WW1 SMLE PPCo Mount question

[SENDIT]

Hello Forum Members.

Could anyone tell me the correct BA size cheese head screw I need for securing a PPco mount ? . The receiver was already milled for the mount but the original screws are not with the rest of the kit so I need to acquire them from somewhere.

Any help would be much appreciated.

Cheers

Mac

Information

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[Roger Payne]

You need 5 x cheese head 5 BA screws. The tops of the originals were very slightly domed off. You can easily do this in a lathe. Steel 5 BA screws are still fairly readily available from UK based model engineering suppliers. Hope this helps.

Would love to see a photo of your rifle, even without its base in situ.

Best.

P.S. Give me a shout if you need any help & I'll do what I can.

[SENDIT]

Roger,

As always, very helpful. Thanks for the Intel.

I will certainly send some pictures when I have access to the rifle. Its currently residing in my fathers gun cabinet where it has been for a few years. I have some spare time coming my way so I would like to finish what he seems to have started prior to his passing. The action has been milled I think by him for initial alignment but he appears not to of got round to the final machining as I believe the milling should be just slightly deeper for the mount to sit in. I will have a look when I get over there but I just wanted get all the bits together first.

Regards

Mac

[Roger Payne]

Ah! It's you! Let me know if you have any trouble finding the screws as I think I may have a few.

ATB.

[Surpmil]

Do you think they were set up with jigs originally Roger or strictly by hand? Collimation-wise I mean.

[SENDIT]

[QUOTE=Roger Payne;360687]Ah! It's you! Let me know if you have any trouble finding the screws as I think I may have a few.

ATB.

Hi Roger

Yup it's me!! Good to hear from you. Yes the screws would be very much appreciated and save me a lot of time. PM me and we will sort somthing out.

Regards
A

[Roger Payne]

Hi Rob. I've seen a few WW1 SMLE sniper receivers with the mount bases removed, including a couple of PPCo's & the thing that amazes me is how crudely they have been done. I guess one shouldn't extrapolate from three or four examples, but they all looked to have been done individually by hand.

Mac, pm on the way.

[Peter Laidler]

Reading your thread 7 DRP, TBones of several weeks ago regarding accurate known body datum points and the MoD experience regarding their experience when toying with the idea of accurately maching bodies to the same spec for DP purposes. I wonder if it was this lack of constant uniformity that was the problem when fitting tele mounts. It doesn't matter WHEN or in what era you need to fit them, the mechanics and optics of it is/are the same. If only the bodies were.........

[Roger Payne]

You mean that the great variation in No1 rifle body dimensions would make it almost impossible to 'production line' the fitting of bases? Yes, that would follow...& would indeed necessitate a considerable degree of hand fitting. Every one a 'one-off' almost.

[Simon]

I'm more inclined to think that the WWI Sniper rifle mounts were hand fitted because amongst other things there were at least half a dozen Companies employed in their production, each of those Companies tended to employ Craftsmen rather than be mass production concerns.

Don't forget also that each Company had its own design of mount unlike the standardised pads and bracket of the 4T

I think its also fair to say that each WWI Sniper rifle is a one off, excepting the N03(T) as it has been my experience that the scopes are not truly interchangeable between rifles.