'z' on Long Lee Knox form

[Devils Own]

G'day Everybody

Does anybody know what a couple of Zs stamped on the knox of my new Long Lee (1901) stands for? Is it for use with nitro?

Cheers

Steve

Information

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[breakeyp]

Without pictures any comment would be a guess. Certainly a Z has nothing to do with nitro cellulose powders. Could it be a poorly stuck makring of two incomplete arrows touching--indicating sale out of service?

[Alan de Enfield]

Pics would help -

ZF means "beyond repair" but ZZ i cannot find anywhere.

[Devils Own]

Thanks Alan

The Zs are not together they are about 5mm apart and irregularly orietated (almost at right angles) to one another. It has a South African U on the knox too. It has ear forsight protectors (with Enfield rifling 'E' on it) like a CLLE but it has no charger bridge. So it looks like a part conversion towards HV ammo. That is why I thought the Z might be something to do with nitro proofing. I have bought quite a few cases of SA .303 and they always seem to make a point of putting MKVIIZ on the box. So, I thought that maybe they have a 'Z' fixation. Any Boks out there to confirm this?

I haven't picked it up yet and have the option not to do so if the Zs represent something nasty. So, no pics, unfortunately.

Cheers

Steve

[Devils Own]

P.S. There is no Enfield rifling 'E' on the knox.

S.

[Big Ball Bag]

Occasionally a 'Z' is supposed to be an 'N' but something goes wrong, like a wrong letter stamp is picked up and struck, I imagine more likely when a stores weiner is given the job instead of a gunplumber. So instead of ZZ, maybe it was ZN or even NZ that was supposed to be the marking, just a thought...

[Comms]

[QUOTE=Devils Own;64077] have bought quite a few cases of SA .303 and they always seem to make a point of putting MKVIIZ on the box. So, I thought that maybe they have a 'Z' fixation.


The Z suffix to British SAA box markings and headstamps is to distinguish nitrocellulose propellant from cordite. It appears on various calibres of post WW2 made rounds produced before the LxAx system came into use.

Phil

[Peter Laidler]

A single 'Z' on its own would indicate Base Workshop repair only - as opposed to ZF which is the Base workshop symbol for 'we can't do this, it's beyond our capability and maybe the Factory can try.....' . However. this won't apply to this because these symbols only came about from about 1942