No. 4 (T) Paratroop Packing?

[Surpmil]

Rightly or wrongly many snipers seem to have disliked removing the scope from the rifle once zeroed; witness for example the well known photo from Italy of a No.4(T) with the backsight removed so that the rifle could be cleaned from the breech without removing the scope. On a trials T I had there was cleaning rod impact damage to the face of the bolthead no doubt for the same reason.

So were the scopes removed and placed in their Cases, No.8 before being packed in the containers with the rifles or were they left on for rapid deployment?

From the photos of airdrop containers it doesn't look like much trouble was taken with padding although from the SMLE's shown the photos must be fairly early in the game.