Sniper mount steel question

[Kov1985]

Hello everyone,

For a long while now I have had plans to build myself a copy of a Canadian no.4t sniper with the TP mounts and Lyman Alaskan scope. With the help of an absolute legend I met on this forum, who happened to own one, and from the other side of the world, I was able to draw up plans with dimensions of the thing.

The lower part that screws to the receiver should be pretty straight forward. The upper component though has been giving me nightmares on how I’m going to do this. To machine that component out of a block of steel is no small task. Well beyond my skill and would require jigs to build the actual jigs to build the thing.

Just recently though it’s dawned on me, perhaps I can commit said design to CAD file, and get it casted out of steel. Machine it from there. It looks as though that was how they were made originally anyway.

Is there anyone here who knows what kind of steel these mounts casted of originally? Mid carbon steel do the trick? Low carbon? Iron? What are the normal no4 T mounts made of? Is it a bad idea and why? And more importantly, has someone already done this to save me the trouble?

I still for life of me can’t believe no repro company makes this mount. And I’ve contacted a few of them, they will not build it. Must because I want it. To me it’s a better design and I don’t have to torment myself with all the drama surrounding the no.32 scope, real or fake.

Thanks for your time.

[Surpmil]

Get yourself a copy of "Without Warning" to start with. After studying that for a while you'll get a better idea of what is involved. Somewhere I saw a reference to someone trying this sort of project using levers etc. taken from a Griffin & Howe commercial mount.

Is this to be a display piece or a shooter? If the latter you'll need to collimate it properly which is a rather involved task which will involve removing metal from the insides of the "legs" until you get the mount to collimate in the L-R plane to the axis of the bore. As Long Branch seem to have taken more care than some other factories to get the sides of their receivers flat and smooth they presumably also got them fairly well aligned to the boltway and barrel threads etc.

A company in Italy was selling CNC made copies of the later "Griffin & Howe" mount made for the C No.67 scope. I posted their contact info here years ago and the one I had was very well made.

[Roger Payne]

My late machinist Graham Smith made about thirty of the bases for the TP rifle around 25 years ago, or maybe a little more. He also produced three sets of rings. But then he was a savant, & he died in 2005, taking his machining secrets to the grave with him, the mounts all selling quickly, at the time. Graham made them as the late Pete Bloom turned up thirty TP scopes complete with rings from a European dealer - I think they were scopes from rifles that had ended up in either Belgium or Holland. I heard the authorities destroyed the rifles but released the scopes. Pete sold at least some of the scopes/rings & repro bases on 'that' internet auction site.

[Brian Dick]

Graham's base and rings made for my "TP" restoration project was better than an original.

---------- Post added at 01:24 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:17 PM ----------

I should have said "is" not "was". I still have my project rifle having sold my original many years ago. Pete Bloom found and sold me the Alaskan telescope one serial number off the original stamped on the buttstock wrist. Pretty amazing.

[Kov1985]

Thanks for your replies everyone, I’m always surprised at how many people are willing to engage with my questions regarding such a niche subject. I really appreciate it.

Even the “standard” no.32 bracket, be it original or Chinese made, are they cast iron or cast steel? Would it matter being a scope mount? The bottom rail I’ll machine out of steel easy enough, but for the rings part, it’ll take casting first as I see it. I’ll ask the question first at least, see if it’s worth my time doing a few of them.

Surpmil- she’ll be a shooter mate. I aim to build the mount and rings, and once I get it that far, that’ll be the point where my work ends, and my gunsmith’s work begins. I’ve never done that and wouldn’t know where to begin, and I’d hate to botch up a perfectly good rifle…

[Strangely Brown]

Graham made them as the late Pete Bloom turned up thirty TP scopes complete with rings from a European dealer - I think they were scopes from rifles that had ended up in either Belgium or Holland. I heard the authorities destroyed the rifles but released the scopes. Pete sold at least some of the scopes/rings & repro bases on 'that' internet auction site.

Pete turned up at "J" lines Bisley (circa 2000) during one of the first civilian service rifle competitions since they were stopped in the early 1970's, he had two very new looking No.5's with him which still had traces of cosmoline on.
I couldn't afford one at the time but often wondered where he picked these things up from.

[Roger Payne]

I don't know about those Mick; wish he'd offered them to me!

Re the standard No32 brackets, Peter established that they were made from either white or black heart malleable iron. I think Dalgleish used one type & Rose Brothers the other, though I can't remember off my head which way round it was.....pretty sure it's in his book. I started getting my reproductions made in the winter of 1989/90, & made around seven batches approximating to 600 to 700 brackets in all, deciding to call it a day only three or four years ago, when the last batch had all sold. I believe Fultons have been marketing some recently that were made from my moulds. The reproductions were made from cast steel, but were perfectly malleable enough not to shatter with the repeated shocks on recoil. Nigel helped me get the castings done through business contacts on the last couple of batches. We could never compete on price once the Pacific Rim brackets started to appear.........but I hope we did on quality.

[Promo]

You may consider getting them 3D printed. I remember there was a Chinese website where you could upload your 3D data and get a quotation for a 3D metal print. Add a little metal on all sides to get it perfectly machined flat and that should be sufficient to also align it correctly.

[bigduke6]

Hello everyone,

For a long while now I have had plans to build myself a copy of a Canadian no.4t sniper with the TP mounts and Lyman Alaskan scope. With the help of an absolute legend I met on this forum, who happened to own one, and from the other side of the world, I was able to draw up plans with dimensions of the thing.

The lower part that screws to the receiver should be pretty straight forward. The upper component though has been giving me nightmares on how I’m going to do this. To machine that component out of a block of steel is no small task. Well beyond my skill and would require jigs to build the actual jigs to build the thing.

Just recently though it’s dawned on me, perhaps I can commit said design to CAD file, and get it casted out of steel. Machine it from there. It looks as though that was how they were made originally anyway.

Is there anyone here who knows what kind of steel these mounts casted of originally? Mid carbon steel do the trick? Low carbon? Iron? What are the normal no4 T mounts made of? Is it a bad idea and why? And more importantly, has someone already done this to save me the trouble?

I still for life of me can’t believe no repro company makes this mount. And I’ve contacted a few of them, they will not build it. Must because I want it. To me it’s a better design and I don’t have to torment myself with all the drama surrounding the no.32 scope, real or fake.

Thanks for your time.

A one off casting would be a high premium, if you were to go down this road then get several made, keep one and sell the rest to re coup your outlay.

If not the case sometimes it’s good to look out the box, I’m not up to speed on this mount but you could make the rings separate then weld etc to the main body.

If you have your own Lathe , Milling machine etc then it’s not an issue, time is a big factor in one off’s