My BSA M47C (T) 1944.Is it a Less Telescope?

[superhero]

Here is my No.4 Mk1* (T). I bought it over 15 years ago and just starting to learn about all the history of the rifle.
Here is the easy stuff... BSA 1944 M47C. 39XXX serial #, matching bolt, mag. stocks, tele. bracket. Has T.R. on receiver. "S" on side. Stock has S51 but with line through.
Scope is No.32 MK1 clear glass. Bracket is serial to rifle. front mount staked. Screws on clamps not staked.
I have the original transit box, scope case, bayo, sling.
Questions are...
Is this a Less Telescope? Should have Mk2 or Mk3
There is no serial on wrist but the stock has matching serial #'s all over.
I thought the brackets were not serial numbered. Mounts are staked and look untouched.
S51 on stock has three dashes through each numeral.
What do I have here?? Post war addition of scope?

Thank you in advance for any advise.

Information

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[chosenman]

Nice!

[Lance]

You have a nice rifle that was never officially paired with a scope and mount, thus "T Less Telescope". Since it was released from stores some one has added a '44-45 era scope mount with a very early Watson Mk I scope and a scope can that was originally with a mid-'44 or later sniper with a Mk III scope. Indian's did cobble together early scopes with late war rifle's but yours most likely is a civilian collection of sniper bits.

[breakeyp]

For what it is worth, Interarms (Alexandria Virginia) in the 60's allowed dealers to open sniper boxes and mix and match scopes, cans, rifles to make pretty units, not matching ones. They are responsible for many of the mismatched units seen today.

[blurrededge]

That really is an early Watson scope 1012! I have No 1035 which was the earliest I'd seen until now, mine is fitted to a trials rifle out of interest.

[Roger Payne]

I would agree with Lance that it is a very nice example of a 'less telescope' rifle that has been mated with a scope since it hit civvy hands. I would also agree with blurred edge that the Watson Mk1 is indeed a very low serial numbered scope (discounting UIC scopes). It may have been put together but it is a very nice rig all the same. I'd give it house room!

ATB.

[Peter Laidler]

The telescope cradle caps are also the wrong way round/back to front. The cradle caps shopuld match up with the cradles upon which they sit and mate to.

Telescope 1012 is the earliest Mk1 recorded. The next is 1024 and then 1027 and all earmarked originally for Bren Guns. Fortunately, common sense prevailed! Lower serial numbers from UIC though mind you. Vickers were allocated numbers 0001 to 1000 although the MoS says they were allocated 0001 to 999!

[superhero]

Thanks for all the valuable information. I now realize exactly what this rifle is. Nice to know the Watson is the earliest recorded. Now that I know its not a matching rifle I would like to rebuild/clean the scope and enjoy a few rounds down range.
I have one last question. The bracket is serial numbered to to the rifle. Would this have been done post war or by the person who assembled the scope/bracket.
Once again thank you guys for all your comments..If anybody has any questions in the future that would help others please feel free to contact me.

[Surpmil]

It looks like the label inside the case has "...12' as the scope number, can you make out the remains of the rifle number, which seems to have been scraped off?

As you can see you're lacking the "T" stamp on the receiver wall and the "T Less Telescope" part has obviously been scraped off the chest, so it is unlikely to be a service fitting. Thousands of these rifles were sold as surplus in the 50s and 60s and dealers did all kinds of funny things; like shipping scopes in one container and rifles in another and never bothering to match them up when they got to this side; not that that really applies to this one of course.

One surplus dealer in the UK bought some thousands of MkI scopes from the MoD in the 50s and used to sell them for £5.00 each in the case with the bracket right up to the early 1980s, though the price had gone up to about £35 by then IRRC. So there was lots of this stuff around for those that wanted to put a set together.

If it was, this must have been put together early on for there to have been an un-numbered bracket with the original finish on which to stamp the rifle number.

I would have guessed that this bracket was too late to have been fitted to one of the trials rifles, but the fact that there was no number on this bracket, until someone later stamped the present one on, might suggest the scope and bracket were on one of the early No4(T)s as those did not have the rifle number on the bracket at all.

Anyway, congrats on having the earliest known MkI scope; a remarkable survival in that condition. If Peter hadn't told us it was destined for a Bren gun I would have assumed it started life on one of the 1403 No4(T)s that were converted at Enfield in 1940-41 from the trials No4 rifles. We've discussed a number of those rifles on this forum.

[PrinzEugen]

Any ideas as to why the S51 has been lined through?