L59A1 Withdrawl

Adult Staff Execs
1

Well its official the good old L59A1, or Lee Enfield No 4 if you’re wondering, has finally been withdrawn from service.
Some units opted to pay out of non-public funds to have them decommissioned correctly, although they still remain MOD property. And no we won’t be getting a refund!
So this basically ends rifle drill in our wing with no apparent foresight (pun intended) to provide and alternative option for rifle drill at a Squadron, Wing, or Regional level!
This effectively ends rifle drill for my unit, and probably at a wing level.
How many activities can we no longer provide any more until enough is enough…

Discuss

2

Can’t you use an L103A2?

3

Surely if you want to do rifle drill you could use either the L103 or look to borrow Parade Purpose weapons from either the Parent Service or the Sea Cadets (via getting friendly with local units).

A fair few units which want to do rifle drill manage tho relying on the L59…

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4

i thought this had already been withdrawn unless you had good reason to keep it (drill) and even then that was only a few units?

You’ve had had it longer than the rest of us!

as Talon says, the L98A2/L103A2 is the approved drill rifle, it is readily available…

5

Seconded, Greater Manchester Wing did their first public showing of rifle drill last weekend.

Why use a weapon that is decades out of date when there are plenty of other modern alternatives?

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6

Thirded. Just use L103A2s or ask your parent station to loan some of their ceremonial rifles (L116A1s).

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7

Much, much easier said than done.

8

I’d be interested to know why you think that? It’s the opposite of the experience I’ve had.

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9

Ditto. Having arranged a large quantity from multiple stations last year, it was fairly simple.

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10

To be honest we don’t have the storage space for 21 rifles, the rules for our L59A1 were different to an L103A2.
Can’t store live weapons anywhere, we don’t even have our L98A2s in the wing, we’ve not shot them for over a year now.

Having them on Squadron was convenient, as they could be used at the drop of a hat.

I will enquire about L116A1s, although again would need to check storage rules.

11

Because wooden weapons look much better. Many honour guards around the world use “old” weapons

12

With the notable exception of the British armed forces…

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13

QCS did a recent display (within the last yr?) using .303 or very similar.

14

Was that not an anniversary one in 3 different uniforms each using the correct weapon of the time period though?

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