WW1 'Periscope Prism company' sniper scope???

[Promo]

First to start with, I re-read the whole thread to try to understand as much as possible - not easy with so many technical words for being a non native speaker, but I think I now got most of the discussion and would want to throw in a few aspects from my side:

That brings us to the question of whether the PPCo system was the best in practicality and execution, but without some objective evidence, it is hard to say whether the Patt.18 system of mounts was a practical improvement over the German shallow claw mounts. That would probably come down to things like no wandering zero and repeatability (ability to keep MPI after when the scope is mounted/dismounted from the rifle over and over), when compared with its German counterparts.

It is a bit simple to reduce the Germans to a "single claw mount". The Germans I think at least have had 10 different scope manufacturers who then had at least one or more scope models each that were officially introduced with then again each at least one or even more different scope mounts. A simple sample - you can find the Goerz on the Single Claw mount additionally in Bavarian or Prussian configuration (one with a different front scope ring that have had a provision to hold the leather eyecup, additional difference was the elevation adjustment where the Bavarians thought 6(00) was enough), and Goerz supplied two scope mount themselves with different magnification powered scopes! The variety is basically never ending and it would not be fully correct to reduce the claw mount system to one manufacturer only. Hensoldt scopes were brought into war rather late. The earlier German sniper rifles were set up by gunsmiths; those have screw heads fully aligned with the barrel/90° to the barrel, numbered to the base and with very early sniper rifles even the full scope base was engraved. You could find them with one or two claws, both at the front or at the rear (and combinations between these two), sometimes even with pivot pins at the rear, sometimes with spring held buttons at the rear, sometimes with levers in the opposite direction. So to not make it too complicated I'm simply trying to make it as clear as possible that a direct comparison with the wording "German Claw Mount" is way too general.

An aspect that has not been mentioned in this thread: the Aldis scopes that were mounted to the P.14 rifles with the PPCo overbore mount to my knowledge ALL carry "MOUNTED BY THE PPCo" engravings on the scope tube. So it is clear that PPCo did the conversion of rifles to sniper rifles themselves, as well as that they must had considered the P.14 overbore mount as "their own" sniper mount. I am however a bit wondering why they did this with the P.14 scope mount, but not with their own dovetail mount when using Aldis scopes? On the other hand, it is consistent on the P.14 PPCo mount as well as the SMLE PPCo dovetail mount that the scopes always have the rifle number (only! No additional "Rifle. No.") on them, either on the rings or on the scope tube itself.

The big advantage of the P.14 scope mount is the overbore configuration. Not only because you don't have to consider the small offset of the scope when shooting, but also because it is much more comfortable. And additionally the P.14 rifle shoots really great. And whoever handles a SMLE and then a P.14 (or vica versa) would surely agree that the SMLE is rattling and some parts are not "that tight" whereas the P.14 simply is handsome and even the bolt closes tight.

PS: when speaking of the P.14 .. remember that handful Irish sniper rifles that were made around 1940? I've always wondered how in hell it could had made sense to BSA to manufacture scopes? Or why would someone source them parts and let them put their name on the scope? Was PPCo already non-existing at that time, or why else would they allow someone else copy "their" mount and scope?