Range Graduations for MkVI ammunition on British/Dominion WW1 scopes.....
This is just a little offshoot from one of the other current threads in which the subject was touched on of WW1 scopes cropping up occasionally with range drums graduated for MkVI ball ammunition. Forummer Madzi suggested that this phenomenon might be a 'theatre specific' finding - perhaps seen on scopes used in say, Gallipoli, where much ammunition in use was the 'old' round nosed MkVI ball. It sounded very plausible & to cut a long story short, as I was exchanging correspondence with Ian Skennerton over something else I asked him what he thought. He replied to me earlier today & is definitely convinced that this this is the only reasonable explanation, citing the widespread use of MkVI ammunition by ANZAC forces whilst on the peninsula, supported by the fact that the Colonial Ammunition Company were making MkVI for some years after the UK had ceased producing it in quantity for Imperial forces.
It's not irrefutable proof, but the feeling on the forum was that it sounded quite likely, & that belief has been supported by Ian. It might just be of interest if you have a scope with 'Mk VI' engraved on the range drum.
Telescopic sights in Gallipoli
As promised I did go up in the loft to sort through some files. I found an article "Sniping in Gallipoli" by Wes Olson published in the Australian Shooter (no date that I could find). A few interesting points:
1. There is a picture of 11th Battalion sniper Herbert Hitch with the captured Turkish rifle he used for sniping. His normal duties were of the Battalion's PostMaster.
2. The author refers to telescopic sighted rifles being issued to the filed engineer companies as trench stores which could be requested by units as required. The first use of PPCo. sighted rifles was by the 5th Batt. in June. In August, the 16th Batt. requested " trench periscopes, 12 periscope rifles, three telescopic sight rifles,20 steel loopholes".
3. Other interesting trench stores were Maxim silencers but these would only fit Long Lee Enfields. A Divisional report of October 16th, 1915 noted: the instrument is very effective... and also very effective as a "flame extinguisher" (I think that means flash suppressor) for use for night sniping.
4. On December 9th Corporal John Brown of the 10th Light Horse wrote in his diary "Went up to a good possie and had some sniping with a telescopic rifle".
All the above is not actually from the article I was looking for! I'm now going to have to rip the study apart to find it but hopefully the snippets above lend credence to the argument that telescopic sighted sniper rifles were used on Gallipoli - along with other interesting trench stores such as Maxim silencers.
Roger - Ithink we need to build a Long Lee sniper with Maxim silencer - that would raise a few eyebrows.
Maxim silencer and Barrel harmonics
Roger - I thought you had one. I'll dig out Harry's notes and literature on the Maxim silencer.
On the subject of barrel harmonics and the importance of sight graduations matching the ammunition. Has anyone shot MkVII ammo in a rifle graduated for Mk VI ? I remember using a .303 Martini Enfield Artillery Carbine in a 200 yard rapid fire competition - it was sighted for MkVI ammo. The target was about 44" tall, square head and shoulders with a 12" square on the chest counting as the bull. I found that with MkVII ammo I was aiming below the feet in order to hit the chest. I switched to some old Kynoch 215 grain hunting ammo (very much like MkVI) and it changed to point of aim point of impact. That is pretty much a difference of 3 feet at 200 yards - illustrating to me why it was so important to have the right ammo for rifles calibrated for MkVI - be they iron or telescopic sights.
Australian MkVI ammo article in No.23 International Arms & Militaria Collector
Just been reading a very good 5 page article written by Murray Thompson about the Australian MkVI ammo in No.23 International Arms & Militaria Collector. It confirms what the experts have been saying on here - MkVI was used in Gallipoli, Sinai and Palestine campaigns whilst suitably sighted SMLE's and MkVII ammo was issued to Australian troops for service in Europe. What was interesting is that during 1917 the Melbourne Footscray factory produced 97 million rounds of MkVI ammo, most of which went in to storage; it was this ammo that was issued to various military and civilian rifle clubs in the mid-1920's. Reports started coming in of unexplained accidents which all related to this batch of ammo. Subsequent investigations revealed that some of this ammo was loaded with two bullets - very much a compressed load! I'd hate to be the guy who pulled the trigger on that load. All the ammo was recalled for weight testing prior to re-issue. The tested and passed ammo was packed in to packets and boxes that were rubber inked stamped with "CHECK WEIGHED MELB" and the date on the back. Surviving packets are known with dates from 1927 through to 1936. So if you have one of these stamped packets - you own an interesting piece of history.
One of the last issues of MkVI ammo went to New Guinea in 1939 (100,000 rounds) for the purpose of instructing European males in the use of the service rifle. This was sent as an immediate measure in respect to the defence of the Territory.
All credit to Murray Thompson for this 2005 article - right under our noses all this time!
