The unloved (?) Mark II

[Lance]

As Mr. COVID has given me another unpaid day off and the road crew is sealing my dead end road, I'm stuck. So here is another bunch of girls from the vault.

Sighting Telescope No. 32 Mk II

Kind of the boring middle child; following the Mk I scope which has many, many collector variations and history as they were the first in the field. Most were paired with earlier No.4's of varying manufacturers giving countless variations to collect. Tougher to find as they were used, abused, lost, and upgraded over their service years. On the other side, the famous Mk III, the scope everyone wants, no tools required. The great scope that 25 years later beat out new scopes to be upgraded to the L1A1.

I was fortunate to be bitten by the Enfield bug early in life and to pick up many of these before the prices went insane, alas I was not wealthy, and there was no internet, so many slipped through my fingers. Out of my six Mk II's all six have matching mounts and rifles, but only three still have their matching scope cans. So the hunt for the missing three in the haystack we know as planet Earth goes on.

Arranges based on serial numbers:

1943 Kershaw from their first block of Mk II's. In this block there are 1943 dated examples (approx. 1000) and 1944 dated examples (approx. 400). The '44 dated example is my large hole in the collection. This '43 is matched to a "43 BSA AM series rifle.

Houghton Butcher Manufacturing Co. Their block of approximately 1000 scopes are undated and they are the only company, for some reason, that never centered their markings making the optical stores number tell you what type scope you have, visually. This scope is matched to a '44 BSA D series rifle

1944 Willian Watson & Sons. Their block of Mk II scopes are all dated 1944 and approximately 500 were produced. This one is matched with a '43 BSA AV series rifle.

1944 Kershaw from their second block of Mk II's. This block of Mk II scopes are all dated 1944 and approximately 1500 were produced. This one is matched to a "44 BSA A series rifle.

1944 Research Enterprises Ltd. The Canadian Mk II's are one of the toughest to find and 1944 and 1945 dated examples exist. Based on observed serial numbers approximately 500 '44 dated and 150 '45 dated scopes were made. This one is matched to a '44 Longbranch 71 series rifle.

Vickers Mk 2/1. If Vickers made a true Mk II is unknown to me as I have never seen one in the flesh. If there are examples I would guess less than 50 were made. Vickers did produce scopes with the Mk II inscription and OS numbers but all I have observed have the 2/1 dials. Observed serial numbers give production of about 600. This one is matched to a '45 BSA T series rifle.

There are other Mk 2/1's out there, converted from earlier Mk II's but currently I have not had a chance to own on. One day???

Information

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[smle addict]

Beautiful collection of rifles and scopes, Lance. Thank you for posting!

[NORTHOF60]

No wonder I can't find anything Lance - you have it all!

[Roger Payne]

Some beautiful scopes there Lance. If you recall, I have a UIC Mk2. In fact, after the subject came up last time, rummaging amongst the boxes of partially stripped scopes in my garage that are just some of my restoration projects, I found another. So, there are a few UIC Mk2 (& completed as such) scopes out there. Of mine, one is an altered Mk1 tube & the other is engraved up as Mk2 from the start (& assembled as a Mk2 not a 2/1).

[Lance]

Yes, I forgot, you have them all!! One day I will find one before you grab it

[Roger Payne]

I've been agonizing over whether or not to let you have one of them.........the only problem is that the engraving is different between the two.....as mentioned above, one is an over engraved Mk1 tube & the other a straight Mk2. If I weaken you'll be the first to know.....I promise.

And you may find one in the meantime anyway. I'm sure there will be a few more out there, some of them probably in the hands of people who don't appreciate exactly what they've got.

[Bear43]

Goodness, that is quite a collection. Amazing!

[Lance]

I've been agonizing over whether or not to let you have one of them.........the only problem is that the engraving is different between the two.....as mentioned above, one is an over engraved Mk1 tube & the other a straight Mk2. If I weaken you'll be the first to know.....I promise.

And you may find one in the meantime anyway. I'm sure there will be a few more out there, some of them probably in the hands of people who don't appreciate exactly what they've got.

Don't break them up! I can wait but thanks for the first refusal offer. Currently, "I have to be good" as my side business is hitting me hard in the wallet. Damn airplane parts are unbelievably expensive! Oh well, I guess I am keeping the economy going!

[Roger Payne]

I never scrap any No32's Lance, so don't worry. What I have is a few in bits that were damaged or incomplete (from previous batches out of India in most cases) that I must get round to assembling. They'll all ultimately get done so long as I don't fall off the perch in the meantime.

You sound like you could rival my wife. She has taken it upon herself to spend the entire UK out of recession........

[Ovidio]

I hate to be envious...