rifle, 7.62mm, L1A1 (SLR)  
03. Popular names SLR  
04. Chamberings 7.62mm NATO, .280 British  
05. Designed by Dieudonné Saive and Ernest Vervier  
06. Design date 1947-1953  
07. In service date(s) 1956  
08. Adopted by UK and Commonwealth  
09. Production quantities Over 2 million (FN FAL, all variants)  
10. Mechanism Gas operated, tilting breechblock, loaded with a twenty or thirty-round magazine  
11. Weight 9.56lbs (4.34kg) unloaded  
12. Mountings Sling, bayonet  
13. Practicality in action Medium-to-High – easy to use and maintain, accurate, rugged and reliable while firing a relatively powerful cartridge. Main issues revolve around weight and length  
14. Comments / Other information The SLR was an ‘inch pattern’ variant of the Belgian FN FAL (Fabrique Nationale Fusil Automatique Léger), adopted by the UK and Commonwealth countries after the British designed EM-2 (an assault rifle of bullpup design firing the .280/30 intermediate-calibre cartridge) had been side-lined due to international politics within the NATO Alliance after the standardisation trials of the early 1950s. Another difference was that UK and Commonwealth rifles were mainly semi-automatic while the ‘metric’ FN FAL was capable of fully automatic fire. The rifle was in-service first with the Canadian Army (C1A1) in 1956. It was in-service with the British Army a year later, being manufactured at the Royal Small Arms Factory (RSAF) Enfield, Birmingham Small Arms Ltd and Royal Ordnance Factory (ROF) Fazakerley. The FN FAL served with over ninety countries, in many Cold War and immediate post-Cold War conflicts, including the Arab-Israeli Wars, Kenya, Aden, Malaya, Vietnam, the Indo-Pakistani Wars, Rhodesia, South Africa, the Falklands War, Northern Ireland, Oman, Indonesia, Congo and South America and became known as the ‘Right Arm of the Free World’.. L1A1 7.62mm Self-Loading Rifle (UK) Introduced 1957; chambered for the 7.62x51mm round; 20-round box magazine; weight without magazine 9.5lb; modified version of the FN Light Automatic Rifle (FAL). The FN version has been distributed widely; as with some other self-loading rifles fully automatic fire becomes difficult to control.