No. 4 "T" - strange conversion, strange scope

[Promo]

Guys,
A friend of mine today showed me his rifle. It is a No. 4 Mk. 1/2 rifle which was obviously converted to T after WWII. However, the conversion is extremely strange, with the rear screw directly in the receiver (without a base) the front base extremely offset to the right.
Additionally the scope which is easily identified as being refinished has a abnormal crosshair. Were there ever reticles like this? The scope anyway seems to be extremely early. Am I'm right it's serialized to a Canadian rifle? And what is the Cross on the scope bracket for?

Thanks in advance!

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[Promo]

Of course forgot the pictures.. They are attached!Attachment 48364Attachment 48365Attachment 48366Attachment 48367Attachment 48368Attachment 48369Attachment 48370Attachment 48371

[Badger]

And what is the Cross on the scope bracket for?

Type maltese cross into the Milsurps search engine located at the top right corner of the site.

For example...

Markings on British Military Sniper rifles....

There's a lot of threads a pics discussing the various opinions on its meaning..

Regards,
Doug

[Peter Laidler]

Has your friend ever heard the phrase '.........as straight as a corkscrew'? It's home-made for sure

Some of these telescopes had a similar etched glass plate (actually, if it's etched it's a reticle and not a graticle/graticule) crosshair seated within the diaphragm a bit like a No42 or 53 but these were usually re-engraved No71 Mk1 or 2 or 3

Nothing even close to 7764 has ever crossed my work bench

[Warren]

The mount is kosher as h*ll and that is about all........
The serial number on the mount is around one of a few small lots done in the 64/65 range. No large runs, but small lots of 10 or so. Also some done in the 35L range
I'd love to see the reticule out of the scope as it looks like a type of the 71 reticule or another of the etched plate ones used in the Wombat or maybe even an Israeli conversion.
The Israeli's did some strange things with the 32 scopes they managed to procure.

[Maxwell Smart]

Another interesting thing is the rifle markings - where was the conversion to "/2" done?

BSA rather than ROF(F)?

[bigduke6]

The rear pad is attached or stuck to the bracket, second pic bottom line.

[Surpmil]

Some good parts there. Scope and bracket belong on genuine No4(T)s.

That two down and one up screw configuration was Israeli I've read, but I find it hard to believe the Israelis would just slap the pad on without refinishing the rifle. Could be a genuine Israeli pad or pads grafted on by someone, somewhere. The damage around the screw holes and repeated stakings would support that.

[Roger Payne]

It could be an Israeli pad but if it is it is different to the few others I've seen, which, apart from the one up two down pad screw hole arrangement were quite similar to the standard UK/Canadian type. Rear pads were generally squared off at the bottom edge, rather than following the radius of the 'ledge' as found on most 4T receivers. The front pad has presumably been set back a little to avoid having to machine the corresponding panel into the receiver side wall in order to get a flat surface for it to sit on. The front pad is staked multiply, but I doubt the Israeli's did the fitting to the rifle - it looks a homespun conversion to me.

Scope is a perfectly genuine Kodak Mk1. I have no idea who changed the reticle, but I doubt it occurred in UK or Commonwealth service. As Warren alludes, the bracket is probably the most interesting part, being a genuine Canadian 4T part, & bearing the Maltese cross & ordnance inspector's mark (contained within the oval).

Skip the rifle & keep the bits!

Happy New Year to all.

[Peter Laidler]

THat mess does raise one question though............. If the tele is mounted to the right of the line of the bore as opposed to directly above it (see photo 7 and 8), hoiw does he zero it? To do it properly it'll always be shooting slightly to the left of the aiming point. If you swing the grat so that the MPI is on the POA at, say 100 yds, you'll have increasing accumulative error thereafter