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I was reading my (new to me) 1970s copy of Pam 4, the British Army sniping manual, and the handling drills for the L42 struck me as a bit odd. Specifically, where the pam states that the rifle is loaded by fitting a full magazine, rather than by filling the mag directly while it's in the rifle or something similar. The unload drill is also to remove the mag altogether.

Was this how the rifle was actually used in practice? My 1947 No.4 pamphlet says the mag stayed in the rifle at all times unless it needed to be removed for cleaning.

Bear in mind that the L42A1 was being used in the SLR era where loading/unloading was done by attaching/removing a magazine, therefore I'd say this shows standardisation. Also bear in mind that with the No.32 scope fitted, loading the mag with single rounds wouldn't be very quick, plus AFAIK the rifles were isued with multiple magazines.

Gaz,
.303 No4's were designed to be loaded from charger clips so not removing the mag, but the No4 actions converted to 7.62 Nato the charger bridge was too wide to allow the smaller chargers clips to be used unless a extra bridge spring was fitted then you could use 7.62 chargers, and as DW58 has said with a scope fitted no point. My converted No4 has such a spring.

Thanks!

DW58 wrote:Bear in mind that the L42A1 was being used in the SLR era where loading/unloading was done by attaching/removing a magazine, therefore I'd say this shows standardisation. Also bear in mind that with the No.32 scope fitted, loading the mag with single rounds wouldn't be very quick, plus AFAIK the rifles were isued with multiple magazines.

In a nutshell... :goodjob: