No.32 TP scope mounts

Hello Everybody

This is the first time I have posted on this forum, although I did put a few on the previous Jouster version.

I was wondering about the Canadian No.32 TP, aka Alaskan, scopes fitted to some of the Long Branch rifles.

Would it be correct to assume that ALL of the sniper rifles in the 74L range of 1944 that were scoped with the TP were fitted with Griffin & Howe mounts rather than the conventional No4(T) mounts?

Would this be true of all Enfields using the Alaskan?

Were any Savage No.4 MkI*s scoped with the TP?

I read somewhere (I can't remember where) that in some cases 'regular' REL brackets were used for the TP incorporating brass bushings to 'take up the slack' on the 7/8 inch tubes of the Alaskan. Would this be incorrect?

Thanks for any answers from any of the Enfield Jedi.

Steve

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Originally Posted by Devils Own

Hello Everybody

This is the first time I have posted on this forum, although I did put a few on the previous Jouster version.

I was wondering about the Canadian No.32 TP, aka Alaskan, scopes fitted to some of the Long Branch rifles.

Would it be correct to assume that ALL of the sniper rifles in the 74L range of 1944 that were scoped with the TP were fitted with Griffin & Howe mounts rather than the conventional No4(T) mounts?

All 74L block rifles are scoped with TP scopes, equipped with REL (an angled G&H style) scope mounts.

A certain number of 71L block rifles with conventional REL No32 scopes & mounts appear to have had the scope mounts MIS-numbered with the equivilent 74L numbers (IE. rifle 71Lxx25 has it's mount incorrectly numbered 74Lxx25). This seems to have caused some confusion of whether TP scope legitimately exist outside the 74L block.

Would this be true of all Enfields using the Alaskan?

Long Branch rifles are the only enfield snipers so equipped on a production basis

Were any Savage No.4 MkI*s scoped with the TP?

Not at Long Branch/SAL. Savage snipers were all converted in England

I read somewhere (I can't remember where) that in some cases 'regular' REL brackets were used for the TP incorporating brass bushings to 'take up the slack' on the 7/8 inch tubes of the Alaskan. Would this be incorrect?

This is incorrect. Steel bushings were used to investigate the possibility of using conventional 1" rings with the 7/8" TP scope. This experiment was abandoned.

Thanks for any answers from any of the Enfield Jedi.

Steve

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I hope this answers your questions.

A little bit of useless information regarding the LB production of No4T's and variants is this. Forgive me if you've read this on another forum... After severe delays in the conversion programme at LB, one of the H&H staff was taken to Canada to get the conversion programme moving. The first job he did was that in order to streamline and simplify the conversion programme, told them that if the order was for, say, 1,000 rifles, then to take 1,050 rifles from the same batch/production line. Then knowing that they were all identical (?), convert THOSE instead of taking a few from Thursday production, they 8 from Friday production, then 12 from Saturday and so on.

A block of numbers was omitted from what they call 'run-of-work' production and this block was allocated to the telescope shop. Hence all tele/T rifles came with identical prefix batches.

As a result of this, so I have been told later, that no standard run of the mill production rifles will be found with the tele/sniper rifle prefixes. And likewise, the tele/sniper rifle numbers were hand stamped afterwards with the allocated prefix plus the sequential number, such as 74L1234.

Whether this last paragraph is an fact is a matter of conjecture but I have never seen a bog standard LB rifle with a sniper/tele serial number prefix and our UK MoD No4/TP combination 74L0022 (Tele 4419-S) has a hand stamped serial number, albeit VERY neat, indicating that it was stamped later.

This was related to me by Sid Harvey at H&H who knew that his foreman had been taken to Canada during the war. He was not allowed to say so until after the war, but people guessed..... He had to tell his wife and the H&H staff that he had been sent to BSA to aid 'war work'. I suppose that if there is a Brimingham in Canada, he was teling the truth!

There, that's a bit of Enfield (?) history that you didn't know about

Incidentally, the TP rifles were never put into the order of battle and the TP rifles that came here for trials failed so miserably that the paperwork was changed to reflect this from 'RIFLE, Sniper' to 'RIFLE, tele'. I can't find whether the 'tele' indicates telescopic or telescope.

There, another bit of useless info for you

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Originally Posted by Peter Laidler

snip...

A block of numbers was omitted from what they call 'run-of-work' production and this block was allocated to the telescope shop. Hence all tele/T rifles came with identical prefix batches.

As a result of this, so I have been told later, that no standard run of the mill production rifles will be found with the tele/sniper rifle prefixes. And likewise, the tele/sniper rifle numbers were hand stamped afterwards with the allocated prefix plus the sequential number, such as 74L1234.

I've seen or owned "bog standard" LB rifles in the 71L, 74L, 80L and 90L serial ranges. The set aside serial "block" appears to have been (up to) 1000 rifles each. 71L0xxx, 90L8xxx ect. I believe that I have seen a 74L06xx? (well above 0500 IIRC) "bog standard" rifle.

Whether this last paragraph is an fact is a matter of conjecture but I have never seen a bog standard LB rifle with a sniper/tele serial number prefix and our UK MoD No4/TP combination 74L0022 (Tele 4419-S) has a hand stamped serial number, albeit VERY neat, indicating that it was stamped later.

In my experience, pretty much all LB serials appear "hand stamped".

snip...

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I find your comments about the Alaskan scope interesting as I had understood (via LES & British Sniper) that the British had approved the Lyman and rejected the Weaver as an alternate substitute scope.