Another Oddball Scope.......this time a Model 1918.

[Roger Payne]

Yes, it's an interesting piece. I don't know whether the SMLE over bore PPCo produced claw mounts pre-date the P'14 claw mounts made by the same company, or not. They were almost certainly made more or less contemporaneously.......I have a photo sent me many years ago by the late Bruce Gorton of a SMLE claw mount rear leg (admittedly for the Aldis rather than Model 1918 scope), which is clearly engraved 'Periscopic Prism Co London 1919'.

This Model 1918 scope appears to have rings designed to fit the SMLE claw mount bases. It would be unsurprising, maybe even be expected, for the authorities to hold comparative trials between equipments, & I wonder if this could have been such a trial or experimental piece.

All suggestions welcome!

[Promo]

I have a photo sent me many years ago by the late Bruce Gorton of a SMLE claw mount rear leg (admittedly for the Aldis rather than Model 1918 scope), which is clearly engraved 'Periscopic Prism Co London 1919'.

Do you by any chance still have this picture? That would indeed allow the assumption that this mount was post the P.14 sniper rifles. When exactly went PPCo bankrupt?

[Roger Payne]

Hi Promo. Yes, I do, somewhere, but don't ask to see it by yesterday as I will have to search it out! Bruce gave it to me in about 1996! I will endeavour to find it for you, though.
I don't know if we can definitely say that they were later than the equivalent P'14 mounts, possibly, yes, but I think the assembly of the P'14 snipers was not completed in 1918 & crept into 1919. I am not 100% certain on this, but think so. If anyone has anything documented to the contrary I'd love to read it!
PPCo got such a bad reputation for their lack of efficiency earlier in the war that by the time they were producing the Model 1918 scopes & mounts, they had been taken over by the government. I do not have a date for when they actually folded, but suspect it wasn't long after the cessation of hostilities. I cannot, off the top of my head, recall seeing any inter-war products for sale by PPCo., though, for example, Aldis scopes & other optical products are quite commonly encountered. Maybe someone like surpmil, a renowned & patient trawler of archives, might be able to flesh out these bones, a little??

[Alan de Enfield]

PPCo got such a bad reputation for their lack of efficiency earlier in the war that by the time they were producing the Model 1918 scopes & mounts, they had been taken over by the government. I do not have a date for when they actually folded, but suspect it wasn't long after the cessation of hostilities. I cannot, off the top of my head, recall seeing any inter-war products for sale by PPCo., though, for example, Aldis scopes & other optical products are quite commonly encountered.

Thought this article may provide some thoughts on the subject .................

https://photos.imageevent.com/badger..._16280_Pt1.pdf

[Roger Payne]

I thought it looked familiar.......It's available on this site IIRC. I must do a 'corrigendum' as I made a couple of false assumptions re the origins of the lateral adjustment capstans on the side mounted early PPCo scope, & the shape of the SMLE claw mount front base (although functionally the P'14 base 'fits').


Thanks for the pm surpmil!