L42A1 Rear Sight leaf Slider

[Mk VII]

I've got several of the modified slides here, if you feel like dismantling a sight to change one.

[smelly sam]

Yes, there most definately is a difference. The index mark on the L42 cursor slide is .070" lower than the same line on the No4 cursor slide to reflect the flatter trajectory of the 7.62mm bullet and the new metre ranges.

Peter,

As the 7.62 is flatter in flight than the 303 Mk VII and the conversion of yards to metres (a yard is around 10% longer than a metre) wouldn't this cancel each other out as the Indians found with the 2A leaving the older 2000 yd rear leaf, then to change with the 2A1 to a more realistic 800m?

Having compared scale plates off Mk VII and 7.62 rear peep sights, it is obvious the 7.62 is not as long a scale as is that for the Mk VII for the same distances.

A measure of a No. 4 (Mk VII) scale shows 17mm between the 200 and 1200 marks, so would imagine for 7.62 it would be less. But how much?

[Peter Laidler]

I've read it all but not digested it fully but take on board the gist of what you're saying. To give you the whole full answer would take pages and pages. But in short, the L42 emergency back-up sight is what it is and it's got what it's got!

If you read the No4T book you'll read somewhere that the modified sight doesn't equate to what it's meant to. The whole L42 rifle project was done on the cheap. It was easier to just re-mark a 2p slide than formulate a new backsight leaf.

One day I'll tell you about the 90 degree telescope too

[muffett.2008]

.........and a metre is longer than a yard.

[drweiler]

Yep, 1 meter=1.0936133 yard

[Peter Laidler]

Or 1m = 39"!

[drweiler]

Or 1m = 39"!

I wish I'd thought of that! Well said Peter.

[paulseamus]

Apologies for being pedantic but 1 metre does not equal 39 inches.

1 metre may be roughly the same length as 39 inches

39 inches equals 990.5999999mm - that is 39 inches is 9.3mm short of 1 metre.

1 metre equals 39.36909100 inches - that is 1 metre is 369 thou longer than 39 inches.

So 1 metre approximates 39 inches

[Peter Laidler]

That's just what I was going to say!

[drweiler]

That's what I meant!