An Unusual No32 Scope....

[Roger Payne]

Hi bros. Yes, there is, but only one, a Mk2, & I think it is already spoken for - by a fellow forummer. There is also a UIC Mk1 that I'm keeping for myself! Apart from that & the 2/1 described above, the others are all mostly UK Mk1's, with a couple of Mk2's & Mk3's, plus the two Israeli scopes.\

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[Surpmil]

I suspect the pre-production guess is the right one. I notice that the mounting plates for the range and deflection drums use the MkI / Mk.II cheesehead screws rather than the flatheads used on the Mk.3 production scopes.

That may be standard on Mk.2/1 scopes, off-hand I have no idea, but if not it might suggest MkI or MkII parts being "used up"?

I once spoke to a gentleman who had worked for United Instruments Cambridge during the war and his comment as I recall was that they did a lot of small and odd jobs and runs for the War Office (as he called it) That would fit with having taken over what was left of MkI or MkII parts stocks from one or more of the companies that contracted for those, and "finishing up", with perhaps drums which were available before the new Mk3 scope tubes and ocular lens cells were available to bring full Mk3 production online.

It was a bit odd, I was just doing a little online research on U.I.C. and the gent's name came up and I was able to find a phone number for him and just rang him up out of the blue. We had a bit of a chat but unfortunately he'd had some loss of memory clearly.

The knurling is rather unique isn't it?

[Roger Payne]

Hi Surpmil,
Thanks for your helpful comments. AFAIK the cheese headed screws were used on the Mk1, Mk2, & Mk2/1, but countersunk screws on the index plates of the Mk3. PL told me this years ago, & so far it has held true in my observations of the scopes I have owned or managed to have a good look at. Of course, anything's possible with Enfields & their impedimenta, & many of the scopes we encounter these days have been rebuilt over the years.

[Claven2]

Bit of a longshot, but could it be a "lunchbox special"? We often see stuff like this from REL or Longbranch here in Ontario, and whenever provenance IS available (rarely) - it turns out the stuff came from factory workers that removed components one at a time until they had a complete "something". Really common for Hi-Power pistols actually. You see unserialized Inglis Hi-Powers, usually with some parts till in the white with amazing regularity here.

[mrclark303]

Bit of a longshot, but could it be a "lunchbox special"? We often see stuff like this from REL or Longbranch here in Ontario, and whenever provenance IS available (rarely) - it turns out the stuff came from factory workers that removed components one at a time until they had a complete "something". Really common for Hi-Power pistols actually. You see unserialized Inglis Hi-Powers, usually with some parts till in the white with amazing regularity here.

Always sad when we loose another fellow collector Roger, but great haul mate!

Reminds me of that great Jonny Cash song, "One piece at a time" about building his own Cadillac.

It's got a great line in it "I got the smaller bits out in my big lunch box and larger bits I snuck out in my buddies Mobile Home"

[Surpmil]

Wasn't it one HiPower a week from Inglis? And reputedly they never did figure out how it was done, though with so many women workers there shouldn't be any mystery to it: under their clothes. To say nothing of men's coveralls.

[Lee Enfield]

Wasn't it one HiPower a week from Inglis? And reputedly they never did figure out how it was done, though with so many women workers there shouldn't be any mystery to it: under their clothes. To say nothing of men's coveralls.

Had to have been more than that. I've seen at least 50, and I'm a long way from Inglis.

I would think during the 2 year period it would be at least 2 per day.

The one I continue to own is composed of all early parts - and it has had one of the "sticky" numbers crudely handstamped, so it remained un registered until approx. Y2k

[Surpmil]

This one shows similar knurling not seen on any other No32s I believe.

This N° 75 example also suggests that U.I.C. initially started making or finishing off MkIs Were they perhaps given the stock or supply of/for W. Watson after bomb damage(?) put them out of action?

[Roger Payne]

I'll have to have a look at another UIC Mk1 that came in in the collection we recently bought Surpmil. IIRC it's no 149, & a real peach of a scope. There are also several WW scopes - that I'll scrutinize....

[Surpmil]

I'll have to have a look at another UIC Mk1 that came in in the collection we recently bought Surpmil. IIRC it's no 149, & a real peach of a scope. There are also several WW scopes - that I'll scrutinize....

Interesting, so do the UIC serial numbers overlap for the MkI and Mk2/1 scopes, or did the MkI stop and the Mk2/1 continue from that point?