Are reproduction no.32 scopes any good?

[bigduke6]

Seaspriter, Although only a few hours after my post I may be selling a Mk11 in the near future, so will give you first refusal.... can't promise anything yet but I may have a few bills coming in, don't worry its not to do with debt collectors or getting the Electric cut off....... I'm in the process of doing a deal on a Phone Box.........

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[CINDERS]

I agree with all the comments especially B.D and P.L summation of the rifle getting a scope and the repro's ~ imagine this you save like crazy to get the car of your dreams 2nd hand its a bit daggy so you send it away to a reputable mechanic and panel beater to have it returned to as near as possible to the day it left the factory but the bank balance suffered a tad and dollars are short. So you decide instead of placing say the factory recommended tyres maybe Pirellis you decide that a set of Yokahamas will suffice as you wish to drive it rather than wait to have the top tyre. You decide one day to test the car and the tyres give to much under steer and you miss a bend and plant it into the bush sad day for all........

The moral of this is whilst it is very tempting to perhaps put a scope which looks like a 32 it will never ever be a 32 because I am sure the factory producing them has not torture tested nor had wars to try and see the how much abuse the scope will take before failure, finally you feel sad because the car is back with the mechanic and he feels bad because all their hard work went out the window.

So do yourself a favour save up get the real deal as imagine being in a shoot and the turret gear strips out due to recoil and presto your done up for another repro, I mean the Sniper T's from what I can gather were parachuted to the French Resistance and if I am wrong I am sure to be corrected but that's how tough a Mk 32 is of course they were in the transit chests along with the rifle.

[jmoore]

I agree with all the comments especially B.D and P.L summation of the rifle getting a scope and the repro's ~ imagine this you save like crazy to get the car of your dreams 2nd hand its a bit daggy so you send it away to a reputable mechanic and panel beater to have it returned to as near as possible to the day it left the factory but the bank balance suffered a tad and dollars are short. So you decide instead of placing say the factory recommended tyres maybe Pirellis you decide that a set of Yokahamas will suffice as you wish to drive it rather than wait to have the top tyre. You decide one day to test the car and the tyres give to much under steer and you miss a bend and plant it into the bush sad day for all........

The moral of this is whilst it is very tempting to perhaps put a scope which looks like a 32 it will never ever be a 32 because I am sure the factory producing them has not torture tested nor had wars to try and see the how much abuse the scope will take before failure, finally you feel sad because the car is back with the mechanic and he feels bad because all their hard work went out the window.

.

May not be the best analogy as I won my class regularly after a couple of years dialing in an old Mustang using Yokohama A008s when I was doing the SCCA thing.

But as for scopes, it's a hard call. If folk say the current repros are poo, then move along to something else! Weirdly, price isn't a good indicator as to serviceability with scopes. I've a pile of wretched scopes from US$1500 down that are worse than nothing! But some, such as the old Weavers mentioned are perfectly useful even though they can be had for under US$100. (The only "non No.32" scope I currently have on a No.4 Mk.1(T) is a Burris.) My Long Branch has been without scope for decades.

[martins8589]

Ok, thankyou for letting me see reason. I will not buy a repo scope and mounts. For the 1 day of shooting per year in this category I will just use a Weaver K3 and no drill mount. $100+ should see me shooting.

[martins8589]

But if what your saying about poor people using No32 replica scopes on their No4T mock ups is true. Then it should also be true that no genuine No32 scope should be put on any action that is not a genuine No4T action. As looking at the No4T rifles that are missing scopes you would be taking the chance away of them having a scope by putting one on a plain No4 action and then calling it a sniper.

[CINDERS]

Just to be politically correct I never intended nor insinuated the particular class a person may be in using a repro - 32 just outlined a hypothetical situation, to be honest I pined for nearly 20 years trying to amass the funds to buy a T and always something occurred as always with Murhies law like the car taking a dive mechanically unforseen repairs to the house fridges going south just normal everyday stuff but of the type that eats into ones efforts to scrimp.
Only when I had a WPA that sidelined me for 14 months off work and by sheer chance did I happen across an all correct and still married to its original 32 scope a M47C 1944 BSA Shirley T it cost me dearly so did the WPA the legacy of constant pain I will carry till I am finished with this circus down here and hopefully migrate to the bigger one above.

Like everything we do in life it is the persons choice and I believe the advice proffered on this site is given with the succinct desire and well meaning honesty from years of literal experience to stop the unwary wasting their hard earned monies on a scope that in the long run may give them nought but grief and frustration. Eyes to the front, Carry on....

[Peter Laidler]

Every No32 telescope when new or repaired or rebuilt is subject to what the book calls a 'fastness test' or what some used to call the 'xxxing-hell test'. That is where the telescope is subject to a drop-test to simulate as best you can, being dropped in a container or, say off the back of a lorry or off a wall during a stalk. I won't go into the testing methods....., you know the sort of thing. The telescope has to maintain its optical clarity, internal mechanical and optical collimation AND retain its zero on the rifle.

I have been asked to repair/rebuild/fix 3 fakes so far plus another2 recently that I declined before I even looked at them. Not a lot in the great scheme of things but guess what each had failed on? Yep..... focal clarity of the image caused by slippage. And there's no fix due to poor internal design. Someone forgot to tell the fakers about that!

While others have put their money (and quite large sums of it I hasten to add........) where their mouths are by making or having parts made, there IS money to be made by remanufacturing Mk3 range and deflection drums.........

Added later..... Just been asked by DRP what happened if one of our No32's failed the drop/fastness/xxxxing-hell test. They did! It wasn't uncommon as there were two faults that could cause it. But both were easily fixable unlike the repops.

[Brian Dick]

mr.e moose, The mount base and rings for the No.4Mk.1*T TP was designed at SAL Long Branch and looks like a Griffin & Howe mount. Those were also sourced from G&H and used later on the No.4Mk.1*T fitted with the C67 telescope. There are pictures of a TP rifle on this forum for you to ponder.

[mike1967]

And if anyone is kind enough, i have No4.Mk1* T, TP Serial No 74L0303 sitting here missing its scope and mounts

mr.e moose, The mount base and rings for the No.4Mk.1*T TP was designed at SAL Long Branch and looks like a Griffin & Howe mount. Those were also sourced from G&H and used later on the No.4Mk.1*T fitted with the C67 telescope. There are pictures of a TP rifle on this forum for you to ponder.

[Peter Laidler]

The TP/Lyman telescope was a total failure when it came to the UK for trials. But to be fair, it wasn't a UK requirement. Some of the European nations - Belgium and Holland - re-arming after WW2 were supplied with them from Canada under the MAP/Mutual Aid Programme