While MkVIIIz is a popular topic...

[Son]

I entered into a discussion elsewhere about the statement that MkVIIIz was banned from use in rifles because they blew up and started the world turning backwards (or some such tripe)
There was references to a wiki post that said MkVIIIz was 10% hotter than MkVII, had a MV of 2550fps. I looked up Mr Edwards' section in the "Lee Enfield" to see that by his notes, MkVIIIz actually had less NC in it than MkVIIz, but had the same MV at 2440fps. (top of page 594)

I did some digging and found this in the hope of getting to the bottom of the stories once and for all.... Please, all discussion and any more official documentation welcome to (hopefully) put this to bed...

From Armourers Updates 1943

Attachment 71026

Attachment 71025

I read this as saying that the use of MkVIIIz caused accelerated wear due to the difference in the shape of the projectile base causing a concentrated heat area up the boat tail out to the barrel, rather than the base of the FB projectile meeting the barrel at a tangent.... this effected already partly worn MkVII barrels more than new barrels.
The last bit says to me that MkVIIIz can be used in rifles under the same circumstances as stated for using in the LMG (Bren) and that being where less muzzle flash may be desirable on night ops.

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