I read that the carry handles were remove from many Rhodesian FALs because a spent shell casing hit the carry handle and into the eye of a Rhodesian soldier during a fire fight. The removal of the carry handles and slings were to reduce weight and noise when on patrol. The grenade launchers were common, as the rifle grenades gave the Rhodesian infantry increased firepower. The Halbrek device was not very common and was usually issued to soldiers trained and designated as automatic riflemen. The grenade launchers and the Halbrek device reduced the Rhodesians need for special heavy weapons units ( mortars, light and heavy machine guns, etc.) in fire fights against lightly armed forces.
....... South Africa ordered the removal of carry handles after a single range incident that saw a case bounce back and hit a troopie is the eye. It was also South Africa that made the long plastic butts for the R1 (and G3). There was no actual Rhodesian FAL production of any kind, they scrounged or were "smuggled" all their rifles and spares. They made the odd small accessory, such as the Halbek, but nothing more significant. If you look at any of the significant photo galleries of Rhodesians in action a Halbek is very rare and FN MAG58s very common. The Grenade sights were standard of the R1 so they bled across the border with the rifles.
That odd long butt stock was a bit of detail that I'd always wondered about. There were other long forgotten things besides an ugly paint job that lead me to believe my $60 kit was a South African R1, but I didn't know if the long plastic butt was limited to South Africa. With my build it's a perfect fit.
Australia, Britain and Canada also made butts or butt plates in differing lengths to accommodate varying stature. I think the ABC rifles and South Africans were the only FAL varieties that offered differing lengths. The SA R4 production butt was also longer than the standard Galil butt, apparently the Dutch are larger than most and they worked to accommodate this in their R1, R4 and I want to say R2 (G3 in SA use - R3 is a semi only R1 I believe) rifles.
