he forgot to talk about the feature that if you switch to a pistol and back to the rifle after firing you can chamber a new round faster.

"This is just more of a formality, we needed to make sure you guys weren't just three guys in a shed" "HAHAHAHAHA WE'RE IN SO MUCH TROUBLE"

Imagine being just two dudes in a shed making rifles for competition shooters and then getting told you have to supply standard armaments for one of the largests militaries in the planet .

When the shooter complains that he can shoot targets outside the range of the spotter, you know you got a great rifle.

The Spitfire was designed by a man in a shed. Shed's in Britain are the last refuge of the thinking man, some of our best achievements as a nation came out of the simple garden shed.

Worth less money than some of the AWP skins in cs go.

Imagine how pissed off the AI guys were when the people who had been given the job of manufacturing their equipment went and fucked everything up right off the bat.

"They changed the material the firing pin was made from" - This is what happens when you put accountants in charge.

"Better rent and decorate a warehouse so they don't find out we're just two blokes in a shed." +inspection commences+ "Really, we were only making sure you're not just two blokes in a shed." ...👍

At that point weren't they just 'Accuracy Local'?

These were the times... Two guys in a wooden shed could get a military contract and become a big company.

Everybody gangsta until a SAS soldier jumps and aces the round

I believe Accuracy International is what you would call "cheeky"

"Cut them up and dumped them in the North Sea" I sense a great disturbance in the force, like a million gun aficionados crying out and then being silenced.

It’s so ridiculous that these legendary guns get cut up and destroyed. So many cool guns like this have that fate

The British have a long proud history of shooting at a distance far enough away that the other guy can’t really do anything about it.

1:05 No, you can absolutely say two guys in a shed. Very few Brits will take exception to that since we all know that much of our industrial history, and arguably the beginnings of the industrial revolution, is littered with examples of blokes farting around in sheds. It's an area of national pride.

hearing that the pylon company went out of business made me happy. because that's what one deserves when you messed with a design you don't understand.

I love how you say “two guys in a shed”. The story of the Cosworth DFV (the most successful Formula One engine of all time) is pretty much the same thing.

Accuracy International: "What's the worst that could happen?" Ministry of Defense: "Congradulations!" AI: "FUCK."

The Accuracy International MoD story reminds me of I think it was Porsche or Ferrari with their Le Mans racing car in the 1970s where they had to make 200 cars to be legal to race and they only had 100. When the officials visited to see how many cars they had, the 100 were put in a yard, the officials were taken to lunch and the same 100 cars were moved to another yard and counted twice.

Who would win: Several major firearms companies with years of experience in military small arms Or... 2 smart Englishmen in a shed

14:58 That rear sight is a jewel. Only the Brits could put such a piece on a battle rifle. I wonder how good the rifle performs using these iron sights and a good load. Excellent walk around Ian.

I was responsible for picking up the first 10 L96A1's from Accuracy International in Pompey for the sniper course at CTCRM in 1985.

Ah yes, the one-hit kill machine

I hope the Arctic Warfare model is coming soon.

I was an Armourer in Northern Ireland (1987) when we received 9 L96s to replace our L42s; we kept 3 and returned 6 as the quality was awful. I saw the threaded holes between the chassis and receiver that are mentioned, where the tip of the screw protruded into the bolt way causing gouges down the bolt! The bonding agent (Belzona Super Metal) that is supposed to sandwich between chassis and receiver was added later like a cosmetic feature, so the two parts were getting loose. When I first saw it, I thought it was utter crap. It was incredibly accurate though. Working on it was vastly different that the L42, which required considerable hand fitting of parts - a true 'craftsman's rifle' when you build one. I recall spending hours stoning parts to fit them... Interestingly, about 7 years later I was involved in a trial for a different kind of sniper rifle; I met Malcolm Cooper who told us the whole tale of AI's birth and the L96. He brought along a new product from AI - the AW. By comparison to the L96, the AW was mind-blowingly good. The quality was superb and it was incredibly easy to fire accurately, as was the L96. The 'design' would pave the way for the future AW-derived rifles and they were all excellent. When we saw the .338 Lapua Magnum AW rifle it blew away everything else and gave the Army a world class sniper rifle, which could reach out way beyond the capability of the 7.62mm.

The scope is made from the town ~ 20km away from my home. :) The town is called the optics town, Leica Camera is also there.

I guess they where the sharpest tool in the shed, huh?

The fact they saw their final place being in the sea saddens me for a rifle that holds a such a strong memory real or fictional in so many peoples lives.

Our tanks rifling my not be perfect lol.... but our sniper rifles however 👌🏼❤️

I loved this rifle. I did my sniper course with it and god, did it shoot well. This was a long time a go, in about 94.

Well this was a pleasant and unexpected surprise.

I remember when I was like 7 - 9 years old when I found one of these in my Grandma's closet, I was visiting her in Phoenix AZ while bored one day and left alone for the day. I don't know how or where she got the damn thing, when asked about it by my father she said she got it at a garage sale and that she thought that it would be a good rifle for me and my brother when we were older. Sadly my father didn't agree and I believe took it down to the Police station and "Discarded" the rifle to them.......I could have had one of these along with a Sharps Buffalo rifle, I've been screwed out of having two awesome piece of firearm history. Edit: 28:10 ...........................yep......blood is now boiling.........

Retired Royal Marine Commando/C Sqn SBS (1978-2008) lost track of the various firearms we used but this one was hoofing! Britain has a long history of producing incredible, often world beating engineering, with a a bloke or two working in a shed! Never underestimate the typical British bloke that enjoys tinkering with an idea he’s had especially when he has access to a shed (even a basic garden shed is often the place where great engineering starts to grow) but it can be occasionally derailed slightly whenever the Civil Service, Ministry of Defence, or a “proper” engineering company get involved, just as happened here. Its fascinating to recall that if it wasn’t for the profit chasing, penny pinching attitude of the “professional engineering company”, then the early rifles might not have caused the problems nor the injuries that colleagues might be affected by.

10:25 It's the history of an iconic weapon that's so appealing IMHO, the L96 ALMOST wasn't adopted several times, they didn't want to submit for the trials, but still did, expecting to fail, they beat SIG, HK, and Remington, they didn't have a shop, but they bluffed it, they almost got screwed by the changes made by the other production company, but STILL made it where they are today, really rocky road to get there, but I'd say it was a solid "wurf"

I think the important point is that it's two guys *that know what they're doing* in a shed. You can find them everywhere in Britain. 😉

As a Brit, I quite like the phrase “2men in a shed” if I ran an arms company that could very well be the name 👍🏻

There’s one in the Royal Armouries in Leeds, England. I saw it a few weeks ago and was surprised HO little attention it got!

I met a high ranking army officer in N Ireland during the troubles, we were both target shooters, I had been to Bisley and saw the the Commonwealth Games gold medalist there with his new rifle and was talking to the officer about it. It turned out he was part of the team developing the army’s sniper rifle and told me that the bolt lugs broke on one rifle with disastrous results for the soldier shooting it. Seems such a long time ago.

I know a British guy that actually had two sheds. His name was Author Jackson but they called him Two Sheds. Good ole' Author "Two Sheds" Jackson.

Its so small compared to what i thought it would be

During rhe Bosnian conflict we would rotate into theatre for about 10 days at a time. We didn't have individual rifles but had designated scopes and would sign the scope out of the armoury and fit it to the rifle we took over, the outgoing man woukd remove his scope and pack it in its case. The only rifle i ever used that you could trust to do that on.

I almost wanted to cry when he talked about them being scrapped. Especially since he spent the whole video talking it up.

There was another submission for the contract, (I do believe). This was Pip Watts of Edgcumbe Arms in Dorset and I was closely involved in the company at that time. The rifle was fairly conventional but had a couple of interesting features, one of which was an interrupted thread locking lugs and another was recessed iron sights. I have some photos, if you are interested.

Ian, I know this channel is called forgotten weapons but I’m so glad you’ve started to cover well remembered weapons in depth. We often don’t hear the stories behind some of these classics in nearly the amount of detail which you provide such as in your Thompson history and British smg series. Keep up the great work!

Good thing the firing pin failures didn't harm AI and they were able to continue forward giving us so much more as with the A.I. AW50.

One week and half a million views :D I’ve followed you for years, so good to see you doing so well. An iconic rifle, excellently presented, always so unbiased and factual

Although I enjoy all(most) of your episodes this one I found to be quite enthralling. I grew up hunting with a sporterized 7.62 Mauser war trophy with double set triggers My father informed me, upon gifting it to me, that with the iron sights I could shoot a deer so far out that it would spoil before I could walk to retrieve it! I miss it and him, but never missed a target! Thank you for bringing history to the masses!

Sad to hear they are virtually all gone. This was an awesome rifle, last fired one in the mid 1990’s whilst in Bosnia. I can vouch for the simplicity and ease of use as by this time it wasn’t a specific sniper rifle as they where ageing and got passed down to us mere mortals to use! Great to see one again....loved that safety in the cold so easy to check and use Peace Charlie UK 🇬🇧

The Balvenie container full of gun maintenance equipment behind Ian is just some masterful cinematography.

Thanks! Nice use of a Balvenie Single Malt canister there in the back!🥃 Looks like the standard 12 yr double wood if I’m not mistaken.🥃

Purchased a copy of the Book. It’s fantastic, thanks for the recommendation

Sees that it is a 30 min episode: "Yaaaaasss!" Also: I hope there is a hip-fire test.

I shot this rifle in 1988 at Stoney Castle range near Bisley. At 600 you could select which part of a "hun head" target you hit. That target was smaller than a standard Fig 12 target used at 100 - 300 yards. This was a major step forward in terms of accuracy.

Ian, you're absolutely spot on. A British company always begins and sometimes stays with two blokes in their shed.

I did a lot of shooting with the cadets in the early 2000s. I was sure that we had fired a 7.62 bolt action rifle with a later designation than the l42. It looks like we were (and cadets still are) firing the Parker Hale rifles with iron sights. It was great fun to shoot and spot out to 600m as a teenager in a country where access to firearms is otherwise so heavily restricted. I do wish I had been given the opportunity to shoot one of these just once though. Thank you for the video Ian, highly entertaining as usual.

Yet another FW video that feels like it was made just for me. Thank you, Ian 👍

There's something so sexy about the purety of purpose of a bolt action sniper rifle...

The stereotype is absolutely accurate in that British men have a special place in their hearts when it comes to tinkering in sheds

God that thing looks so neat

This rifle is amazing. It's so light and precise you can run full sprint, jump and snap a bullseye mid-air and never miss a beat. Oh CS, you so silly...

That's a beautiful piece of engineering with a respectful narrative. Superb video.

There was another sniper rifle between the L96 A1 and the L42 A1, and that was the Parker Hale M 82. Basically all it was, was their TX1200 target rifle (as used at the Olympics) a single shot rifle, adapted to take a 4 round magazine and a scope. We had them in the NZ army until we moved to the Accuracy International.

I used to enjoy going to their gun shop in Gladys Avenue, Portsmouth (where the ‘shed’ was), and always enjoyed looking at their ‘factory’ in the hastily rented industrial estate from the train. They were always welcoming and friendly and very patient

I loved this rifle when I done my sniper course in the late 90s. I remember being issued the new sight was a good combination.

I love that this model actually has iron sights, and they look pretty good. The scope is not bad, I like it better than the later models.

I absolutely loved this video. Thank you for such an in depth review of a remarkable piece of history.

The best thing out of Portsmouth since HMS Victory and Operation Overlord Force Juno.

The Dutch (Royal Netherlands Marine Corps and Royal Dutch Navy) also used them and some are still being used today. Great rifle to shoot!!

As usual Ian a brilliant and very informative video. Loved it, keep 'em coming mate, your knowledge is enthusiastic and incredible. Thank you...

Excellent tutorial, new to this channel but I'm hooked, I have shot a number of these rifles in real time situations and great to see them being discussed. Looking forward to the next video 😊👍

Came for the sniper rifle, stayed for the great storytelling :).

Great video as usual, it makes me appreciate the 10 rounds I got to shoot from one back in my OTC days even more. Yes it was very nice and easy to get decent shots with.

Youre channel is absolutely amazing. Been a fan for a while now. Keep up the great work.

What a great video - ive never shot anything gunpowder propelled, yet i found this very interesting. You are a very lucky man to have gotten your fingers on one of these pieces of history

Cool Schmidt und Bender Wetzlar scope, my hometown.

Steve Houghton’s book is absolutely brilliant. I got mine this week. If the subject interests you, talk to Steve. He is very helpful and dealing with him was a joy. Cannot recommend the book, or Steve’s expertise enough. Also, Ian, thank you for these superb videos for enthusiasts. A great match for Steve’s offering.

Yet another brilliant and informative video from this guy,keep up the good work.

Ian, brilliant video. This is the first and will probably be the only time that I watch one of your videos and, after a few minutes, remember that I have fired the weapon you are describing. Late 1986, at the School of Infantry in Warminster, I was on the first platoon commanders' course issued with the SA80. We must have been doing a familiarisation shoot because we were on a 25m range. Next door were a bunch of trainee snipers* with this fancy looking new sniper rifle. Any other time they'd have had no interest in swapping rifles with a bunch of Ruperts, but they hadn't seen the SA80 either. So, under the supervision of our SASC instructors, we swapped weapons and fired a few rounds. 25m was not a very testing distance to fire a sniper rifle (frankly not much of a challenge for an SA80 either) but I can safely say I got my tightest ever group! A year later they were issued to my battalion. *I don't think that it's accurate to say that the RM delivered all sniper training. The Army would never have put up with that, and they certainly wouldn't have been at Warminster. They would have trained their own and I can quite imagine that they may have done some even more specialist courses. I did fire the No4-based L43 sniper rifle on a Battalion range day. I am sure that the NCO supervising that range took pleasure in letting me give myself a black eye when the scope hit me in the eye. Apparently they were usually fired with the aid of a sandbag or two.

Love this rifle! Great review with detailed history, nice job brother!

The British are crazy with snipers, I'm pretty sure they had the unit that was the first to wear _Ghillie_ suits

"Good thing youre not a couple guys in a shed lol." "Say what now?"

Thank you. I truly enjoy your efforts and the history you bring forward. Best Regards.

The L96A1, what a classic OHKO sniper in video gaming. Anyone who has played CS or Combat Arms knows the rep this thing has. This was really cool to see the real life version.

You've made my day Ian! Brings back memories :)

I literally shed a tear when he said that they cut them up and dumped them in the sea...

Realy amazing peice of Kit. With the x12 S&B extremely accurate

What an amazing story. You find yourself watching a video on a gun but ends up with a human tale. Thank you

Typical British beginning. I love the way the two fellows fooled the MOD. A brilliant rifle which would today be a beauty on a long distance range but no, the bloody government goes and destroys them.

Man, I love your videos! I'm from South Africa and here's a little story for you: In the '80s, when I was just a little kid, SA was still banned from international sport so my Dad paid for himself to go to Bisley in England where he entered as a privateer and beat 2-time Olympic gold medalist and co-founder of Accuracy International Malcolm Cooper to bring home a gold medal in .22 long rifle. Keep up the good work, best channel on KZfaq!

Really interesting I didn't suspect such a story behind that rifle. Thanks Ian !!

Cooperman won two olympic golds

Heh, I live a 20 minute walk from that shed.

2 blokes in a shed are responsible for about half the things that make life worthwhile.

What an interesting and informative video! A pleasure to watch. You have a gift for speaking clearly.

Pylon is a perfect example of why you don't cheap out

I see something looming in the background, and it's not the Balvenie-bottle case that has the tools sticking out...

I always love how Forgotten Weapons doesn't have a long intro sequence or lots of extra talking beforehand, you normally expect to have to skip to the middle of videos that look like this to actually get to what it's about. But naw, just a couple seconds of a silent logo screen with the gun name, and Ian gets right into it

I feel like Ian does evrything in one take, with no script. I am quite confident he's just speaking freely. Bro is extremely wise, and articulate. A viewer really doesn't need to be educated in this field to understand what he is explaining