Prismatic compass

[Smellysniper]

I am trying to get together all the kit for my 4(T) chest .I have got all the main bits but i am confused about the compass. I initially believed it needed to be a T.G.Mk 111 and a Type 37 pouch. I now have a pouch and I think it will be a bit of a tight fit for for a Mk 111 compass which measures 58mm dia and 30mm deep. There appears to be 2 types of TG compasses,one with guard bars and one without. Which would be correct and is there a difference in size between them. Have I got it all wrong?

Information

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[Peter Laidler]

The bars were a post war modification to protect the glass. Yep....., you've got it all wrong! The cases are MADE to be a tight fit on the compass. The very last thing you need with your compass is for it to be shaken up and about!

[Beerhunter]

They were always an absolute b******d to get in the case. So much so that no one I knew, including me, never used the case but shoved the thing (on lanyard) down the front of one's Combat Jacket or in a pocket.

Now I'm going to get flack off the REME Bloke for not looking after HM's kit properly.

[Peter Laidler]

No bollocking from me Beerhunter as we all did the same. The real TROUBLE was when you got back from an exercise and found that the compass you ENDED the exercise with consists of just the small thumb-loop attached to the landyard around your neck!

The screws that retain the thumb-loop to the compass bowl were tiny shouldered 8 (or were they 10...?) BA screws that would shear as soon as you looked at them. As the Quartermaster would tell the Board of Enquiry (there would always be a board of enquiry as a Compass was deemed valuable and attractive and as such were classed as War Office Controlled Stores - or WOCS - no less) which would convene after its loss, that he never knew of a compass that was lost after the thumb-loop broke away from the bowl while it was in the pouch.

' Adjutant..........., Lt Beerhunter is guilty of the Offence. Fine of £50, Ordered to pay for the lost compass and 7 extra duties. And make sure that they are onerous. March him out!'

[Smellysniper]

The only knowledge i have on these compasses is from articles on this Forum and Ebay.Many of the TG ones are clearly WW2 dated but also have the bars so were they retro fitted, post war? So what would be the correct kit for my 1945 4(T), a compass without the bars and a Type 37 pouch, or what?

[Peter Laidler]

Either one............ If your rifle didn't leave service until, say, 1974 after service between 1952 and '74 then the compass would have bars! It just depends on what period you're trying to replicate - or alternatively, who you're trying to fool!

Same as the pouch. We were still using '37 patt pouches at Warminster until certainly last year!

[Smellysniper]

i am just trying to replicate what would have been in the chest in 1945. i doubt anyone would think that a sniper chest is all kosher 68 years after it was assembled!

[Mk VII]

The screws that retain the thumb-loop to the compass bowl were tiny shouldered 8 (or were they 10...?) BA screws that would shear as soon as you looked at them.'

Yes, I've got one that has done that, and I broke a tap in there trying to clear out the remains of the screw.

[Beerhunter]

Either one............ If your rifle didn't leave service until, say, 1974 after service between 1952 and '74 then the compass would have bars! It just depends on what period you're trying to replicate - or alternatively, who you're trying to fool!

Same as the pouch. We were still using '37 patt pouches at Warminster until certainly last year!

I'm glad you said that Peter because that's the advice that I gave to Smellysniper yesterday on Short Siberia.

BTW, Smellysniper is not trying to fool anyone, just put a CES together for his own amusement.

BTW2 you won't believe the Scout Rgt. Telescope bargains that he has picked up but I'll leave that to him to brag about.