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

[Roger Payne]

Since the advent of the internet I don't get offered nice bits & pieces to buy 'over the counter' at arms fairs like I used to. So long as it is a non-restricted item, it is so easy for people simply to drop the thing on to an on-line auction site.

However, at the June Motorcycle Museum show a dealer acquaintance sidled up to me & asked me what the scope was that he'd just had come in over the counter. I told him it was a Model 1918 scope, made by PPCo & that most of them were fitted to the No3 T, with the Aussies also fitting them to the SMLE at the tail end of WW2. He then asked me what it was worth..........I was obviously interested in purchasing it from him if he was interested in letting it go.........so that posed a dilemma! Anyway, I was honest & asked if he'd be interested in taking a quick profit. To my delight he did me a good turn, letting me have it for a quick modest return & turning it over, rather than hanging out for every last penny.
I was keen to have it for my collection as I had noticed that it had non-standard markings on it, although the scope itself was otherwise a run of production PPCo manufactured Model 18 & rings..........or so I thought!

After the initial excitement of acquiring it had died down, it went into a drawer until I had time to have a serious close up look at it. I only got round to that the night before last. On scrutinising it more closely I couldn't help thinking the leg of the rear ring seemed a bit on the long side, so I compared it to the leg on the rear mount of the scope from my No3 T. There is clearly a difference. In fact the rings, whilst generally similar to & of the same 'system' as the No3 T & the later Lithgow No1 Mk3 H T, are distinct, & appear to be the same as the rings seen occasionally on Aldis scopes intended for the early/pre-production P'14 snipers, & likely for the claw mount SMLE's that PPCo set up more or less contemporaneously with the No3 T contract, but about which not a great deal is known. My machinist did a limited production run of these rings & bases for me about ten years ago.

Now, shoot me down in flames if you like, but I am pretty sure that this Model 1918 scope is an example fitted not to a P'14, but to a SMLE using the claw mount system circa 1918 or 1919. It is known that these rifles were fitted with Aldis scopes using this mount system, but with 1" rings, of course, but I have never seen or heard of any evidence to suggest that Model 1918's were fitted as well. If my assumption is correct, we have a previously lost piece of the jig-saw puzzle that is British & Dominion Great War sniping equipment. The Australian use of AOC produced Model 1918's on SMLE's is well known, but it seems possible that the first use of this scope on the SMLE may have occurred a quarter of a century earlier.

Have a look at the photo's & see what you think...........I've stated my case & I'm happy to take it on the chin if anyone can see that I've dropped a clanger.......!

And no, it's not for sale!!