Sydney siege: Hostages held in central cafe

bbc ^ | 14 December 2014 Last updated at 18:35 ET

[BenLurkin]

Several people have been taken hostage by at least one armed man at a Lindt cafe in the centre of Sydney.

[M1903A1]

Yes - Lithgow Small Arms Factory L1A1 Self-Loading Rifle.

Nice. There's a lot of those over here made up from parts, but less than 200 genuine (and legal) all-made-by-Lithgow examples are here. They were made after most regular production had ended. They retailed for $1550 when new and go for about 4-5 times that now.

[naturalman1975]

I didn’t know it was that rare. I picked one up (at a pretty decent price) because it was what I was most trained to use. I’m not a collector or anything - to me, it’s a tool and the best tool is the one you’re used to.

[davetex]

Had to google the Lithgow. I thought the picture you posted was a FAL. Learned something new tonight, thanks.

[naturalman1975]

The picture is generic - not my own weapon, and might well be an FN-FAL. But they are very similar.

[davetex]

I had never heard of the Lithgow before. I did google some pictures and several looked just like a FAL, others not so much. Was it made in Australia?

[naturalman1975]

Yes - Lithgow is a town in New South Wales, and the Lithgow Small Arms Factory has been manufacturing weapons for the Australian military since 1912. It’s now owned by Thales.

The L1A1 SLR is a Commonwealth derivative of the FN-FAL and Lithgow manufactured them for the Australian forces - it was our standard military rifle for quite a long while.

[davetex]

Thanks for the lesson. Very interesting stuff.

[GOJPN]

I neglected to label the post as “Sarcasm”.