Scope on a LE No. 5

[villiers]

Getting on in years and really do need a scope on my No 5. This is the "smithless" Armalon picatinny rail and an old ZF 4. I had to add an approx. 1mm shim (more on the right hand side) to get the necessary height but still haven´t been able to correct the direction sufficiently (there´s not enough travel on the scope settings). Even if I spend a packet on a Recknagel height adjustable base, the directional problem would remain.

Am I doing something releval wrong? Or is this "smithless" rail just a load of XXX?

Information

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[Brian Dick]

I think you'll find that fixing a no-gunsmith mount to the charger bridge of any No.4 or No.5 rifle is going to leave much to be desired for proper collimation. The charger bridge was never designed as a datum for anything except stripping rounds into the magazine and they are all a bit dimensionally different. The Armalon and Fulton bases are the best in my opinion but I always tell folks to get a set of Millett or other windage adjustable rings to install with the scope. That way you can get your scope collimated without using up all the internal adjustment which sometimes isn't enough as in your case.

---------- Post added at 01:02 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:01 PM ----------

Shimming is the only answer for elevation problems.

[Peter Laidler]

I agree with BRians assessment of the Armalon/Fulton mounts. They just LOOK and appear to be tough and strong. I also agree with him about taking as much adjustment as you can on the mount. If you don't, and start using the outer third of any of the optical lenses you'll start to see optical aberration/distortion/fuzziness - you know the sort of thing - taking place.

The sniper courses had a whole lesson dedicated to just this subject (by me!!!!!) and the importance of just this. We also touched on the observing role too where you can be scanning or looking at something in particular but see a flicker of something interesting over to the left or right as we have all done. Always wait until you have seen it a couple of times before you shift your main focus. Anyway....., where was I......... Ah, yes. Armalon/Fulton..., best of the mounts

[ssj]

To shoot what btw? hunting? I assume not, I use specialist knoblock glasses for target shooting (yes I look like the borg), huge difference. My average scores went from 97/100 last year to 87~89 this and then back up to 94 with a pair I still need to get the right lens for (I bought them second hand).

[Buntline]

Burris signature rings have offset plastic liners that allow windage or elevation correction ( or anything in between ). You can get 10 - 20 (even 30?) thou offset sets. £50 - £70 for the rings & £8-10 per set of liners. I've seen them on eBay & elsewhere googling.

[villiers]

And thanks, all for your help. Just back from the range and have decided to look into a more permanent solution. There´s no problem with destroying a heritage item, as it´s a Charnwood conversion (with a bit more done by me). So now I´m looking for a good gunsmith who can do the job. I don´t need anything enormous and something like the ZF4 looks like it belongs to the rifle.

[villiers]

Finally found a gunsmith in Bavaria (waffen-hetzel@t-online.de), recommended by the Bavarian Hunting Association (they said he´d be expensive and take too long). The reverse being a cheap but quick botched job, I sent him my No. 5 posthaste and have just got it back. It looks immaculate (down to the blued screw heads) and shoots a lot better´n I´ll ever be able to achieve. It took a few weeks but was certainly not exorbitantly expensive. `Tis much better than the `smithless´ efforts I´d tried previously. Will still have to try it with the Canadian mount that´ll be able to take larger tube scopes. Very happy with the result.

PS

Scope looks a bit too low .... but that´s just the angle the pic was taken

[Peter Laidler]

Mmmmmmm. Not sure whether you've actually tried it 'in the flesh' so to speak Villliers. And talking of flesh......, I have a dreadful feeling that you are going to get such a whack in the eye brow with the rear end of that telescope. And you can only move it forward an inch or so! There's simply no eye relief. But I could be wrong...............

[Simon P]

The best Scoped No5 I have seen belongs to one of the Chaps in the HBSA, it a fake No5 built on a genuine No4T Action, it is fitted with a genuine no32 Scope and bracket, great little set up which I first saw in the early 80,s, when I saw the chap last year after he gave a talk on French rifles he confirmed he still has it..........

I forgot to say from memory it is in 7.62mm and could have been built by Charnwood

[villiers]

True, it can´t be moved more´n a mm. Have not shot it yet (range on Sat.). But just holding it, there seems to be plenty of space - more than with my mate´s K98k (which did hit me in the eye).

Charnwoods seem to go from very good to decrepit. I´m well pleased with mine.