No4 T telescope

[jmoore]

I think I can answer the lack of dowel pin holes: The base has yet to be mated to a receiver. Once screwed on, the base was ready to be match drilled and reamed for the taper pins. Any base with reamed holes w.o finish would have already been installed. If there's full size holes that have finish or are not tapered are suspect at best. (Can't recall if any bases were done with pilot holes or not.) Makes for non-interchangable assemblies, but the practice still continues with the front sight bases on M16/M4a1s. Those are match reamed upon assembly at all sorts of weird spacings and angles.

[Surpmil]

From what I can see these bases resemble typical commercial G&H bases with the ovolo sort of bevel below the dovetail. The one on the SMLE appears a bit longer. It is a very professional fitting job Roger. Does the rest of the rifle correspond to it in quality and fitting?





I wonder if either of these bases match the stock length of the commercial G&H bases?

I assume that their bases were sold as undrilled blanks by G&H, but the fact that so many of them have three equidistant screw holes and two locating pin holes in more or less the same location would suggest that they may have come that way from the factory, or else that G&H supplied three screws and two pins and a drawing suggesting such an installation.

Obviously that base on the SMLE was either custom made or came undrilled from the location of the screw holes.

Funny little fact about these G&H mounts is that they are often set much higher than they need to be on sporting rifles and it doesn't seem to have occurred to most gunsmiths that they could mill off the bottom edge to set the base as low as possible. G&H would of course have made them with extra depth to suit all possible applications.

A set of original instructions from the 30s would answer some questions.

[Roger Payne]

Thanks for the input chaps. My C67 scope, rings & base have been with me for nearly 20 years now & I believe the previous owner had them for a long time. The scope mounts are numbered to a rifle in the accepted range for C67 rifles. I suppose the mount base could have been obtained separately from the rings & scope, but it must have been a long time ago, if so.

The SMLE receiver bearing the rail came as just the bare body of the rifle - no bolt, barrel, furniture etc. I built the rifle up as recently as last week after having the body for all these years & having done nothing with it! So, for better or worse, it's my handiwork. One of two restoration/rebuilding projects I've tackled this last 2-3w now that I've time on my hands. At least they can now go in the rifle rack as complete entities rather than sitting there as a pile of bits!

I suspect the SMLE is the product of a skilled civilian riflesmith & dating from either immediately before or after WW2, but that it will prove almost impossible to prove anything conclusively one way or the other. But it would be nice to be shown otherwise!

[jmoore]

Now C No.67s litter the planet... Couldn't find one for any sort of money when I had the chance to get a rifle to go under one. It sat in a friend's cage for well over a year- possibly three, but no scope! Rifle finally went to Oz.

[Surpmil]

Now C No.67s litter the planet... Couldn't find one for any sort of money when I had the chance to get a rifle to go under one. It sat in a friend's cage for well over a year- possibly three, but no scope! Rifle finally went to Oz.

Tally-ho!

The seller of the replicas in Italy is user ID "piero40xc". He has some very nice looking gauges as well. Someone should encourage him to make some running .303 gauges that screw onto a Parker Hale rod. (He's made similar for the Carcano already)

h t t p://cgi.ebay.it/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=290448575196&fromMakeTrack=true&ssPageName=VIP:watchlink:top:it

Roger, that's an interesting rifle I must say. Could be Lt. John George had a British equivalent with G&H mounts and a Lyman only on a SMLE instead of a Model 70 a la George. In fact I'm sure there must have been several such as I've read of at least one; though the rifle was not described other than as a private purchase.

Regarding the G&H commercial bases I was going through some photos and it looks pretty clear that they were supplied undrilled, and probably with three screws and two pins. Too much variety in placement of screws and pins for them to have been drilled by G&H. It would have made no sense to supply them drilled anyway as the gunsmith would need to locate them to suit the rifle action.

[Roger Payne]

JM, if only I'd known! I've been searching for a genuine rifle to drop under the CNo67 scope since the moment the scope & mounts turned up. I've been close on 2 or 3 occasions (I was the under bidder on one in NZ about a year or so ago), but they've always slipped through my fingers.

Surpmil, is this the same chap who wrote 'Shots Fired in Anger'??

ATB.

[Brian Dick]

JM, I was in Atlanta the day Biff bought it. I knew where there were 2 scopes, one in England, (DRP's), and one in New Zealand, (owner deceased now), which is probably the one that wound up in Australia. They'll never litter the planet.

[Surpmil]

JM, if only I'd known! I've been searching for a genuine rifle to drop under the CNo67 scope since the moment the scope & mounts turned up. I've been close on 2 or 3 occasions (I was the under bidder on one in NZ about a year or so ago), but they've always slipped through my fingers.

Surpmil, is this the same chap who wrote 'Shots Fired in Anger'??

ATB.

Roger, yes that's the man, unless I got his name wrong - just checked the shelf and the name is right but he ended up a Lt. Col.

By the way, is the back of that base the usual flat, or is it contoured to the SMLE body?

[Roger Payne]

What I can see of the back is flat, though where it disappears into the contour of the receiver side wall your guess is as good as mine as to whether the base was contoured to the receiver or vice versa. There do not appear to be any taper pins holding the mount to the body, only the three faced off screws (or I suppose they could be rivets). The job has been very professionally done.

Sorry, wasn't quite sure what you meant when you referred to having heard of rifles set up with G&H mounts. Do you mean Enfields set up with side mounted rails? Interesting, if so.

ATB.

[jmoore]

JM, I was in Atlanta the day Biff bought it. I knew where there were 2 scopes, one in England, (DRP's), and one in New Zealand, (owner deceased now), which is probably the one that wound up in Australia. They'll never litter the planet.

Then he was holding out for quite some time. Odd. But way late now. He has been a most excellent source for plenty of other good gear.