Beach, thanks for highlighting my error in referring to a "Furphy" as a bit of a lie, with Is Mise referring to it as a rumour. I'll take the Aussie Slang Dictionary definition;

Furphy : false or unreliable rumour. So a rumour that is a lie is a "furphy".

I am truly astounded by the "knowledge" you have on every possible subject on the planet, including this one. I understand your astounding "knowledge" is due to you meticulous hording of back copies of old newspapers, amazing. I can only assume your years of holding on to all those dusty old copies of 'The Daily Mirror' has been rewarding, and I'm not just just referring to the occasional ogling of the famous page 3 girls either. Along with your collection of old Hollywood movies, I'll have to agree, Rudolph Valentino never did uttered the word "sapper" on the silver screen, and as far as I can tell Charlie Chaplin didn't either, interesting.

You continually want to know if I'm a Kiwi or an Islander, I didn't tell the whole truth on that. When I was a kid I had an uncle who lived on Scotland Island in the Hawkesbury River, and yep we used to go there for some Xmas Hols, so does that qualify me as an Islander? Kiwi, I'm defiantly not. I probably offended you by asking if you were German or Italian, I forgot your Uncle Adolf was Austrian, sorry about that.

cont

cont

While I'm making these confessions, I must admit Vietnam was not the first time I dodged the draft. When I was about 14 I refused to "volunteer" to join the School Cadets, one of only two kids in my year to do so, the other kid was half blind and got off on medical grounds. Hummm, refusing to "volunteer" for cadets in a Catholic boys school in the 1960's was tantamount to treason! it got you labeled as a nancy-boy, or worse a budding Communists, it also got you plenty of stick (the cane) which Brother dished out to me in liberal quantities, I got labeled both by Brother Cadet Master, who ironically years later was proved to be a pedophile. That is another John dory in itself.

I must also confess as a 17 year old I had the hots for this bird from Sydney Uni, who was in the Spartecas League, they were Trotskyists, and the only people those Trots hated more than capitalists were those old fart Stalinists of the CPA, publishers of 'The Tribune'. My attraction for this chick was more sexual than philosophical at the time, a lot more.

o sung wu,

I'd plump for the L1A1 as being the most 'grunt' proof and if I were fighting from a fixed position I'd prefer it (if I couldn't have a Lee-Enfield .303), however if I was moving then the M16, purely as a matter of weight.
The M16 was susceptible to ammo problems, in fact a lot of Americans died because of unsuitable ammunition and there was a Congressional Inquiry that stopped just short of criminal negligence charges over the worst incidents.
In Australian service an interesting problem was "skin cancer" where the upper and lower body parts would corrode severely under the tough outer skin of the aluminium castings; this was, at the time, put down to the higher meat component of the Australian diet causing more corrosive perspiration that easily penetrated the skin and then ate quickly through the relatively soft inner metal.
The M60 became a reliable weapon but in the years that I was involved with it, just about every part was modified in some way.
The early bipods were prone to just fall off.

oh sung wu,

John Olsen, the artist, was the first (or the first prominent person) to buy into Paddington after the war and he was considered mad for paying 600 quid for what had been a Town House.
As I remember the frontage was about 25 feet and the downstairs rooms were the full width of the house, bedrooms, bath etc were upstairs.

There was a carriage house at the back of the garden opening onto a lane.
He converted the servants quarters and the hay loft into a fine studio.

Then 'back to Paddo' started in earnest!

Thank you IS MISE...

For that appraisal, very interesting indeed. Well I'll be damned, I've never heard of a skin conditions and perspiration reacting negatively with the weapon, you live and learn I reckon. I like the old SLR myself, and as you say, a little on the heavy side for sure, but the 7.62 round most definitely made it's presence felt though.

I'd hate to be outside, without knowing the trusty old M60 was close by. And as you say faulty Bipods abounded. Thereafter, the Bipod was attached to the barrel assy., which made the damn 'cook off's' much easier to swap over barrels.

Gee all that was 46 years ago, you wouldn't believe how quickly time has flown eh ? Were you with 3RAR in Korea IS MISE ? They served with great distinction from what I've heard.

Sounds like John Olsen made for himself a very wise investment ! Imagine if you owned half an acre of Victoria Barracks, even a bit of the old Moore Park Army Depot, at the rear of the SCG, you'd be a squillionair by now ! Thanks for the info IS MISE, greatly appreciated.

Paul1405,

Thanks for the explanation. Many of my friends, both sexes, who went through Catholic schooling have had to deal with issues from that experience.

Enjoy the long weekend.