Sniper scopes

[tower06]

Not sure what happed there. They were up.

[CINDERS]

If your .jpg is over 3 MB it wont load them plus I think a limit on 10 per post for the site I think I've never posted 10 or more.

[tower06]

If your .jpg is over 3 MB it wont load them plus I think a limit on 10 per post for the site I think I've never posted 10 or more.

Is no one else seeing the pics. I see them when I look at the thread.

[browningautorifle]

Is no one else seeing the pics.

I see this last batch in post 11.

[CINDERS]

I'm seeing them just saying the pics wont load if they are over 3 meg you have to crop them.

[Roger Payne]

And I can see the photo's too. Is it me or does that anti-rotation peg slot shown in the first pic look a bit 'generous'.....?

[Hi-Lux Optics]

Going to chime in to say Iron Sight (Scope Repair Companies Oklahoma USA | Ironsight, Inc.) as well!

[Surpmil]

With that early a date and serial number I think we can be certain your scope once adorned a No.4 trials rifle converted to No.4(T) status at Enfield in 1941/2

I'm sure Colin who now maintains the most comprehensive database of serial numbers and has matched up a number of scopes and rifles, will add yours to his list.

It's debatable whether it should be refinished as part of an overhaul, but I would suggest not doing so because if the matching rifle ever shows up it is unlikely it will have been refinished and a black-painted scope on an original condition rifle will be an eyesore at best. And of course the refinish can always be done, but not undone!

You will need a drift made to straighten the tube where it has been crushed/bent just before the "bell"; the set I had made are now in the UK, but any good machinist should be able to make one. Make sure it has a long and gradual taper on the nose.

Something like a shotgun barrel dent removal tool might also work.

Having tuned up your scope photos I see you have a nice dent forward of the drum turret as well, and perhaps on the underside just behind the objective shade as well? That's going to make it very difficult if not impossible to remove the reticule "sleeve" without FUBARing it. If you try and push it out from the ocular end the brass dovetails the reticule slides in will be ruined; it will have to be pulled out from the objective lens end. Your options are limited if you want to save the reticule "sleeve", or at least the rear part of it where the reticule fits into it.

The only hope I can see is to turn a brass plug that is as a close a push-in fit as you can get into the shoulder where the objective lens sits; make if the full length of that space. Hopefully find a collet that is a very accurate fit over the outside of the said sleeve, put some brass shim stock around the sleeve for what it maybe worth , put that end into said collet mounted in the headstock of a lathe and reef down. Hit the two(?) dents with a micro torch until red hot then immediately heave in a very straight line(!) towards the (hopefully removed) tailstock of the lathe and hope for the best! You'll need at least four hands.

If someone wanted to be really clever they could make up a "fork" that would mount on the tool post of the lathe and slide up over the scope tube ahead of the steel collar for the "segment, locking, cell, erector, Telescope, Sighting, No.32 Mk.I" Then you might be able to pull the scope tube slowly and precisely off the reticule "sleeve" with the lathe carriage, rather than with a manual heave. That method would at least allow one to stop if things didn't seem to be proceeding according to plan in terms of the "sleeve" forcing the red hot dents out far enough to get past them.

The missing 8BA screw would be the easy part.

If a spare reticule "sleeve" can be found you could spare yourself or your scope tech all that trouble by carefully slitting the reticule "sleeve" along its length with a hacksaw blade with the cuts 180° from each other. The pieces should then be removable despite the dents. If someone has a spare sleeve you might get lucky and find one that matches the dovetail on your reticule block, or be tweaked to do so satisfactorily. The position of the objective lens relative to the reticule and other lenses determines focus, so you either have to duplicate the original or use shims to get it in the same position as the original was.

Yes, send the two pieces to China and get them to make you a new one, or find a retired tool & die maker or model engineer who can do very accurate and complex work and won't charge you the going rate for doing it.

What an epistle that turned into!

From what I can make out by editing your photos, it appears there is no serial number on the bracket?

If so, you may have a rare and original early bracket, perhaps original to your scope. However, the casting does appear a bit more "square" than I remember and in the negative version do I see a vestige of the typical square corner seen on the rear leg of the repro bases? Could be someone has done some careful work on one of those the better to fool the market? Was this bracket on the scope when you got it and did it have the dirt and encrustations to show it had been there a long time?

Is it only "4" and what is on the other ring and cap?

Try taking some more photos that show the entire bracket with better lighting?

[tower06]

With that early a date and serial number I think we can be certain your scope once adorned a No.4 trials rifle converted to No.4(T) status at Enfield in 1941/2

I'm sure Colin who now maintains the most comprehensive database of serial numbers and has matched up a number of scopes and rifles, will add yours to his list.

It's debatable whether it should be refinished as part of an overhaul, but I would suggest not doing so because if the matching rifle ever shows up it is unlikely it will have been refinished and a black-painted scope on an original condition rifle will be an eyesore at best. And of course the refinish can always be done, but not undone!

You will need a drift made to straighten the tube where it has been crushed/bent just before the "bell"; the set I had made are now in the UK, but any good machinist should be able to make one. Make sure it has a long and gradual taper on the nose.

Something like a shotgun barrel dent removal tool might also work.

Having tuned up your scope photos I see you have a nice dent forward of the drum turret as well, and perhaps on the underside just behind the objective shade as well? That's going to make it very difficult if not impossible to remove the reticule "sleeve" without FUBARing it. If you try and push it out from the ocular end the brass dovetails the reticule slides in will be ruined; it will have to be pulled out from the objective lens end. Your options are limited if you want to save the reticule "sleeve", or at least the rear part of it where the reticule fits into it.

The only hope I can see is to turn a brass plug that is as a close a push-in fit as you can get into the shoulder where the objective lens sits; make if the full length of that space. Hopefully find a collet that is a very accurate fit over the outside of the said sleeve, put some brass shim stock around the sleeve for what it maybe worth , put that end into said collet mounted in the headstock of a lathe and reef down. Hit the two(?) dents with a micro torch until red hot then immediately heave in a very straight line(!) towards the (hopefully removed) tailstock of the lathe and hope for the best! You'll need at least four hands.

If someone wanted to be really clever they could make up a "fork" that would mount on the tool post of the lathe and slide up over the scope tube ahead of the steel collar for the "segment, locking, cell, erector, Telescope, Sighting, No.32 Mk.I" Then you might be able to pull the scope tube slowly and precisely off the reticule "sleeve" with the lathe carriage, rather than with a manual heave. That method would at least allow one to stop if things didn't seem to be proceeding according to plan in terms of the "sleeve" forcing the red hot dents out far enough to get past them.

The missing 8BA screw would be the easy part.

If a spare reticule "sleeve" can be found you could spare yourself or your scope tech all that trouble by carefully slitting the reticule "sleeve" along its length with a hacksaw blade with the cuts 180° from each other. The pieces should then be removable despite the dents. If someone has a spare sleeve you might get lucky and find one that matches the dovetail on your reticule block, or be tweaked to do so satisfactorily. The position of the objective lens relative to the reticule and other lenses determines focus, so you either have to duplicate the original or use shims to get it in the same position as the original was.

Yes, send the two pieces to China and get them to make you a new one, or find a retired tool & die maker or model engineer who can do very accurate and complex work and won't charge you the going rate for doing it.

What an epistle that turned into!

From what I can make out by editing your photos, it appears there is no serial number on the bracket?

If so, you may have a rare and original early bracket, perhaps original to your scope. However, the casting does appear a bit more "square" than I remember and in the negative version do I see a vestige of the typical square corner seen on the rear leg of the repro bases? Could be someone has done some careful work on one of those the better to fool the market? Was this bracket on the scope when you got it and did it have the dirt and encrustations to show it had been there a long time?

Is it only "4" and what is on the other ring and cap?

Try taking some more photos that show the entire bracket with better lighting?

Attachment 137208Attachment 137209Attachment 137210

Wow. Sounds like you've worked on a few of these. Appreciate all the info. To address you're questions regarding the mount. It did come with the scope. The seller told me in advance that is is a repro scope, but it's unlike any I've seen currently offered. He did have it mounted on one of his rifles but was not sure himself of the origin. Yes the 4 is the only number anywhere on the mount. It doesnt excatly resemble originals iVe seen nor the commercial replicas. Bever seen one of Roger Paynes mounts or the revent Fultons run of mounts so cannot compare. Was hoping someone could help identify it. Im operating under the assumption it is a replca as i dont know otherwise, which is fine. Will look to source an original at some point. I'll see if I can take some better photos.

[Peter Laidler]

The bracket just looks to me as though it's been tarted up to make it more shiny and workmanlike. As opposed to its original state. That's just my opinion.

With the greatest respect to Rob, I'd say that you are complicating things unnecessarily Rob. Once metal has been stretched, it can't be UN-stretched! We dealt with plenty of telescopes of all marks that had dinged tubes. The worse were those Mk3's and L1A1's dinged between the erector and the ocular end, so that the erector simply could not be pushed rearwards. The two graticle positioning collars had to be carefully removed and only then could the erector be pushed out, forwards. Then we could set about the tube. The fitters in the machine shops would dolly them out so that the OPTICAL axis of the lenses remained collimated with the MECHANICAL axis of the tube by....... anyway.....

Although we wouldn't do it in service, a No32 inner sleeve that holds the OG lens and deflection cursor is simplicity itself to convert from a redundant (stripped for spares ? ) No42 or 53 inner sleeve using a dovetail cutter on a milling machine. Done it myself many times to rectify damaged ones. Where there's a will, there's usually an easy way