"Rhodie" FN

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I know there are a fair bit of Canadian, Australian, Indian, Israeli FN's here, but I'm curious, did anyone ever import or acquire in Canada a Rhodesian FN during the 80's ? I was looking up something regarding "bush wars" and find that There seem to be a few parts kit floating around across the border, The camo kinda grows on you after a bit

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their FALs were not made in country and they painted that on themselves. if you were to take a standard L1A1, do the paint job and remove the carry handle you would have something that nobody would know the difference.
 
I too have been sucked down the yOOOtube rabbit hole on the subject of Rhodesia. Larry Vickers and Ian did a nice bit on the parts kit that Larry had put together. Most were of South African rifles that were scrubbed from what little I know about them. I do believe very few were domestically produced.
I was unfortunately born too late to have a real FAL of any kind, but I am intrigued if there are an Canadians out there with a Rhodie FN or a build from a parts kit..
 
rci2950 said:
their FALs were not made in country and they painted that on themselves. if you were to take a standard L1A1, do the paint job and remove the carry handle you would have something that nobody would know the difference.
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Don't forget to sand off all serial numbers and proof marks and the make shift muzzle break device to make it truly authentic. (is a joke, don't destroy the proof marks/SN)
 
The source of the parts kits seems to be from Zimbabwe to the outside world during one of their frequent foreign exchange crises. A few fellows on the American FN boards have publicized their finds. Similarly, a few authenticated Rhodesian rifles have squirted out of Southern Africa. I think that was long after Canada declared the FN FAL as a really really bad gun. So, chances of one in Canada are very unlikely.

There are FB groups on Rhodesian living history amateurs. Now that real Rhodie kit is quite scarce and pricey, there is a growing trade in repro shirts, pants, jackets and caps. One fellow I've seen lives in Portugal.

If you want to go down that route, research 'GAG!' air-soft Belgian FN FALs or British L1A1s. They exist and if carefully inspected, can be imported.
 
So I guess none were brought over by Century or Wolverine pre Bill C-68, cause they would have been classified 12(3) post C68. They were all full auto, thats the reason they made that "Halbeck" clip-on to reduce the muzzle climb.
 
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I know one guy that has one and he actually dewated. If you go to the Calgary Gun Show, he usually has his Rhodesian display along the back wall. He is also a member of the Calgary branch of the Military Collectors' Club of Canada. He lived in Rhodesia from '68-'80.

http://www.mccofc.ca/
 
Mack2370 said:
Don't forget to sand off all serial numbers and proof marks and the make shift muzzle break device to make it truly authentic. (is a joke, don't destroy the proof marks/SN)
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Yes but what i am saying is, If you were going to go through the effort to find a parts kit and make a rifle, Assuming he already has a 12(3) then he would save a lot of time just painting an already made rifle. Because once you build something from a parts kit it is not original anymore anyway
 
rci2950 said:
Yes but what i am saying is, If you were going to go through the effort to find a parts kit and make a rifle, Assuming he already has a 12(3) then he would save a lot of time just painting an already made rifle. Because once you build something from a parts kit it is not original anymore anyway
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True, but he would still have to paint the receiver anyway. A decent person with experience working with metal could replicate the parts in the parts kit if you can't get one in Canada. I mean, a Rhodesian FAL is probably the holy grail of FAL's, it's kind of like people buying 600 dollar norincos and transforming them into "M14e2's" and other rare variants.
 
There was a display of items from a Rhodesian vet at the Victoria 2019 October gunshow. There was an FN but I don't recall it being painted.....
 
Rhodies never die. My doctor was a medic with the SADP during the Bush Wars and he says he will never forgive South Africa for turning their backs on Rhodesia. Political correctness and Communism won the day. I rep brushstroke on damned near everything I can. This is my Coyote.View attachment 337387
 
There’s a certain firearm dealer in South Africa that has and continues to buy and import a lot of Rhodie FAL’s and other interesting firearms from Zim, all the stock left over from the bush war. Fascinating stuff steeped in history.
 
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