Hey - We are hearing that Canada is/are DESTROYING over 67,000 FNC1 and FNC2s

[FormerHorseGuard]

my  fn c1a1 was number 3L5 358 last seen at the L&R Scots armouries in Pembroke Ontario and last fired in Jun 1989, converted to C7 that  fall training.
i am thinking it was made in 1957.  i have a thing for numbers cannot remember names or things but a weapon i used over 17 years a go I remember funny  thing.
i had to remember it for my  recruit, basic and ql3 inf course.
cannot remember my  c7 was never issued one on a full time thing, just given one as needed.

great wpn, being tall i had the short butt put on it for shooting, long butt for drill the weapns tech must of liked me to do the mods as required but i shot better with a short wpn

looking back i hated it when training, too heavy  to run with and stuff,  easy  to clean,  the wood always looked good when oiled.

C7a1 c7a2 never looked good in my  book, always looked like a toy.
put the pig sticker on the FN and you had a scary  wpn in your hands
just my thoughts
shame they are now gone. but time does catch up

 

[Old Ranger]

I still remember getting my first "Chipmunk Cheek" O, so long ago. :'(

And who were the Idiots that didn't pack them in grease!  I remember at least putting a lite coating on ours before sending them in.  As far as storing some....Under ground in a big Concrete box with a big concrete lid.  How about at Base Ammo Storage or the MP Shack Parking lot.

(Sarcasm On)  Oh But thats actually thinking of the Future, just like putting GPMGs (old C-5) in the Grizzles instead of what they were designed for. (Sar..Off)

It's always better to have and not need, than to need and not have....when you need.

 

[1feral1]

As Wes has indicated - nice picture BUT..... not 100% FNC1.... it is an FN but not C1.
If you look at the body cover - covers the complete receiver - the C1 body cover only covered 1/2 the receiver, had a mag charger sllot for the ammo clips AND left the breach block carrier exposed - making it a lot easier to clear Jams and quickly do your IAs

Looking at the rear sight - not a folding disk rear sight - looks more like the Brit L1A1
Looking at the flash supressor - wrong one - should be slotted tube type.
Looking at the carrying handle - looks like our carrying handle - Brit one was circular with groves.

Nope - not a C1

IMHO

Right you are Geo, in all honesty, it looks like C1 handguards, and the rifle pictured is probably a US parts rifle, and American owned, with a civvie designed flash eliminator, in US law, you can have a compensator, and no bayonet lug, plus the rifle must have some US parts, hence the compensator, maybe a hammer and a piston too. All US civvie made for their growning FN rifle market, and to comply with BATF regs. This law has since been pissed away a year ago. Its really complicated, and hard to follow. The pic I get on my PC is a compacted squashed version, and not stretched out as it should be.

Cheers,

Wes

 

[Jason38]

I was an Officer Cadet at the Armoured Corps school in Camp Borden in 1957. We were issued the FNC1 fresh out of their crates sometime in the late fall (IIRC).

 

[geo]

Jason, what you say sounds about right... but the school would probably not have been the 1st to receive the new C1s.... so C1s in late 56 is a definitive possibility.

My 1st C1 was 0L0005 and dated 1956.

Mater of fact, that reserve unit still has it in it's vault. When they were instructed to send em all back, the Unit's museum requested a "that" copy.... and they were permitted to hang onto it. Last I heard, the barrel is still in good shape - never got "museumed" to take it out of commission.

For some reason, I seem to remember pictures of UNEF forces deploying.... with Enfields in '56... but those could have been pictures of troops from some other country - no definitive answer.

 

[BKells]

I know a lot of you guys are old timers with sentimental attachments to the FN, but come on.. these should  have been destroyed years ago. There is no practical reason to hold onto them except as museum pieces.

If you go the Canadian War Museum, you know what you'll see? a C7 on display. The C7 is already a museum piece.

 

[Michael Shannon]

The FAL is hardly a museum piece. It is ergonomically the best rifle available for a right handed shooter. It is more than accurate enough for most infantry shooting and fires a round that's making a comeback: the US military will have at least three self loading 7.62 rifles in issue soon (M14, SCAR, and probably some DSA FALs). It can be improved: a better muzzle break and perhaps a Picitinny railed scope mount/body cover. It can be lightened a bit with composite furniture. In fact if we could find some C1s in good condition they might make a good "marksmans rifle" platform.

 

[Danjanou]

I know a lot of you guys are old timers with sentimental attachments to the FN, but come on.. these should   have been destroyed years ago. There is no practical reason to hold onto them except as museum pieces.

If you go the Canadian War Museum, you know what you'll see? a C7 on display. The C7 is already a museum piece.

Bkells, first of all if you actually read the thread none of us dinosaurs are advocating the return of the FN, although an argument could be made for it, as noted as a specialist marksman weapon.

Judging by your profile I'd say we all have considerably more experience with the C7 then you do. Based on the info in your profile I'd estimate you were one or two years old when I was issued my forst C7. We're just lamenting the passing of something that was an important part of our military youth and the absurd stupidity of the government of the day destroying them, when it would cost nothing to store them as part of a war reserve, just in case.

 

[geo]

Bkells,
the same way we remember our 1st car, we'll always remember our 1st service rifle.... for the good things about it AND for the bad things about it.

The C1 may be gone but there are many places in the world where the FAL L1A1 or some other incarnation will continue to be the weapon of choice by professional soldiers. If you look around, the Lee Enfield Mk ? are still in regular use (Cdn Rangers & Pakistan/Afghanistan border) in rough terrain where the soldier is looking for something tough and reliable - takes a licking and keeps on ticking... not 100% certain that the C7 falls into that kind of category... A professional soldier can use it and maintain it but he's got to work at it - not the best characteristic in dirty grimy combat situations.

IMHO

 

[NavyShooter]

Just so people are aware, the C-7 being reffered to at the CWM is (at least the one I saw) the first one presented to the Canadian Government.

I've got a picture of it around here somewhere, with the serial number.  I think it's S/N was 86AA00001 perhaps?

Not 100% sure on that number though.

NS

 

[KevinB]

FWIW Knights Armaments Compnay was awarded the M110 SASS (Semi-Auto Sniper System) Contract officially today.

This will be 'shortly' putting an end to the M14 series in US History.  (and they scrap their stuff too)

As much as I am somewhat nostalgic for the FN C1A1 - I dont kid myself into beleiving they are a cost effective or practical DM gun.

They are notrious hard to scope - the feedcover picatinny rail is not exactly somethign you wish to place something that must retain a zero on...  Secondly due the way the action breaks open - when using irons you ended up with a somewhat wandering zero (doign rifle team we zero'd the gun and left them dirty for the competitions.

Hopefully Canada will take a deep look at the M110 SASS - not a half baked AR10T with its useless extra 4" of barrel and 2x4 of a suppressor we bought...

 

[geo]

M110 8' Self-Propelled Howitzer
The self-propelled M-110 8-inch [203 mm] howitzer first entered service with the US Army in 1963. The vehicle itself transports only two projectiles and five men, while the remainder of the ammunition and the crew is on board a tracked M548. The M-110 Howitzer fired a 200-pound projectile out to almost 17 kilometers

Arty sniper rifle

JK

 

[KevinB]

Smart Ass...

US Rifle M1, M1carbine, M1 Thompsom SMG, and M1 Tank etc...

 

[geo]

hehe... couldn't resist

have a good one KevinB

 

[geo]

SB
what was the alternative........... issuing M1 & M14s to every household in the USA?
There comes a time when your war stock inventory has "maxed out". I wonder when was the last time M1s were taken out of warstock for combat use....

 

[Craig B]

I seem to recall that a few years ago a pile of M14's were given to Estonia and Latvia , maybe Lithuania also .

IIRC the last M1's handed out were for South Vietnam but I could be wrong on that .

Craig

 

[geo]

WRT the M1s to ARVN
Yes - US did give ARVN some M1s upon their 1st deployment
but consider that the M1s were front life rifles in Korea
so we're talking 1963 - 1954.... some 9 years (and the M16 was just coming out at that time)
so the M1 was still pretty much current.

Can't visualise any country being all that interested in M1s during Clinton's term
which is probably why the M1s got chopped up and sent back to the foundry.

WRT the M14s to the Baltic states - this was at a time when they were breaking away from the USSR and would go to any length to be different from the Soviets. Also, baltic states were asking "IN" to NATO and needed weapons that chambered NATO standard ammo... but the "new" Russia now makes it's AK weapons in NATO standard so what's the point....

again - good reason to give the M14s the chop.

 

[TCBF]

"Hopefully Canada will take a deep look at the M110 SASS - not a half baked AR10T with its useless extra 4" of barrel and 2x4 of a suppressor we bought..."

- I once owned an NWM built Sudanese contract AR-10.  Low recoil, tight grouper, sights were in Arabic.
Can't have everything, I guess.  Don't know why we would buy one now.  Eugene Stoner didn't stop designing rifles after he did the AR-10, and there was probably a reason for that.

Tom

 

[KevinB]

The KAC STONER RIFLE (SR) 25 was Stoners last rifle before he died 

It is the basis for the M110.

Those of us who went thru with the FN are dinosasurs -- they have been out of service since the VERY early 90's.  Retraining troops to use them is inefficient especially when some have a hard enough time mastering the C7/C8 series.


The SR25-Mk11-M110 is not the AR10's of old

 

[TCBF]

"Mooooooo.....    Moooooooo......  I'm a dinosoar.... Moooo.... Moooo...."

;D

Tom