What serial number did the No8 Rifles begin at?

[Surpmil]

I just bought a loose body in a box of bits at a gunshow. It is marked on the body side:

22 No8 Mk.I
DA 1001

On the butt socket is:

CR324
M47C (tiny characters)
1952 (ditto)
N^Z
311

Will take some photos later. Quite a lot of machining done to these bodies I must say.

Information

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[crusty]

Mine is DA817, I'm sure I have seen much lower than that too. One of the most accurate .22s I have shot.

[Peter Laidler]

The ejector plate in the No8 body that is held into the body by two trnasverse pins was matched to the body of the rifle and while they were all presumably drilled in-situ, on a jig, none (?) were ever interchangeable due, we learned, to the vast dimensional tolerances of the bodies.

When I was a young Armourer I remember a few of us having to stay behind to assemble a load of No8 rifles that had gone through the phosphating plant without the ejector plates being wired to the bodies (or wire tagged with the rifle number on) to prevent just such an event. We did eventually get them all sorted out but each one had to be function tested for correct ejection (more later.....) before final assembly THEN range testing the next day.

I think that the plate was made from tough high carbon steel to prevent wear.

Oh yes....... the bloody function test........... There are no drill rounds for the .22" rifle and we were forbidden to use the CHS gauges of course so every bloody rifle had to be taken over the road to the freezing cold test range just to test it for ejection with the supposedly corrected ejector block. What a palava...... That's what we were MEANT to do......... But we got a handfull of ammo and tested them all in the warmth of the Armourers shop in the 'hot-shop' bay (where the welding and brazing plant was kept) and tested muzzle down into a sand filled fire bucket. No mishaps I hasten to add!

Where was I before I got side-tracked........ Oh yes. DON'T mix up the ejector blocks and if you ain't got one, then your troubles are just about to start as being a matched/mated part, it was never issued as a spare component.

[5thBatt]

The DA prefix No8s are from a NZ contract by BSA Shirley for 2000 rifles
I have 2 from that contract, DA156 & DA156
The lowest number at the NZDF cadet rifle auction back in 2009 was DA101

[muffett.2008]

5th, you've been waiting patiently for a thread like this.............let's see how many bites you get.

[Bindi2]

You are being nice Muff. My thought went along the line of S@#$% S*&^%$ but he is quite correct as you are.

[5thBatt]

5th, you've been waiting patiently for a thread like this.............let's see how many bites you get.

99 out of 100 people never really read a post completely but i already knew you were special

[Son]

Mine is A23XX. IIRC the F 50 on it means Fazakerley, 1950 build. The book says there were 15,000 made at Faz, serial prefix A, and 2000 made by BSA fior the NZ contract, serial prefix DA

Being about half way between 5thBatt and Bindi (two of the most dedicated owners of no8 rifles in this part of the world) I was lucky to snag mine from under their noses.

[Thunderbox]

Mine is A23XX. IIRC the F 50 on it means Fazakerley, 1950 build. The book says there were 15,000 made at Faz, serial prefix A, and 2000 made by BSA fior the NZ contract, serial prefix DA

..... and an unknown number prefix "W" and thought to have been used as sub-calibre training devices in barrelled action form.

[Bindi2]

That was a good coup Son very good.