Yes, I've put a repro scope on my No.4 Mk1 T.

If you did not see my previous post about this rifle, long story short, it belonged to my stepfather when I was a kid. He parted ways with my Mother when I was in my 20's, and for the next 45 years, I never knew what happened to it, but I found it was hidden away by my stepbrother, and now it's in my collection.

It never had the scope and mount, so I decided to put a repro scope and mount on it. I obtained a "not Chinese" No32 Mk1 scope and mount, and to my amazement, it fit perfectly on the pads, and even more surprising, it was nearly perfectly aligned with the bore. In fact the first shot fired at 100 yards was only a couple inches high and left. Please don't judge me, or accuse me of making a "fake", as this is truly a family heirloom, and will never be for sale, but the brand new scope and mount just didn't look "right" on the gracefully aged rifle. I decided to stamp the ring numbers, and rifle serial number on the mount. I then aged the assembly to match the patina of the rifle. I did, however, etch my initials and date, and the word "replica" on the underside of the mount in a place not visible when on the rifle. And of course the markings on the scope itself are larger than the originals, so it is pretty obvious that it's not original to any collectors anyhow. There are more photos of the rifle in my Photo Gallery, sans scope.

You could slop some black paint on the repo scope too. Give it some extra realism. :)

You did a real nice job aging that scope and mount.
I don't own any repro's nor do I plan to.
I don't knock people that do as not everyone has the disposable income needed for an original especially (at least here in Canada) when your government continues to dream up additional ways to tax its citizens yo death.[COLOR="black"]

---------- Post added at 10:10 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:04 AM ----------

Which make of repro is it? Keen to know what isn't made in china

I bought the scope from Waffenmeisters.com They claim on their website (and they have them listed on ebay) that "Our optics are sourced from Japan, not China", and they do warranty them for a year. However, there is no indication of country of origin on the scope, or the packaging. I can only tell you that I have a friend that bought a Chinese copy, and mine is of much nicer quality and clarity. I have two of these scopes, the one pictured, and another on a Long Branch "clone" that I built.

I've had but one problem with them so far. After several hundred rounds through the one on the Long Branch, the focus started to get a bit blurry. I took the top cover off, and underneath, instead of the expected brass locking piece, there was a small thin plate with tiny set screws. And under that was a blob of what looked to be black RTV silicone. I carefully cleaned that off, and the "threaded" tube underneath did slide fore and aft as it should, and I corrected the focus. But when I replaced the little inner plate and tried to tighten the screws, they all stripped with almost no torque. So I simply tossed that part, and put a spot of hot-melt glue in the oval cutout, trimmed it flush, and replaced the top cover. It has not moved since, and I suppose if it ever does, I can simply heat up the hot-melt, shift it as needed, and let it re-harden. (I should have taken photos.)

They may be sourced from Japan, but the question is where did they originate! I have Gale McMillans amusing and revealing comments on the optics game of 25+ years ago saved somewhere. He recounts being at one large factory in Japan where they would fly the flag of the country they were producing for on those days. When Gale visited this factory the German flag was flying and a contingent of Germans were on site, though they were at pains not to be seen or spoken to by any other "round eyes"! :D

Another very prominent collector and restorer in the UK told me how on his tour at Zeiss plant in Germany 10 or so years ago boxes of Howa glass could be seen here and there on the shop floor.

Had a look through a cheap Chinese scope in a pawn shop the other day: the optics were nothing short of brilliant, dead clear, almost no spherical distortion and bright as bright could be. All the talk about "Chinese optics" is mostly BS IMHO. China is where many, probably most of the big names are buying their glass now, finished or unfinished, and I'd bet even the Japanese buy a little now and then, especially if the end-user asks for it. ;)

As for finished scopes most of those come from China as well, where the markup is biggest and fattest by the time they've been retailed here.

A friend of mine imports and retails scopes made in China under his own Brand. The factory in China where his are made also makes well known Brands and ships them out to wholesalers.
His words not mine as he goes to China on a very regular basis he sees things a lot of things.

Lots of well known scope manufacturers have product lines made in china , such as leupold with the VX Freedom Line, US Optics with their TS line, Vortex with their Crossfire, Venom and other cheaper optics as good examples. Most don't hide it, some do.

That aside, scopes are made in many other countries too, so while the anecdotes of posts about scopes being made in China are fun , it would actually be helpful to know if these No32 clones are actually being made in Japan.

I have had 2 x the chinese No32 Repros made by RSM.
Both were junk.
On both examples the finish scratched off easily, even with a fingernail in parts.
On both examples the screws were exceptionally easily stripped, and i stripped the heads on some of the mount cap screws.

On the MK3 copy, the elevation drum BDC disc would slip on turning the elevation turret, meaning the zero was lost every time the elevation turret was turned.
On the MK2 copy , the reticle would bounce all over the place when dialing and never land in the same spot.

On any scope where it is intended to dial for elevation/ windage, glass quality is secondary to mechanical accuracy and repeatability.
No point having great clear glass if you cant hit what you can see, and all modern glass is generally sufficient to ID a target.
The Chinese scopes don't fail in the glass brightness or clarity department, its the mechanics.

So anecdotes aside, it would be cool to see a reproduction No32 that's actually usable, if this one is, and good to know if it is made somewhere other than China.

The Chinese are great 'copyers' and superb engineers and manufacturers.

Give a detailed drawing, (or a part to copy) and a 'price point' they can manufacture anything.

The same factory can/will produce the 'same' part at differing price points, and hence quality, for different buyers.

I was working in the Automotive fastener business and some parts we sold we did not manufacture, we bought-in. We started working with a new Chinese supplier and we wanted to be tough on quality so we told them we would accept a reject rate of 5 parts per million.

On the first delivery of 5 million parts there was a small parcel attached to the outside of the shipment - on opening the parcel we found 25 pieces and a note saying "please find the 25 reject parts as requested"

The Chinese can make anything to any quality you specify.

Might be "Made In India" next, I watch some of the stuff they repair & make they do not believe in OHS nor air quality some of the builds I watched are truly horrendous quality.