L1A1 F1

[C2A1]

Looking at a parts kit that I have and it has a lower that is an AD64 date and would have been a Bermuda contract. However it has a S butt stock and the barrel is an F1 with the short flash hider. Front handguards are solid wood.
I checked Skinnerton and it seems only PNG, Hong Kong and Malaysia got F1s and by that date the handguards were laminates.
Did Bermuda surplus the L1A1s and they were rebuilt? Or did Bermuda up grade the early L1A1s with shorter furniture? Or is this just a pile of parts from every corner of the planet? I have another kit in which the lower is from a Zambian contract ( kit came from Australia). It is interesting how these L1A1 parts seem to float around the world.

[bobm1919]

And all end up here...............................
Gold, pure gold.....................

[tsmgguy]

A pile of parts from every corner of the planet? Could be. '64 is too early for the gun to have originally been an F1. If your serials otherwise match, the barrel has probably been swapped out. You might remove the hand guards to check the barrel's batch number. Batch numbers that were originally correct for you serial will date from '64 or earlier, not later. That's not to rule out a later replacement.

I was curious in the same regard about about my Eden import '64 dated L1A1A. It checked out, though, with all matching serials and logical batch numbers. All four wooden componants are marked SLAZ 64, as well. Slazenger's, Sydney, did not make stock furniture for the SLR after 1965. Laminated, MA marked hand guards made their first appearance in 1967, IIRC. My gun has the normal (N) butt and correct flash hider. It has the improvements and modifications made to that date, but not any from a later period.

[C2A1]

The barrel looks to be a 64 but I haven't taken the flash hider off to see how it is keyed. If it is 64 it should have the key for the long hider. I'll check and see if the batch numbers give any clue. This is a cut barrel kit and I have a nice new barrel for it so I am debating if I should go with the 64 Bermuda configuration or the as modified configuration.
As to how these rifles moved around after delievery is interesting and really cloudy. One interesting bit I have been chasing is that that some of the german G1s went to Cambodia. These went prior to the change in government in the 60s and they recieved the royal crest. I have only a single reference to these rifles in a totally backwater military reference put out in the late 60s. I think that is one of the reason I like the FAL/L1A1 is there is history there.