Modern rifles are not always entirely suitable for parade ground drill. They have protrusions such as charging handles and sights that can catch on uniform of scratch the soldier during his drill movements with the rifle. Some armies have retained older weapons specifically for drill, however this is not ideal as these weapons need to be cleaned, stored securely and maintained but are only of use for drill. The British Army decided to use its standard service rifle for drill work, however to protect the uniform from the SA80’s large sight and the charging handle a padded cover is issued that envelops both and it can be seen here with the footguards on parade in London:

The sight cover itself is made of a black vinyl type fabric and is padded, partly to protect the sight from scratches whilst the rifle is being used for drill, but also to protect the soldier form the edges and protrusions on the sight. A pair of long straps descends down that can be wrapped under the weapon and secured to one another with Velcro to hold the cover on:

Inside the cover there is a small piece of elastic cord that pulls the cover tight underneath the body of the sight to hold it securely onto the weapon:

This particular cover comes with the little plastic bag it was issued to stores with, a label stuck on the outside shows the NSN number and that this one dates from 2016: