ZA marked fals

[RPBII]

I have ZA roll marked fal lower and i was wondering if there are any specific build details about them or were they standard fals. It also has remnants of o.d.green? paint on it. Were they all painted that way? I searched but I did not find much info on them. thanks

[Mosin Guy]

"ZA"
Zambian Army - (Northern Rhodesia)

(Usually hand stencil rotary engraved - not to be confused with the abbreviated 'ZA' roll or block stamp for 'Zuid Afrika' South Africa) "RA"
Rhodesian Army - (now Zimbabwe)

(Usually hand stencil rotary engraved, or letter stamped) eg: RA588
Ownership
1964
1979

http://www.saaaca.org.za/links/markings.htm http://www.saaaca.org.za/links/SIG/fal/fal.htm

[Lon Moer]

Originally posted by RPBII
I have ZA roll marked fal lower and i was wondering if there are any specific build details about them or were they standard fals. It also has remnants of o.d.green? paint on it. Were they all painted that way? I searched but I did not find much info on them. thanks

Search results

[RPBII]

I do have a South African fal kit that has seen service in rhodesia and it has the baby shit 2 color paint on it. I also have a fal lower that only has od green paint on it. Did some particular group or country paint them that way or do i have an oddball lower? I did get the same 2 pages on the search L.M. as you did , and I dont feel that they really answered any of my questions I have. I know that there has been a lot of discussions on rhodie fals and I was hoped someone may know more that hasn't surfaced yet. I thought I may have missed the info on the searchs. I do appreciate the assistance but maybe it will always be a mystery.

[NHBandit]

Originally posted by RPBII
I do have a South African fal kit that has seen service in rhodesia and it has the baby shit 2 color paint on it. I also have a fal lower that only has od green paint on it. Did some particular group or country paint them that way or do i have an oddball lower? I did get the same 2 pages on the search L.M. as you did , and I dont feel that they really answered any of my questions I have. I know that there has been a lot of discussions on rhodie fals and I was hoped someone may know more that hasn't surfaced yet. I thought I may have missed the info on the searchs. I do appreciate the assistance but maybe it will always be a mystery.

Welcome to the club. I've been hoping for 3 years that someone could answer a question I had about a Rhodie para I used to own. All Belgian made parts including a rare Hiduminium lightweight lower. 2 color babyshit camo paint on everything. Lower had an engraved serial number on the right with a "Z" prefix. Not ZA as is normally found.

[Mosin Guy]

http://www.falfiles.com/forums/showt...ht=Rhodesia%2A http://www.falfiles.com/forums/showt...threadid=60277 http://www.falfiles.com/forums/searc...rder=ascending

[J. Armstrong]

Your ZA rollmarked lower is a S African R1 lower, I believe. I would expect to see an electropencilled RA or ZA if it saw Rhodie or Zambian service respectively, although I don't think lack of such an sn rules them out.

Did SA camo their R1s at any point ? - this could explain the different camo and lack of electropencilled sn.

[Abominog]

Originally posted by NHBandit
Lower had an engraved serial number on the right with a "Z" prefix. Not ZA as is normally found.

I'd guess (seriously) that the engraver forgot the "A". Can you post a pic for reference?

[NHBandit]

Originally posted by Abominog



I'd guess (seriously) that the engraver forgot the "A". Can you post a pic for reference?

Damn I wish I could post a pic.. In a moment of stupidity I traded the para for something else a couple years ago. It was from the small batch of Belgian made para & HB rifle kits that Old Gun Supply sold on here 3-4 years ago. They all had Rhodie camo paint on them and I believe it was Sledgehammer who sorted the kits for them and verified that all the parts were present & serviceable. Maybe he can shed some light on these or possibly some of the other members who bought them and had the good sense to keep theirs.

[deerollman]

Originally posted by NHBandit
Welcome to the club. I've been hoping for 3 years that someone could answer a question I had about a Rhodie para I used to own. All Belgian made parts including a rare Hiduminium lightweight lower. 2 color babyshit camo paint on everything. Lower had an engraved serial number on the right with a "Z" prefix. Not ZA as is normally found.

you SOLD that?!?

[NHBandit]

Here's one of them. This one is "ZA" marked so you might be right. http://www.falfiles.com/forums/showt...light=para+kit

[NHBandit]

Originally posted by deerollman


you SOLD that?!?

Yeah kind of.. I actually traded it for an Interport G3 & some cash because I already had a bunch of FALs and thought I needed a G3 to go with the 50 mags I bought from Tapco when they had their $1.00 apeice mag sale.. I built another Rhodie para to replace it but that one is just a Sarco humper stock & a Rhodie kit. If I coud turn back the clock I'd have kept the Belgian para and also would have bought 1 of the Belgian HB kits they had for sale at the same time... Of course I should have kept the 66 427 Vette convertible I sold for $8,500 a few years ago too...

[RPBII]

Well, I cleaned up the parts so I could look at them better. The hammer has a 1 inside a square on the backside of the strick face and half of an A on the flat near the pivot pin hole. The sear has a stamp on it that almost looks like an F but it is only a partial stamp. In the bottom of the THM there is an E stamping in front of the pistol grip stud and an I or 1 in the recess where the latch pin is. On the back around the recoiltube there are 4 stamps,2 are underlined T's, one upside down V or arrow, and one that looks like a partial 0 stamping. So I suppose this is more than likely made in Belgium. Would you guys agree.