L98A1 Cadet GP
 |
| L98A1 Cadet General Purpose Rifle | |
|---|---|
 A Cadet using an L98A1 Cadet GP Rifle | |
| Type | Cadet training rifle |
| Place of origin |  United Kingdom |
| Service history | |
| In service | 1987–2009 |
| Used by | United Kingdom Cadets (CCF, SCC/MCD, ACF, ATC) |
| Wars | None |
| Production history | |
| Manufacturer | BAE Systems |
| Produced | 1985–1994 |
| Variants | L103A1 Drill Purpose Rifle |
| Specifications | |
| Mass | 4.9 kg |
| Length | 785 mm |
| Barrel length | 495 mm |
| Cartridge | 5.56 x 45 mm NATO |
| Caliber | 5.56 mm |
| Action | Straight Pull bolt action |
| Rate of fire | Single Shot |
| Muzzle velocity | 940 m/s |
| Effective firing range | 300 m (individual) 500 m (section) |
| Maximum firing range | 500 m |
| Feed system | 30-round detachable STANAG magazines |
| Sights | Iron Sights |
The L98A1 Cadet GP was a general purpose (GP) rifle used by the Combined Cadet Force and Sea, Marine, Army and Air Cadets in the United Kingdom. It was introduced in 1987, as part of the SA80 series, replacing the .303 Lee Enfield No 4 rifles and .303 Bren guns (used by the CCF and ACF for automatic weapons training).
Since 2009, the L98A1 is to be phased out and replaced with the L98A2.
Description
The GP rifle was almost identically to the L85A1 but without the gas parts. It consisted of: barrel and receiver, trigger mechanism housing (TMH), cocking handle and extension rod, bolt carrier assembly and the recoil rod assembly. All could be removed and reassembled without tools. But the sights and hand guard could only be detached with the aid of a combination tool.
Working parts
The GP was a manually-operated, single-shot rifle which could not produce semi- or fully-automatic fire. The SA80 IW and LSW was cocked via a cocking handle attached directly to the bolt carrier. However the L98A1 GP rifle had a cocking handle extension piece which was cocked with the right hand as opposed to reaching across and cocking it with the left hand - making use as a bolt-action weapon much easier.
Sights
The L98 was fitted with adjustable iron sights. These consisted of a rear battle and leaf sight and a front blade sight.
The front sight was mounted on an extension from the barrel known as the foresight mounting block. The front sight assembly is clamped to the top of this block and carries the front sight blade with protective fins on either side. The foresight facilitates adjustment of elevation in increments of 2 minutes of angle.
The rear sight was fitted to the rearsight mounting bracket (which doubles as a carrying handle). It was also adjustable in 2 minute increments. The rear sight had a battle sight zeroed to 300m, which could be flipped over to reveal an adjustable leaf sight. Ranges from 100 to 500 metres were available by turning the adjustable range dial.
Modifications
Two conversion kits existed which enabled the L98A1 to fire .22 LR rimfire cartridges instead of the standard 5.56 mm NATO cartridge. This allowed the weapon to fire live rounds on .22 ranges when full size military ranges are unavailable.
Both kits consisted of modified working parts (springs etc.), a special magazine that is the same size and shape as the standard 5.56 mm magazine and a special adapter, shaped like a 5.56 mm cartridge, which was fitted into the L98A1's breech. This adapter contained a smaller breech into which the modified bolt inserts the .22 cartridge. The modified magazine locked into the magazine housing exactly like a normal one would.
The first kit was fitted with the standard GP cocking handle and worked in exactly the same way as a single-shot L98A1 cadet GP rifle.
The second kit (the L41A1 sub-calibre adaptor) was fitted using a L85A1 cocking handle. It allowed .22 rounds to be fired semi-automatically using direct blow back against the bolt to cycle the next round.
The conversion was not permanent and either kit could have been removed from the L98A1 in the time it took to normally strip and reassemble the weapon.
Usage
Before the weapon was used with either blank or ball ammunition, cadets received training in the safe use of the weapon. These weapons drills were assessed through weapon handling tests (WHTs) carried out as part of regular training or at the discretion of range staff.
Problems
The L98A1 had a number of design features that caused problems, especially for inexperienced cadets.
For instance a common stoppage occured if the cocking handle was not fully retracted and released because the spent round failed to eject cleanly fouling the breech and preventing the loading of the next cartridge. This fault was often caused by poor cleaning as dirt, grit and rain easily foul and removed the oil from the exposed cocking handle slide making a smooth action harder to cycle.
A stoppage also occured when a cadet "rode" the cocking handle forward instead of releasing it smartly. Empty cases had been known to bounce off the firers hand, as the weapon was re-cocked, and back inside fouling the breech and causing a stoppage.
The distinctive and comparatively loud sound produced when the weapon was "made ready" before firing, made realistic field training all the more difficult because the opposing section would almost certainly know where the "enemy threat" was coming from before the fire fight even began. This was only aggravated by the single shot capacity requiring a noticeable movement (and noisy cocking) after each shot, thus making a well hidden/camouflaged opposition obvious.
The removal of the flash suppressor on the L98 also prevented the fitting of the blank firing attachment (BFA) (or, for that matter, the fitting of a standard issue British army bayonet) for the L85A1 series or the use of the safe blank firing attachment (SBFA) for the A2 series. This increased the safety distance when firing from 2m to 50m as well as increased opportunity for injury. The inability to fit a BFA and the resulting safety distance effectively meant that the L98A1 could not be used for FIBUA training as room clearance required the discharge of blank rounds at close quarters.
L103A1 Drill Purpose Rifle
There was a 'DP' (Drill Purpose) version of the L98A1, known as the L103A1. It was similar to the 'GP' rifle, however, modifications had been made in order to deactivate it: the barrel was sealed by filling it with lead, the firing pin was cut and welded down to the bolt face and the hammer was filed down, making reactivation uneconomical. The weapons were used by cadets for weapons drill training without the fear of negligent discharge (ND) of a live round. The 'DP' could be identified by a white stripe on the hand guard and near the butt of the weapon with the letters 'DP' in the stripe. the bolt carrier assembly (bolt) was painted red and this can be seen from the breech on the right hand side of the weapon.
Decommission
The L98A1 rifle is now no longer officially in use by the Army Cadet Force. It began a phased decommission in early 2009. UK cadet forces have now received the new Heckler and Koch modified L98A2 rifles and Light Support Weapons (LSW's).
See also
- Air Training Corps
- Army Cadet Force
- Combined Cadet Force
- Sea Cadet Corps
- Marine Cadets
- L81 A2 Cadet Target Rifle
- SA80
- British military rifles
