Number of Canadian C1 Rifles produced

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x westie

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I was wondering if some CGN FN c1 rifle fans would know the total # of C1 rifles produced..i recall it was in the 80,000 figure.

With these figures in mind ..that it would be probably fair to say that a large number of these rifles were never issued,..and remained in storage..until all the C1,..C2 and c1 smgs were cut up several years ago....how bloody sick is that if this is true...
 
C1 production (I think).

Pg. 65, Ch. 10, THE FAL RIFLE - Stevens, says twenty prototype rifles were hand built at Long Branch.

Pg. 83, Ch. 13, THE FAL RIFLE - Stevens, says contracts were awarded for manufacture of 72 775 Rifles 7.62mm (FN) C1 and 2713 automatic heavy barrelled version known as the C2. "Of the 72 775 C1 Rifles, quantity 8242 were for the Royal Canadian Navy...Small quantities were also provided to the Royal Canadian Air Force and Royal Canadian Mounted Police."

http://www.collectorgrade.com/
 
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Wendell,
Can you post the exact name and/or author of that pub.....
Amazon quotes a different source, and 'Chapters-we will never have anything to do with firearms...',at least on the Wet Coast...doesn't have anything as well..
 
Doc911 said:
Can you post the exact name and/or author of that pub.....
Amazon quotes a different source, and 'Chapters-we will never have anything to do with firearms...',at least on the Wet Coast...doesn't have anything as well..
Click to expand...

The Fal Rifle-classic edition by r.blake stevens , published by collectorgrade.com .

this book is considered the bible for FN/FAL , it contains 3 volumes of north am fals (canada), uk & commonwealth fals and metric fals. if you are into FN/FAL its a must have.
 
I am not so sure there would have been a lot of them in unissued condition. There were also 30,000 of the SMG C1s made for the DND as well. But remember that back in the 50s and 60s, the army was much bigger than it is now (over twice the size back then) and then there was the reserve force which was also issued the same weapons.
The numbers given by Blake Stevens were for the initial C1 contract. There were further purchases in the 60s of the 8L series of rifles, by both the DND, the OPP, and DCRA shooters. As such, total production may have neared the 80,000 mark of the C1/C1A1s.

The majority of the guns were not cut up...they were sent to swim in a hot red bath. About 300 of each model were retained for museum, and research purposes.
 
I can verify that Canada does not hold any FN C1, C2 or C5 GPMGs in war stock. They have all been destroyed less some for museums, display or testing as noted. They are gone.

Cheers

Jeff
 
x westie said:
With these figures in mind ..that it would be probably fair to say that a large number of these rifles were never issued,..and remained in storage..until all the C1,..C2 and c1 smgs were cut up several years ago..
Click to expand...

actually i dont THINK majority were in unissued condition, one of the reason for destruction was most were developing rust and would be too costly to rehabilatate so cheaper to destroy, that indicates to me when they collected all the used rifles they did not preserved them for storage.:bangHead:
 
"...The Fal Rifle-classic edition by r.blake stevens , published by collectorgrade.com..." And they want $129.95US for it. Blake's original price was $20Cdn., when $20 was a lot of money. He used to stroll around gun shows with a pile of them.
"...the reason for destruction was..." It was because the Socialist F**ks refused to sell them to anybody. Third World countries included. All the perfectly good No. 4 and No. 7 Lee-Enfields have been chopped too. Another example of their blatant fiscal irresponsibility.
 
Collector Grade Publications

This book can be bought directly from Blake in Coburg Ont. from www.collectorgradepublications.com, usually Blake answers the phone and will take your order and will even autograph the inside cover for you, he offers an extensive list of titles and a discount for military and LE people. Cheers. g2
 
Canadian FN production

I remember 8L series rifles being in demand by our unit rifle teams in the late '60s/early 70s as these were towards the end of production and therefore considered the least worn.I don't know if C1 s/ns started at 0L or 1L.If 0L that would mean 80,000 plus rifles,given that we did have 8L series rifles.If 1L,that would mean 70,000 plus.My FN s/n from basic training at the Armoured Corps School in 1965 is embedded in my mind like no other number I know-7L2612.My SMG at the time was 0S7185.We had both as the SMG was the personal weapon in the Armoured Corps.Diemaco got a follow-on contract from DND to refurbish the FNs and SMGs after producing the new C7 rifles.Last I saw them 11-12 yrs ago there were countless triwalls full of them in Edmonton and Montreal.No surprise to me that they have since gone to the smelter.
 
The first C1 was serial number 0L0000. The initial contract was for 72,775 of the C1/C1A1/C1D/C1A1D rifle/variants. So your rifle serial number 7L2612 was near a hundred or so of the end of the initial C1A1 production. In 1968, there was a major improvement in the rifle; a replaceable ejector. Also, the rifle was made with the same replaceable sight ears as the earlier C2s. It was proposed that these modifications were enough to designate the new rifle C1A2, and the serial numbers were started at 8L. So to figure out the total production, you would have to have the last number of the 8L series rifles, and add that to the initial 72,775 rifles. I believe the 8L rifle production was somewhere near 5 or 6000.
 
On a somewhat related note, the Rocky Mountain Ranger museum has the first ever C1 issued in their museum(according to serial #). Ottawa has the second issued and has asked for a trade. The RMRang said no, lol. :D The Rangers also have a few C1s converted to .22 for firing in their indoor range. Not the same as the real thing but the closest I'll ever come. :(
 
30,000 of the C1's got chopped up in Halifax. A *few* in pristine shape, and my buddy that works in Willow Park damn near cried when he saw them chopping the handguards....took a guy 8 days and a band-saw to cut all the wood handguards in half.

He saved a few of the chopped off gas pistons to use as punches in his shop.

A large number (several thousand) were used as demonstrators for a MWO course on "how to deactivate captured weapons" and were run over with an ML while perched on a concrete curb.

*sigh*

NS
 
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