I am familiar with the cheek rest on the No4 Mk1T. Was there ever a cheek rest meant for a No1 Mk3 rifle? In particular a British rifle? If so, are originals or reproductions available today?
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I am familiar with the cheek rest on the No4 Mk1T. Was there ever a cheek rest meant for a No1 Mk3 rifle? In particular a British rifle? If so, are originals or reproductions available today?
Neither the No1 MkIII HT, or the No3 Mk1(T) had a cheek rest.
The No1 MkIII (HT) picture is from "RobDD"
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S.A.I.S No. 19 lists the Cheek piece as a SLAZ option in the chest no number with two screws.
PL has said that if cheek piece did not fit your No1 Mk3 butt it was for a No3 MK1(T). I have found this to be very accurate both ways including the No4.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bindi2
Thanks for the info - I find it strange than that the Australian parts list for the No3 Mk1(T) does not include the Cheek piece in the list of furniture.
Just goes to show even the manuals do not always agree with each other.
Numrich/GPC sell a reproduction of the Australian pattern cheekpiece for the HT sniper rifle. Some have installed them on a No.4T but they don't look right to me on a No.4. It's true that the No.4T cheekpiece was originally designed for the No.3Mk.1T, (P'14T). My low mount Australian HT was released from Australian stores in the early 1980's and had one installed when I got it. My medium mount doesn't have one installed but came with an original that I could install if I wanted to. I chose to leave it as original.
I have a new to me BSA commercial and was considering installing a cheek rest and sniper sling swivel for use as a target rifle. It already has a Parker No9 adjustable rear sight. Thought it would look the part of an old Bisley rifle. Still undecided! I see Numrich still has the Australian cheek rests available.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Thunderstreak
The reason for the cheek rest was to bring your eye up to the height to use a telescopic sight, so, if you use a cheek rest with your PH9 sight you will be sorely dissapointed with the results, as well as looking and being 'just wrong'.
I wondered whether the eye position would be way off. Haven’t been able to try out the rifle as is yet to form any opinion on that. I do appreciate your opinion, I suspect this idea is a non starter! Just wondering out loud!
Yep! The Oz cheek-pieces for the No1Mk 111 were almost a straight lift from the one for the P-14, which is why they look "different" from a No.4 (T) style.
NONE of them are "plug and play". They appear to have been designed to be fitted by competent tradesmen, not just "bolted on".
Bruce if you have one that is not a perfect fit on Lithgow it fits the P14 like a glove and v versus.
If I remember IDS correctly the cheekrest was originally designed for the offset scopes of the 421 Alex Martin conversions done in 1941-42. From there IIRC it soon migrated to the No.4 and "regular" No.3 snipers.
According to the old instructions for Armourers, copied directly from the older OB notes, there was only 1 pattern of cheek rest available from Ordnance, that configured for the Patt '14 rifle. This can easily be adapted by rasping, filing and fitting to the No4T rifle. All manufacture of cheekrests are manufactured to the P '14 spec and will need fitting
The P'14/No.4T cheek rests have a few different contours. Even the repros are not all exactly the same. Ask me how I know! There were at least a couple of Canadian patterns too. The Australian pattern is pretty distinct and consistent in its contour. It's all cosmetics of course. They're all interchangeable with tools as Peter states above.
What I still wonder about, you sometimes can find P.14 PPCo sniper rifles with cheek pads, these always seem to have an Australian connection. You cannot find Irish contract P.14 BSA snipers with cheek pads. What is a bit of a mystery to me is the fact that the Alexander Martin P.14 sniper rifles sometimes seem to feature a cheek pad and sometimes not (was the cheek pad introduced right during the conversion of the 421 pieces and therefore some have it and some not?).
Are there any period pictures of P.14 sniper rifles with cheek pad? Speaking of that, did anyone ever see a period picture of an Alexander Martin P.14 sniper rifles?
I have a straight No.3Mk.1T w/P.P. Co. P'18 telescope that was rebuilt at Weedon in 1940. It doesn't have a cheek rest. I can't remember seeing cheek rests on the few I've examined either. I don't think many made it onto British issue rifles. They may have been added at unit level if available at the request of the sniper. They obviously didn't become standard equipment until the adoption of the No.4T.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Promo
And yet it is not listed in the official Australian 'parts list' for the No3 Mk1(T). See post #4 above.
Maybe (as Brian suggests) it was just a 'local modification' at the request of the individual sniper.
The Irish contract rifles were completed and shipped before the war and thus before the cheekrest was introduced. The Irish never bothered to fit them subsequently and AFAWK the rifles saw little use anyway.Quote:
Originally Posted by Promo
I believe a first field dressing is considered historically correct for that purpose.Quote:
Originally Posted by Thunderstreak
i used a similar sized pad in 1966 as a check rest at my first Queens shoot with a no1 Mk 3*. no ELBOW PADS or shoulder Pads allowed.