The Real Reason The SLR Was The Better FAL

Mount Harriet, Falkland Islands, June 1982. In the freezing dark, Royal Marine Corporal Stephen Newland climbs alone towards an Argentine position. Every enemy soldier in the rocks carries a Belgian FN FAL that can fire on full automatic. Newland carries its British cousin, the L1A1 Self-Loading Rifle, which can't. So why did the British, Canadian and Australian soldiers who carried the SLR swear it was the better rifle? This is the story of the "inch-pattern" FAL: the EM-2 that Britain really wanted and NATO politics that killed it; the Belgian rifle forced to fire a full-power round; the Allied Rifle Committee's changes (inch measurements, a folding cocking handle, sand cuts, an arctic trigger guard, and semi-automatic only); Canada's C1 and Australia's Lithgow rifles; and the SLR at war at Plaman Mapu in Borneo, at Long Tan in Vietnam and on Mount Harriet and Mount Longdon in the Falklands, against the rifle it came from. Then the verdict: was the SLR really the better FAL? CHAPTERS 00:00 Mount Harriet, 1982 01:31 The rifle Britain wanted: the EM-2 03:19 The FAL from Belgium 05:04 The Allied Rifle Committee 05:37 What they changed, and why 08:32 Canada got there first: the C1 10:06 Australia and Lithgow 10:45 What was wrong with it 12:48 Borneo, 1965: Plaman Mapu 15:20 Aden and Northern Ireland 15:39 Long Tan, 1966 19:24 The Falklands: SLR vs FAL 20:42 Mount Harriet and Mount Longdon 23:24 The end of the SLR 24:35 The verdict: was it the better FAL? SOURCES The London Gazette, Supplement 49134 (8 October 1982), Falklands gallantry awards including Cpl S. C. Newland MM and Sgt I. J. McKay VC – https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/i... Commando Veterans Archive, "Newland, Stephen Charles" – https://commandoveterans.org/node/4414 Royal Marines History, "Battle for the Falklands: the Battle for Mount Harriet, 1982" – https://www.royalmarineshistory.com/p... Australian War Memorial, "A very close thing indeed" (Battle of Long Tan) – https://www.awm.gov.au/wartime/55/lon... Anzac Portal (Department of Veterans' Affairs), "Battle of Long Tan 1966" – https://anzacportal.dva.gov.au/wars-a... Royal Australian Air Force, "Battle of Long Tan" (the Iroquois resupply) – https://www.airforce.gov.au/about-us/... HistoryNet, "The Battle of Plaman Mapu" – https://historynet.com/battle-plaman-... ParaData, "Lieutenant-Colonel John S Williams MBE, DCM" – https://paradata.org.uk/node/9123 Forgotten Weapons, "The FAL for British Troop Trials in 1954: X8E1 & X8E2" – https://www.forgottenweapons.com/the-... Forgotten Weapons, "FAL in the North: the Canadian C1A1" – https://www.forgottenweapons.com/fal-... The Canadian Encyclopedia, "FN C1 Self-Loading Rifle" – https://thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en... Hansard, House of Commons, "New Rifle" (6 April 1954) – https://api.parliament.uk/historic-ha... Royal Marines History, "Loss of 2 Gazelles and 3 crew from 3 BAS, San Carlos Water" – https://royalmarineshistory.com/post/... Victoria Cross Online, "Sergeant Ian McKay VC" – https://victoriacross.org.uk/llmckayi... Wikipedia, "L1A1 Self-Loading Rifle" – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L1A1_Se... Wikipedia, "EM-2 rifle" – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EM-2_rifle All maps, charts and the SLR mechanism animations were made for this video. If you enjoyed this story, like the video and subscribe so you don't miss the next one:    / @gutangg   Which weapon should I cover next? I read every comment, and your suggestions decide the next videos. And if you carried the SLR, the C1 or the L1A1 – in the British Army, in Canada, in Australia or anywhere else – or someone in your family did, please tell your story in the comments. I'd really like to hear it. #SLR #L1A1 #MilitaryHistory #FNFAL