Help with Australian Pattern 1918 Scope

[Son]

I have to agree with everything Roger has said. the front ring is a modified original. The rear, although the right type, looks too different to have been modified (why would you bother building it up all over?)... may well have been a similar design that was on the bench at the time. I note the completely different screws in the bottom of the mounts. Perhaps it was the inspiration for modifying the front ring?

I see in pic 6 the remnants of the engraved rifle number. Is it readable?

I have seen a couple of "official experiments" with mounting of the Patt18 scope to some interesting kit. To the best of my memory, none of them used dovetail mounts.

Like Roger I will lean toward it being the work of a gunsmith or talented hobbyist. Quite a few of these rifles were sold off to rifle club members 40 years ago. They removed the scopes and fitted aperture sights for competition- more often than not either selling or losing the scopes. The scopes would have had the original rings still on them, but without the bases they were of no practical use...

Are you in NSW, bison-j? A closer look might add some light to the subject...