Pictures of old Neil optical sights

[boltaction]

Good morning:
I thought I'd post these photos of an old set of optical sights I have for the SMLE. I believe they are the Neill type, based on Skennerton's book page 147. I have never tried them out, but if I ever get out to the range, I will do so. I think they'd be fun to shoot with, albeit rather fussy. The problem with them is that the front optic portion mounts to the nosecap; the curved portion mates to the oval slots in the nosecap and is held on there by pressure, but the pressure is created by a screw which goes through the slot in the front nosecap. To mount the sight, you have to drill a hole through the portion of the forestock which is behind the slot. I would have to use one of my FTR's or something, because I couldn't bear to drill a hole in one of my other SMLE's. It's not a huge deal probably, but still, on principle............
















Ed

It's certainly a complicated sight. One other user asked if it only was graduated at 500. It has a sliding aperture graded for 200-500, only two apertures. The aperture is covered by a glass lens, which can be unsrewed, presumably for cleaning. The aperture portion can be swung aside by loosening a screw. I am not certain why this is--if this is to enable use of just the clear lens, that doesn't really make sense, but is possible. It may be to allow for some lateral adjustment for individual user preference. If anyone happens to have an instruction manual for this puppy it would be most appreciated or if any of the experienced target shooters on this forum have used such a sight before, any insights (no pun intended) would be good. There is some mention of it in Skennerton's book on page 148 (note mine has a crosshair not a centre dot), but no instructions for using it.













Cheers

Ed

Information

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[Anzac15]

That is really a neat item! I have never seen nor heard of this sight. I noticed it was manufactured in Belfast, was this a military item, or made for the civilian mkt? Would really like to see pics of it on the rifle. Are these common? Rare? Now I have one more thing to keep looking for Enfield wise, thanks a lot! Thanks for sharing.

[Valleysniper]

My set is marked Barnett Optical Sight inside case lid and not anywhere as nice and clear as your marking. Anyway interesting to see that your front lens has a presumably etched and filled set of crosshairs instead of the normally seen central aiming black infilled dot. Also your rear sight only seems to start off at 500 Yards instead of the normal 200, 400, 500 and 600 yard markings, what other range markings and aperture peep holes are on the rear sight? Perhaps you have a long range example?

Mine also has the pat 1850/15 marking.

Anyone have a Neil marked case one?

Finally another bit of useless information if you have a set with busted lenses, I have had my set read and their prescription is:

Front Lens + 1.00 Dioptre Sphere
Rear Lens - 2.50 Dioptre Sphere

[Badger]

Beautiful pics Ed ...

Thanks for posting them ...

Regards,
Doug

[Surpmil]

Didn't waste any money on finishing did they? Rough and ready...perhaps.

A zero at one range and use appliance, as adjusting for range describes a nice arc through the windage as well!

The Ulster Division deserved better.

Thank you for posting the photos. They are interesting.

[Valleysniper]

I took some pictures of my Barnett rear sight and its marked 200, 400, 500 and 600 Yards in opposite to markings on yours. Mine's marked same as example in Skennertons British Sniper page 22 which is of sealed pattern. Now why should yours be marked in a totally different way and have a crosshair reticle instead of sighting dot? Wheaty whats your example like?

I think I know the answer your Ulster Division sight is for an Ozzie Lithgow SMLE as everythings upside down there isn't it?

Merry Xmas to all.

[boltaction]

I took some pictures of my Barnett rear sight and its marked 200, 400, 500 and 600 Yards in opposite to markings on yours. Mine's marked same as example in Skennertons British Sniper page 22 which is of sealed pattern. Now why should yours be marked in a totally different way and have a crosshair reticle instead of sighting dot? Wheaty whats your example like?

I think I know the answer your Ulster Division sight is for an Ozzie Lithgow SMLE as everythings upside down there isn't it?

Merry Xmas to all.

Mine isn't marked differently, depending on how you look at it. When mine is set to 200 yds, the 200 shows up above, and when you move it up to the 500 mark, the 500 shows up below. It is simply a difference in how the markings show, but the elevations remain the same. Yours has more apertures and more graduations than mine does, so I would assume mine is an earlier one. I also understand that the name Neill disappeared after some patent issues, so if yours is labelled as a Barnett, it would be a later one. What does the inside of your case say?

Ed

[Warren]

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I think what Valley sniper was mentioning in that his, along with mine go from 200 to 600 yards. 600 yards being the top range on ours while yours is 500 yards.. Yours also differs in that it has a cross hair on the front element while I know Hugh's, along with both of mine have just a dot. My leather case is completely void of markings.

[Valleysniper]

boltaction

Thanks for your explanation.

It would seem that your sight is the original version at least when it comes to the rear sight markings. Wheaty's and mine a later variant. But the crosshair reticle who knows? No one else has mentioned has seen one or owns one the same. As if the Ulster, Caldwell, Neill or Barnett Galilean sight wasn't rare enough you appear to have a rarer version, congratulations.

My case inside is ink stamp marked The Barnett Optical Sight and below that looks like Pat pending 1850/15 and some other lines of text, but it's very faint. Mr Caldwell was the inventor/patent holder and it would be interesting at least to me to know if anybody has these sight sets with cases marked up to Caldwell and Neill as well?

A friend of mine has recently obtained for his collection a very nice complete with some extras Martin Gallilean Sight set and he's OK'd for me to post pictures which may be of interest to the forumers. The Martin set is the only one of the main 4 types missing from my collection should anybody be thinking of disposing of a set. I did offer my friend my left kidney for it but he declined

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[boltaction]

Try offering the right kidney instead--maybe he's got a preference......

That is one amazing sight set. Just beautiful. I've got a couple of Long Lees with the Martrin rearsight, but have never seen the front sight portion before.

I don't know about my set--perhaps the glass was replaced at some point, or perhaps the earliest ones were made with the crosshair and shortly thereafter changed to the dot for some reason? I could see that the crosshairs might be awfully hard to see from such a distance, especially if the lighting wasn't great. A dot would be better I would think.

Ed