R.E.L Scout Regiment scope (the green vulcanized rubber ones) for sake on eBay

[Peter Laidler]

Don't get that.............. Are the legs tapered? They look parallel to me!

[rayg]

Don't get that.............. Are the legs tapered? They look parallel to me!

You're right peter, good eye, they are parallel/straight and not tapered. They are either new made straight legs or the old one's slimed/thinned down straight to match the dia. of bottom end caps. If the original long tripod legs were just cut down to that length, the wood would be much thicker/larger dia. at the end caps. So they are basically straight to fit the upper metal platform sockets and the bottom metal end caps. Ray

[Peter Laidler]

But regardless of that, the stand wasn't issued to us. So far as I am aware I have to say! They were used in civvy/the commercial world but in all of our indoor ranges we just used the old aiming rests to mount the sighting telescopes.

[rayg]

You're right peter, good eye, they are parallel/straight and not tapered. They are either new made straight legs or the old one's slimed/thinned down straight to match the dia. of bottom end caps. If the original long tripod legs were just cut down to that length, the wood would be much thicker/larger dia. at the end caps. So they are basically straight to fit the upper metal platform sockets and the bottom metal end caps. Ray

Well forget what I said about the original legs being tapered, after checking some other photos of the long legged ones, I see they were not tapered but straight also. So mine have just been cut down. Sorry about that, a bit of confusion on my part, Ray

Here's an interesting old post about the short bipods I also had posted about mine on then in case any one's interested. In reviewing it, and just to add to, at least my confusion, I do see some of the long legs were tapered. Signalling Telescope Stands (Tripods), - Miscellaneous - Great War Forum

[corco]

Just be very careful with those threads as they are notorious for just slipping or even stripping. Sometimes the female threaded portion INSIDE the tube will come loose too. There was a repair for this.

Regarding the story of the scope, it's always wise to remember this. Buy the rifle (or in this case, the scope) and not the story. I always had my doubts about the supposed green colour having seen about a zillion of the scopes!

Thank you Peter for the heads up about the threads. I had a hunch that the scope was the normal brown for the pictures. I purchased it before the seller told me where he got it from. It is a nice scope and I think I can bring it back to look original.

Thanks!

Corey

[rayg]

While searching old posts about my tripod above, I also ran across this really informative old post on SCOUT REGIMENT and SIGNALLING TELESCOPES. 8 pages worth of detailed maker and other info about the scopes. Ray


SCOUT REGIMENT and SIGNALLING TELESCOPES - Miscellaneous - Great War Forum +tripod

[Peter Laidler]

Sort of interesting but there's so much misinformation out there. You ought to tell the main man to just rummage through this forum for an hour. Some of the info, such as identification numbers, codes, prefixes etc etc are obvious when you've had dealings with and fixed literally hundreds of them

[rayg]

Well not to bore anyone but being retired with nothing better to do, I'm having fun looking up old posts about the existence of short tripods and ran across this one on this site I posted when I first got the tripod. Son may remember as we had a discussion on the length of the short tripod's carrying strap as opposed to a long tripod's strap trying to determine if mine was actually originally made for a short tripod hence, that short tripods were officially produced and used. Ray

Picked up a Scout Regt telescope and tripod with carrier sling

[Surpmil]

I have seen a few REL Telescopes, G.S. or Signallers and they all had blackened draws and grey/black crackle finish paint. The tripods were probably shortened to match the height of the Stand, Instrument C No47, the folding tripod made for the Telescope, Observing, Sniper's. REL didn't bother with the three draw scopes and little wooden tripods for long as they were utterly obsolete by 1918, let alone 1943. That is why they produced the aforementioned set, which we have discussed before along with the little games played to keep it out of UK service!