Lee Enfield Sights (Slideshow)

[muffett.2008]

Pictures replaced.

[Piscoda14]

Just found this great information

[Strangely Brown]

I know this is a Number 9 - but which one is my question. It almost seems as if it's been beefed up. The aperture is a BSA 6 position, both the sight and the mounting plate are marked Alfd Parker (would have been nice if there were only one) and the address is not a known Parker address.

https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...DSC01013-1.jpg

Apologies all for being 8 years late to this thread!

Cecil street is the top northern of the gun quarter in Birmingham and I wonder if Alfred Parker rented a room (38a?) before acquiring a larger property that suited his future needs?
The sight itself certainly looks like a "beefed up" No.9c and one I haven't observed before; this leads me to think that it may have contravened a patent or more likely was a forerunner for the excellent AJ Parker Plus 5 folding sight of the late 1930's.

[Surpmil]

Plate number 15 is "I believe" a HUMPHRIES, made in Canada around 1917 - 20.
Humphries was a native Canadian (First Nations) who worked out of Vancouver, BC. Canada
I have the identical sight with his name hand stamped on it.

Definitely Humphreys; had one very similar so marked. He is said to have made the first sight bridge for the Ross Mk.II as well. Early sights were very much "hand-made".

Here's the "arm" for another of his, with much better finish.

[Strangely Brown]

Definitely Humphreys; had one very similar so marked. He is said to have made the first sight bridge for the Ross Mk.II as well. Early sights were very much "hand-made".

Here's the "arm" for another of his, with much better finish.

In 1908 the NRA Sight Committee inspected 90 new sights and accepted 58 of them; where are they and more importantly what were they!

[Surpmil]

If that information is anywhere it is probably in the NRA archives. The NRA Museum is probably a treasure trove of information, but I have the impression they survive on a minimal budget and with mostly or entirely volunteer staff.

Regarding Humphreys, his father was an HBCo. employee who married an Indian woman. Humphreys junior was a gunsmith in Vancouver before WWI and served from early 1915 to late 1918 as an Armourer Sergeant in the 47th Battalion in France, and died from the effects of service in 1921. He was born in 1875 so was somewhat over-age even at enlistment.

[Strangely Brown]

If that information is anywhere it is probably in the NRA archives. The NRA Museum is probably a treasure trove of information, but I have the impression they survive on a minimal budget and with mostly or entirely volunteer staff.

Surpmil, I don't think the "proceedings" of the NRA were detailed enough to record individual sights etc and much has been lost over the years.

Talking of losses many of the old crowd, (now passed) I used to shoot with alluded to a burglary in the 1960's where many items were stolen and few of these were actually recorded in the museum books.
I think the museum is open either one or two days a week, I use it for looking at old Bisley Bibles to confirm certain shooting disciplines for historic matches, type of sling etc.
Regarding a minimal budget...I'm not sure they even have a budget!

[Mk VII]

Yes, according to Martin Farnan, at one time in the 1960s the collection fell into the hands of an individual, who offered to 'sort them out' for the NRA. He sorted them out, alright, and was subsequently convicted of the theft of a number of small items for resale, most of which were never recovered. This is the reason why many of the match rifles are missing their sights today.

[bobcat789]

Good evening. I had noticed the Brinell foresight blades in the slideshow. How hard are these to locate? The entire kit would be great to find but certainly interested in locating the sight block and a couple of the circular front sight blades. Any information would be greatly appreciated.

[Strangely Brown]

Good evening. I had noticed the Brinell foresight blades in the slideshow. How hard are these to locate? The entire kit would be great to find but certainly interested in locating the sight block and a couple of the circular front sight blades. Any information would be greatly appreciated.

Brindles, or rather John Light (Brindles was the name of his house!) was a one-man business who in reality couldn't have produced that much stock.
The foresight sets turn op very occasionally these days and I suspect the majority of them have been binned over the years or ended up in collections over here.
John was local to Bisley and at one time was the NRA Armourer so well placed for sales!