SELF LOANDING RIFLE L1A1: THE EUROPEAN BLACK RIFLE

The “Self Loading Rifle L1A1” is the British adaption of the Belgian FN FAL. It was a compromise for project reasons as well as following British Army doctrine of not wanting a fully automatic rifle with such a heavy calibre. 

by A.Wicks and G.Tansella

The Self Loading Rifle L1A1, more commonly known simply as the SLR, was a long rifle and is technically a battlefield rifle as opposed to an assault rifle. Chambered for the NATO 7.62x51mm cartridge, it was relatively long compared to the abandoned British bullpup EM-1 and EM2. This rifle was designed mainly to be able to accurately hit center of mass of human size targets out to 600 yards and being only semiautomatic meant that the onus was on the soldier to fire aimed shots rather than “spray and pray.” Therefore, the SLR’s magazine contained 20 double stacked rounds in order for the disciplined troops not to have to carry hundreds of relatively heavy rounds and hence rapid fire was still defined as twenty aimed shots within a minute for suppressive fire.

Link to the original article:

https://www.smallarmsreview.com/display.article.cfm?idarticles=2642