Faz 1959 made L1A1

[Peter Laidler]

I haven''t read all of the guff that the advert puts out. The dates just do not stack up. Fazakerley were incapable of producing the rifle to any sort of timed schedule and BSA were approached to take up the slack. Production was to be an all ROF matter - like the pirated Sterling! BSA were approached early on regarding possible production if Faz failed to make any headway. They failed and by 1958 BSA production started in 1958 (UB 58A 121xxx was mine) so it begs the question that if BSA were already successfully taking over the the Fazakerley production AND the Faz L1A1 rifle manufacturing tooling was already on its way to Lithgow, why on earth would Faz be making L1A1 rifles in 1959.

There are no government records of ANY L1A1 rifle production at Fazakerley. And I never saw one either. A rifle was considered produced as an accountable item when the body - the master component - was numbered, in the white, just prior to being sent for proof and phosphating

FAZ did continue production of many parts and for many years, the UF or F58 marking could be seen on Lithgow made rifles along with some FAZ parts. ALL early cracked gas cylinders came from the doomed FAZ factory which was known to us as ROF-6

[mrclark303]

I haven''t read all of the guff that the advert puts out. The dates just do not stack up. Fazakerley were incapable of producing the rifle to any sort of timed schedule and BSA were approached to take up the slack. Production was to be an all ROF matter - like the pirated Sterling! BSA were approached early on regarding possible production if Faz failed to make any headway. They failed and by 1958 BSA production started in 1958 (UB 58A 121xxx was mine) so it begs the question that if BSA were already successfully taking over the the Fazakerley production AND the Faz L1A1 rifle manufacturing tooling was already on its way to Lithgow, why on earth would Faz be making L1A1 rifles in 1959.

There are no government records of ANY L1A1 rifle production at Fazakerley. And I never saw one either. A rifle was considered produced as an accountable item when the body - the master component - was numbered, in the white, just prior to being sent for proof and phosphating

FAZ did continue production of many parts and for many years, the UF or F58 marking could be seen on Lithgow made rifles along with some FAZ parts. ALL early cracked gas cylinders came from the doomed FAZ factory which was known to us as ROF-6

Cheers Peter, isn't it interesting...

Somewhere here ( if someone cares to look) there's a picture of a skeletonised L1A1, with Faz markings on the receiver I came across on the web a while ago.

It's the only evidence of a (possibly) complete Faz example I ever came across.

I wonder if this started as an unused Faz marked body and it's been built up and marked as such for 7,500 good reasons?!

Allegedly, the same dealer had a magically renumbering L42 a while back, so it doesn't take Sherlock Holmes to put 2 and 2 together..... Again, allegedly......

[desperatedan]

Is it this post of yours John? Sadly the picture on here is no more, I imagine disappeared as part of the great image loss problem suffered here.

https://www.milsurps.com/showthread.php?t=62407

[mrclark303]

Is it this post of yours John? Sadly the picture on here is no more, I imagine disappeared as part of the great image loss problem suffered here.

https://www.milsurps.com/showthread.php?t=62407

That's the one Kev .... I'm away at the moment, I'll see if I can find the image on my office Pc when I get back mate...

[enbloc8]

I have the picture in question, just no way to upload it. I also have at least one photo of an undated Faz receiver that was completed as an Enfield Rifle.

Also, I've seen a fair number of Faz small parts here in the States over many years, some furniture, and some magazines (I have three or four), but I think I've seen no more than three marked barrels at most.