A couple of Aussie and kiwi related SLR rifle questions

[STURM]

Greetings, I've got a couple of SLR related questions I'm curious about.

Are there any Aussie or Kiwi veterans here who have served in Malaysia during exercises? The reason I'm asking is because I was told that the SLR rifle, when operated in humid and wet jungle conditions, had the tendency to accumulate or develop rust quite rapidly. I was wondering if there was any truth to this?

Were SLR's manufactured by Lithgow ever exported to Malaysia and Singapore?

 

[Cadredave]

Greetings, I've got a couple of SLR related questions I'm curious about.

Are there any Aussie or Kiwi veterans here who have served in Malaysia during exercises? The reason I'm asking is because I was told that the SLR rifle, when operated in humid and wet jungle conditions, had the tendency to accumulate or develop rust quite rapidly. I was wondering if there was any truth to this?

Were SLR's manufactured by Lithgow ever exported to Malaysia and Singapore?

Sturm;
I was based in 1RNZIR in Singapore for 2 years, we operated in Malaysia all the time, like all weapons in jungle conditions if you failed to look after your weapon then yes it would rust, this was not perculiar to the SLR but all our infantry weapons from the M16A1, Bren, & the L7A1 GPMG. The SLR never let me down during the whole time I was in S.E.A.

CD

 

[STURM]

CD,

Thanks for the input. Just out of curiosity, what year were you based in Singapore?
I remember in the 80's, on a couple of occasions, seeing Kiwi troops on the courseway from Singapore, on their way for jungle training at the Jungle Warfare School.

 

[old faithful]

Yep served in butterworth, and yep my SLR rusted, as did everything, also happenend in Tully, and canungra and holsworthy range, M16A1 was worse, and Styer wasnt much better when they got a bit older...we called rust "CB Paint"...CB meaning confined to barracks. Best way to clean rust was with American forby....steel wool and oil.
If you maintain your rifle, it wont rust...but sometimes, like ,after a long ambush, after a parachute insertion and 30 odd km "walk" to get there, you might find orange like dirt on your barrel.
I really trusted my SLR, set the gas on 3, and it never let you down. It was a great fire arm, and Id prefer it now to an F88 in some area,s of operations.

 

[Cadredave]

CD,

Thanks for the input. Just out of curiosity, what year were you based in Singapore?
I remember in the 80's, on a couple of occasions, seeing Kiwi troops on the courseway from Singapore, on their way for jungle training at the Jungle Warfare School.

85 - 87 all our training time was conducted in the ulu, best education a young rifleman could get.

 

[C/s 32B]

Sturm
Carried an SLR around Malaysia on exercises for six months before posting to Vietnam, 1969-70 as the #2 on an M60 then promoted to Section 2ic, still with an SLR.
So have experience with both weapons, absolutley no problems with rust in either location, all comes down to good maintenance. The SLR never stopped once and always had gas setting on zero so maximum gas. And if you're interested, carried 12 x 20 round magazines + 100 round bandolier as well as 600 rounds of link for the gun, gunner had another 600 and each rifleman approx 300 link so at any time even when operating down to a 7 man section, we were carrying aorund 2500 link in the section.
The M60 has received a fair bagging over the years and was an alternative weapon for us as the NZDF had the GPMG which could not be used in Vietnam. Once we received the correct oil, normal gun oil could not withstand the operating temperatures,which came in a plastic bottle and had the consistency of yoghurt, again never had a stoppage. Keeping the link clean was a challenge and involved hanging the link eack night and in the dark brushing it with a tooth brush, no was a spare one not mine, the link that was feeding the gun was laid on a half shelter which was then folded over it.
Cheers

Greetings, I've got a couple of SLR related questions I'm curious about.

Are there any Aussie or Kiwi veterans here who have served in Malaysia during exercises? The reason I'm asking is because I was told that the SLR rifle, when operated in humid and wet jungle conditions, had the tendency to accumulate or develop rust quite rapidly. I was wondering if there was any truth to this?

Were SLR's manufactured by Lithgow ever exported to Malaysia and Singapore?

 

[STURM]

Sturm
Carried an SLR around Malaysia on exercises for six months before posting to Vietnam, 1969-70 as the #2 on an M60 then promoted to Section 2ic, still with an SLR.
So have experience with both weapons, absolutley no problems with rust in either location, all comes down to good maintenance. The SLR never stopped once and always had gas setting on zero so maximum gas. And if you're interested, carried 12 x 20 round magazines + 100 round bandolier as well as 600 rounds of link for the gun, gunner had another 600 and each rifleman approx 300 link so at any time even when operating down to a 7 man section, we were carrying aorund 2500 link in the section.
The M60 has received a fair bagging over the years and was an alternative weapon for us as the NZDF had the GPMG which could not be used in Vietnam. Once we received the correct oil, normal gun oil could not withstand the operating temperatures,which came in a plastic bottle and had the consistency of yoghurt, again never had a stoppage. Keeping the link clean was a challenge and involved hanging the link eack night and in the dark brushing it with a tooth brush, no was a spare one not mine, the link that was feeding the gun was laid on a half shelter which was then folded over it.
Cheers

Thank you for the input much appreciated.

Everyone I've asked, irrespective of nationality has nothing bad to say about the SLR. The SLR was also a very popular weapon with Malaysians troops, in fact many of them still preferred it even after being issued with the M-16A1. The big problem was the weight of the SLR as Malaysian troops are generally smaller than Aussie and Kiwi troops!

A few questions if you don't mind.

Before deployment to Vietnam, did your unit undergo any training at the Jungle Warfare School in Johor?

Was it standard practice for the 'point or leading man' in jungle patrols to be issued with either a shotgun or a Sterling?

Were the 12 mags you mentioned, all carried in ammo pouches on your belt order or were some kept in your bergen?

Was the 6 month deployment to Malaysia solely for jungle training/orientation, to prepare troops for Vietnam, or did you guys also go on patrols against the communists insurgents?