Australian P14 Snipers, or Rifle No 3 Mk I* (T)

[Promo]

For what I remember the overall contract was first 400, and the second one was stopped after 21 (whereas I'm certain that "1" at the end is the Pattern Room Sample, meaning that 420 were made for the field, and one to be kept as sample), and if that wasn't for another 400 too? Anyway, the result to this is that the rather obscure total production of 421 is not [only] a result of a lack of scopes, but due to a cancelled contract. This though might had been due to a lack of scopes, but also due to supply of No. 4 T sniper rifles (compare with dates when the units were completed).



The Knowledge Library entry on the Alexander Martin sniper rifles btw speaks of an initial order of 4000 sniper rifles -> https://www.milsurps.com/content.php...A-Sniper-Rifle)

[Surpmil]

For what I remember the overall contract was first 400, and the second one was stopped after 21 (whereas I'm certain that "1" at the end is the Pattern Room Sample, meaning that 420 were made for the field, and one to be kept as sample), and if that wasn't for another 400 too? Anyway, the result to this is that the rather obscure total production of 421 is not [only] a result of a lack of scopes, but due to a cancelled contract. This though might had been due to a lack of scopes, but also due to supply of No. 4 T sniper rifles (compare with dates when the units were completed).

The Knowledge Library entry on the Alexander Martin sniper rifles btw speaks of an initial order of 4000 sniper rifles -> https://www.milsurps.com/content.php...A-Sniper-Rifle)

Probably a typo for "400".

Is there a source for the cancellation of contracts, and if so, are reasons given?

Given that the deficit of scoped rifles persisted into late 1943, I doubt the contracts with Alex Martin would have been cancelled for any reason other than a lack of suitable scopes. The rifles that were converted we know from photos to have been used for training well into 1943, and presumably had some use in action as well (Tom Barker etc).

Why would the contracts be cancelled when the rifles were considered usable and scoped rifles were still in short supply overall?

We have no reason to think there were not sufficient P.14s on hand, though the 10,000 purportedly set aside for possible future sniper use may be as ephemeral as the purportedly put aside WWI scopes. Regardless, there were large numbers of them in store somewhere in the UK.

The conversions themselves were relatively cheap and easy and allowed collimation "by hand", unlike the No.4(T) pads which were machined in jigs after fitting to the rifle body and therefore required a dedicated milling machine - which Peter saw and inspected in H&H's London factory in 1988(?) Machine time is a valuable commodity in wartime.

Overall the impression I get is that sniping and sniping equipments were not a high production priority as the whole matter was not considered of much military value or importance.