A little insomnia and scouring the interwebs and my BHO problem is no more. Apparently commonwealth FAL L1A1 types eliminated the BHO feature in their rifles. Many other countries using the rifle retained this feature but I guess the Brits mainly eliminated it from their stock of inch pattern rifles. They kept the manual lever but ground off the portion that extends into the mag follower to BHO. And I guess they fielded semi only versions during the falklands war, interesting vs the argentine full auto FALs.
From what I read the Brits were concerned about excess debris entering the actions of their rifles during prolonged fights in dusty/sandy areas and figured it was better that the action stayed closed as long as possible while the soldier reloaded and chambered the next round. This led to sand cuts in the bolt carriers yada etc. I guess keeping sand out of the action was more important at the time than a quicker reload and the feel a trained soldier develops when that bolt locks back. Not to mention the dreaded dead mans click on an empty chamber.
Anyhow the lever remained along with the hole for the BHO pin. So a new roll pin, measuring, cutting and sanding. My FAL now has it's FN intended BHO feature. I prefer this even though it is not "original" to the Brits L1A1s because it will help me dial in the gas setting to use the minimal to cycle and still have enough force to lock to the rear. It's built on a metric receiver anyway so there is that.
So bored night and got to know the right hand of freedom a bit better. Win win, cheers.
From what I read the Brits were concerned about excess debris entering the actions of their rifles during prolonged fights in dusty/sandy areas and figured it was better that the action stayed closed as long as possible while the soldier reloaded and chambered the next round. This led to sand cuts in the bolt carriers yada etc. I guess keeping sand out of the action was more important at the time than a quicker reload and the feel a trained soldier develops when that bolt locks back. Not to mention the dreaded dead mans click on an empty chamber.
Anyhow the lever remained along with the hole for the BHO pin. So a new roll pin, measuring, cutting and sanding. My FAL now has it's FN intended BHO feature. I prefer this even though it is not "original" to the Brits L1A1s because it will help me dial in the gas setting to use the minimal to cycle and still have enough force to lock to the rear. It's built on a metric receiver anyway so there is that.
So bored night and got to know the right hand of freedom a bit better. Win win, cheers.
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