Peter,

Just to dig a bit further:

Was there any sort of universal policy to preserve salvageable rifle parts when ZF-ing a rifle, or was it normal for the whole thing to be chucked away?

E.g. stamping "ZF" on a butt is presumably going to lead to that butt being scrapped as well as the receiver - whereas stamping "ZF" on the actual receiver would ensure the receiver was scrapped, but would not necessarily condemn the other component parts.


Without intending to throw fuel on the barby, I've seen a couple of rifles like Son's - "ZF" on the butt, but absolutely nothing to indicate any sort of damage. One was clearly "FTR-mint-in-cosmoline" condition, evidently surplussed out from some country's holdings. I did wonder whether there is another type of "ZF" (property mark?) floating around out there - maybe a cousin of the mysterious "FR".....