An old piece of iron - C1A1

[mariomike]

Me and mine in our glamour shot on BOTC - damn'd if I can remember it's number:

View attachment 66610

“This is my rifle. There are many like it, but this one is mine.

My rifle is my best friend. It is my life. I must master it as I must master my life.

Without me, my rifle is useless. Without my rifle, I am useless. I must fire my rifle true. I must shoot straighter than my enemy who is trying to kill me. I must shoot him before he shoots me. I will …

My rifle and I know that what counts in war is not the rounds we fire, the noise of our burst, nor the smoke we make. We know that it is the hits that count. We will hit …

My rifle is human, even as I, because it is my life. Thus, I will learn it as a brother. I will learn its weaknesses, its strength, its parts, its accessories, its sights and its barrel. I will keep my rifle clean and ready, even as I am clean and ready. We will become part of each other. We will …

Before God, I swear this creed. My rifle and I are the defenders of my country. We are the masters of our enemy. We are the saviors of my life."

 

[lenaitch]

I recall the C1s, and later the C1A1s, had different stock lengths indicated by a S, M, L, or XL on the bottom of the stock just aft of where it joined the body. Personal opinion: something was wrong as I have relatively short arms, but rated a XL stop length by the fit test in the QM. And chipmunk cheek describes my face after a day on the ranges. My time on the ranks was fairly short and I qualified first class in Fall 59 and marksman in Fall 60. I wore crossed rifles and crown for no more that a week or two before I was promoted to officer cadet and went on officer training.

It seems to me the C1A1 was an attempt to fix the stock length as well as some other things, like going to a two piece firing pin, but that was six decades ago, son no guarantees.

We didn't get to benefit from differently sized parts since they weren't personal issue. One size fit all.

 

[Good2Golf]

We didn't get to benefit from differently sized parts since they weren't personal issue. One size fit all.

Like issue operational clothing, or PPE, etc…oh wait…

 

[daftandbarmy]

Me and mine in our glamour shot on BOTC - damn'd if I can remember it's number:

View attachment 66610

 

[Eaglelord17]

The thing I don’t fondly remember is carrying the thing the field. For days…

It is the same weight as a C7A2, only more balanced.

Ironic though that we can't own or use the right hand of the free world in Canada though.

For those that want to see some footage and a bit of history on these rifles, here is some good videos by Ian McCollum.
FN C1A1

FN C2

 

[SeaKingTacco]

Eaglelord, I never carried a C7A2, but the legacy C7 was about 2lbs lighter than a C1.

 

[Eaglelord17]

Fair enough, it would have been much lighter. I have even had that moment as I did have the pleasure of using the original C7s briefly and I don't understand how they made the current monstrosity out of such a simple and well thought out rifle.

 

[ueo]

Eaglelord, I never carried a C7A2, but the legacy C7 was about 2lbs lighter than a C1.

Humped a C2 through Ph 2 and 3 Inf trg at the old RCSofI in Borden. Weapon was heavy, yes but the 5 extra mags in the bra were heavier. Lighter than the Bren tho' (Yes I'm that old).

 

[Blackadder1916]

Humped a C2 through Ph 2 and 3 Inf trg at the old RCSofI in Borden. Weapon was heavy, yes but the 5 extra mags in the bra were heavier. Lighter than the Bren tho' (Yes I'm that old).

I call the C2 and raise a GPMG.

 

[ueo]

I call the C2 and raise a GPMG.

View attachment 66632

Been there, didn't bother with the Tshirt. How about a Carl Gustave?

 

[Maxman1]

Must have left it at a truck stop.

 

[Maxman1]

Even funnier was watching the tiniest person in my platoon trying a C2 shoot from 200m - one burst, 1 round might have got to the target

Isn't that the norm for the C2? "One in the dirt, one on target, one to the sky, then jam"?

 

[medicineman]

I guess it depends on how well you could control it...2 on target, jam,...2 in bounding buddy, jam, at least it was making noise, lol

 

[SeaKingTacco]

Isn't that the norm for the C2? "One in the dirt, one on target, one to the sky, then jam"?

Turn the gas setting to adverse…mind you, that was hard on the shoulder and the ears.

 

[daftandbarmy]

I guess it depends on how well you could control it...2 on target, jam,...2 in bounding buddy, jam, at least it was making noise, lol

Grey's Scouts used them, so they couldn't have been be all that bad I'm guessing:

 

[Kat Stevens]

Isn't that the norm for the C2? "One in the dirt, one on target, one to the sky, then jam"?

I humped that humourless piece of metal and mahogany around for two years. If you held on to it right, it hit what you pointed it at, very reliably.

 

[Good2Golf]

Turn the gas setting to adverse…mind you, that was hard on the shoulder and the ears.

…but it didn’t ever jam like that!

 

[Colin Parkinson]

I have to wonder how many of our jams was due to our poor treatment of magazines? I never once heard about the importance of feed lip geometry or how critical the magazine is to the proper function of a semi or full automatic gun. people thought they were cool opening beer bottles with them.

 

[FJAG]

I have to wonder how many of our jams was due to our poor treatment of magazines? I never once heard about the importance of feed lip geometry or how critical the magazine is to the proper function of a semi or full automatic gun. people thought they were cool opening beer bottles with them.

Gunners never did that with magazines. It was de rigueur for every gunner to have a church key attached to their lanyard on their battledress just in case a rogue beer should make it into your hands.

 

[Haggis]

I have to wonder how many of our jams was due to our poor treatment of magazines? I never once heard about the importance of feed lip geometry or how critical the magazine is to the proper function of a semi or full automatic gun. people thought they were cool opening beer bottles with them.

Legend tells there were a dozen different spots on a C1A1 where you could pop a beer cap. I never figured them all out before the advent of twist tops.