Does anyone repair L12A1 7X42 Avimo Prismatic Binoculars?

[bigduke6]

A few years ago I paid an "expert" to refurbish a pair of Barr & Stroud 7x50 Naval binoculars for me but I regretted it because they came back with one side showing spotted vision. When I complained about this I was told that special jigs were required to re-glue the prism which were no longer available and so I would have to accept it as it is.

A jig can be made very easy and doesn't have to be a tool room example, although not for a Barr & Stroud the pic should give an idea, as Peter said using balsam you can redo till the cows come home.......

A very simple jig below, Heath Robinson yes but does the job....




A link below is a repair to Binocular Prismatic No5 may be of interest to some, includes the home made Jig above.

https://www.milsurps.com/showthread.php?t=53576

[Flying10uk]

Thanks for that bigduke. After my experience of paying an "expert" to repair a pair of binoculars for me a few years ago I have started doing my own optic repairs to my binoculars but not for other people's binos. I remembered back to what my foreman told me when I first started work- "If you want a job doing properly do it yourself." My repairs have been reasonably successful on a number of mainly ex military binos but the tricky job is always if a prism requires bonding back together. When I have done this I use a type of pattern Super Glue available on-line which certainly bonds the parts together. The thing is that using this glue you really only get a single chance of getting it right and at the same time you have to watch that you don't bond the prism to yourself. I have just glued the prism together freehand with-out using a jig and estimated the correct position; obviously using a jig would result in a better quality of job.

[Peter Laidler]

Another bit of useless info........ In 1965, if you lost, misused or damaged a pair of No5 binos it'd cost you £35. The prism assembly would cost you £8 if you damaged one. Don't know how the average Joe would damage one unless he dropped it, but there you go! The last time I knew of a pair going missing was about 8 years ago and it was going to cost the unfortunate PCD student £250. So just before the 'system' started to roll I suggested that he buy a gash pair on Ebay for a few££ and leave them on my desk following which he take a selection of tea,coffee and biscuits to 'Jock' Pxxxxxxxx the Instrument Sgt......... Anyway. All's well that ends well as they say

[Flying10uk]

Is the MOD still using WW2 dated No2 & No5 binoculars and do they still keep them in reserve/storage? The reason that I ask is that I'm currently reading a most interesting book called Sniper One, by Sgt Dan Mills and is the true story of a British sniper team fighting in Iraq 2004. They use the bolt action L96 sniper rifle as their weapon of choice. In the book it briefly mentions that the British snipers still use WW2 dated sniper's periscopes because they were the best sniper's periscopes ever made but it doesn't give any further information or photograph. The obvious explanation for a need of a periscope is so that the sniper doesn't have to stick their head up in view of an enemy.

[Peter Laidler]

I have to say that I never heard of periscopes being used in anything other than AFV's - and an AFV periscope would be useless to a sniper as they were set into an armoured housing!. We certainly were still using No2 and 5 binos in both Gulf wars and you'd occasionally see a pair or No2's hanging around someones neck in Afghanistan. Sniper periscopes............ Never saw anything like it in my time. I'd call that into question. But I could be wrong of course.........

[Gil Boyd]

Hi Peter,
I was offered loads of them recently with new telescopes as an aside which I sold easily.
Sadly there are no more spares available they told me to try German Rollei Company who may have some alternative bits and pieces.
The bino from experience was always susceptible to operational knocks which it didn't like or a severe blow which would throw off collimation, and in a lot of cases made re-collimation impossible as the prism assembly shifted. That was my experience and most of the ones I picked up had a defect or other.
Rollei would be my port of call if you really want to progress a repair, unless Peter wants to have a look.
Like a lot of NATO kit, when its new and working in the right operational circumstances its magic, when it lets you down when you need it most very frustrating.
Ironically to keep to your answer Peter, the best tank periscope I have is an old Sherman tank one its brilliant and survived the test of time.
Gil

[Peter Laidler]

I'm suprised that there's no more avimo spares. They were still being serviced a couple of years ago but no more new ones. I still use an old set of No2 Mk2's........

[Gil Boyd]

Peter,
There probably are if you know what I mean, in a large crate at Withams awaiting an auction and few people know what the NSN stands for

[Vincent]

Is the MOD still using WW2 dated No2 & No5 binoculars and do they still keep them in reserve/storage? The reason that I ask is that I'm currently reading a most interesting book called Sniper One, by Sgt Dan Mills and is the true story of a British sniper team fighting in Iraq 2004. They use the bolt action L96 sniper rifle as their weapon of choice. In the book it briefly mentions that the British snipers still use WW2 dated sniper's periscopes because they were the best sniper's periscopes ever made but it doesn't give any further information or photograph. The obvious explanation for a need of a periscope is so that the sniper doesn't have to stick their head up in view of an enemy.

I think it might have been an old Soviet TR type periscope, like the one in this picture.

[Flying10uk]

The picture looks very slightly familiar, Vincent, but I never would have guessed that the stick thing up against the wall was actually a periscope.