Thanks for those replies; it does all hinge on whether they were applied 'from new', so if they weren't then that's that!

So initially Peter, the only marking that connected the scope, rifle, bracket and case to each other from a QM point of view was the serial number of the scope stamped into the butt of the rifle and rifle number on the tongue of the butt? One can see how that might 'cause a little confusion' as the Pythons put it.

Interesting about the partisan groups, perhaps this explains why No32s have shown up in places like Poland or this Case No.8 in Hungaryicon.

Must be quite a few stashed away on the Continent even now.

(Photo won't upload today either. Badger, any clues? It just brings up a small exclamation mark in the top bar of the upload window. It's a .jpg file about 100Kbs.)