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I had one of those Hensholdt scope assemblies, complete with the "FN special" dust covers back in the "good old days".
Quite a light scope, but handled a prodigious quantity of rounds fired under it and held zero fine.
The biggest weakness was the light-weight method of attaching the scope to the mount.
It is very reminiscent of a late WW2 German system for the K(G?)- 43 sniper variants, be they the odd, square-bodied ZF-4 or the more conventional ZFK-31/1 unit.
This latter item: here,
The thin, spring-steel retaining straps tend to crack and fail, just as they did on my old Hensholdt on that late and lamented L1A1. The "repair" is to make new straps from THIN spring steel sheet, not unlike a wide mainspring from a large clock.
It occurred to me at some stage that such a piece of kit was probably a bit extravagant for a "bush gun" used for hunting feral critters from the back of a motorbike, so I grabbed a spare NEW dust cover, "spread" it about a millimeter and then silver-soldered a pair of steel base-blocks to the top. This assembly was then set up on a barreled action and the PH style dovetails machined, more-or less to to bore alignment. The scope for this job was one of Leupold's lovely, very light, 2-7 variables.
This was one of my standard "bush" setups until I sold it to help raise the deposit for a house. A few years after that, our beloved leaders made owners of such rifles "offers that couldn't be refused". The Hensholdt scope and mount, complete with original "hard' canvas case, ended up with a collector of such things.
Last edited by Bruce_in_Oz; 09-02-2016 at 02:55 AM.
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09-02-2016 02:52 AM
# ADS
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Bloody politicians Bruce and their knee jerk policies! While my Lithgow and Enfield L1's are straight pull builds, I do enjoy owning them and my .22lr conversion kit (despite official grumbling regarding them over the years) and there is a certain pleasure in sticking ones middle finger up at "the man"!
It's such a shame that the Australian ban was so very comprehensive..
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All points taken on board. But it just begs the next question of course. Why manufacture new solid top covers to cater for the telescope need if modified standard ones were even moderately successful? And to get some idea of the rotary loading of a telescope on a recoiling rifle, just bear in mind that even on a No4T and L42, the recoil can AND DOES shear the 3x front pad screws and/or stretches them to breaking point and/or shears the front mounting spigot clean off even when the clamp screw is present. Don't believe it...........? Then why did this problem cause the 2x trials (pin and then bush) to attempt to rectify the situation?
Just my opinion of course. Not based on any real practice of course I agree. But just metallurgy, maths and experience
NB: The absolute tightness of the cover is only really relevant to retaining the collimated accuracy of the telescope. A longitudinally loose cover COULD in theory add an amount of additional inertia/momentum to the weight of the tele but it'd be marginal
Last edited by Peter Laidler; 09-02-2016 at 05:01 AM.
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This is a photo of the scope set-up on my FAL Sniper. As you can see the Hensoldt sight is attached by a sturdy Stanag mount, rather than the flimsy metal strap system. The dust cover is a purpose-built stamping rather than a modified standard one. i don't have any photos of my L1A1 dust cover mounts (I just made 'em and sold 'em) but I can supply drawings if needed. I purchased 1,000 L1A1's from the NZ Army in 1988 when they went to the AUG. I fully rebuilt the few that had tired barrels (well over 900 were fully serviceable) and supplied them in .243, 7mm/08, and .308 with various weight barrels as required (target rifles, bush carbines, hunting rifles), with scope mount dust covers, muzzle brakes, suppressors, etc.
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The Following 3 Members Say Thank You to Woodsy For This Useful Post:
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Peter makes a good point about the ultimate "robustness" of such arrangements on the L1A1. Probably not "soldier-proof" enough for some folk who are sometimes more than a little casual about equipment that others paid for.
The mounting system on the H&K rifles is quite robust, if a little bulky, and designed into the system, pretty much from the beginning. It holds zero after multiple mounts and dismounts and prodigious quantities of rounds downrange. You are advised to maintain the rubber boot on the rear of the scope to avoid engraving an extra "eyebrow" during shooting. I copped it once whilst hunting pigs in the Channel Country in Queensland. The action was rather chaotic on one occasion: the porkers were running towards me, very close and fast. I dropped my head height to use the iron sights THROUGH the scope mount. Only ever did that once! More fond? memories of "the good old days".
I never found a mount for the SiG AMT in Oz, probably couldn't have afforded one, anyway.
A friend had a couple of the late-pattern AR-10 rifles with the specially slotted carrying handle and the correct optics. They were quite nice to shoot and the mounts held zero very well.
Another thing I discovered was that the SKS was absolutely brutal on scopes. "Cheap" entry-level Tascos and "Brand-X" jobs would pop their reticules after a distressingly small number of ball rounds. Quality scope brands, (worth three or four times the price of the rifle), held up well, as one would hope.
Another variation on the theme was a bunch of small "reflex" sights I saw on L1A1 dust covers, back in the 1980's. I didn't grab one at the time. Anyone remember them?
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Thank You to Bruce_in_Oz For This Useful Post:
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Originally Posted by
Bruce_in_Oz
Another thing I discovered was that the SKS was absolutely brutal on scopes. "Cheap" entry-level Tascos and "Brand-X" jobs would pop their reticules after a distressingly small number of ball rounds. Quality scope brands, (worth three or four times the price of the rifle), held up well, as one would hope.
Indeed, M14's also will eat cheap scopes, and are vicious on cheap or not robust mounting solutions.
- Darren
1 PL West Nova Scotia Regiment 2000-2003
1 BN Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry 2003-2013
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Originally Posted by
mrclark303
That is a
very sturdy looking mounting system, good job and many thanks for posting the picture. I wonder if my ex NZ
Lithgow (AD64 example) was one that went through your hands on its way to the
UK?
I doubt it as mine were sold locally. I do know that later batches were sold overseas. The NZ L1A1's were mostly AD59 through to AD64, with very small numbers in later years. The bulk of them were supplied in 61-62. I have a 59 in excellent original condition with the acceptance number NZ 43 (only the first thousand rifles were so marked) which is the only one I have kept from the 1,000. I suspect it is either ex Navy or Air Force judging by the condition, as the Army were pretty hard on their gear and virtually all of their early rifles had been upgraded with later parts (laminated fore-ends, plastic furniture, etc.) in a mix and match fashion as required to keep them serviceable.
When I went to BOD Trentham to collect my rifles I saw many cases of new AUG's ex Steyr in Austria, as Lithgow were not in production of them till later. The first 5,000 were Austrian manufacture with the NZ prefix on the serial number. The armourers had mistakenly issued NZ0001 to the field and had only just got it back to give to the Army museum. It was only two weeks old and was well scuffed up when they got it back. The Steyrs are now being replaced with the Lewis Machine Tool version of the AR15 in various iterations to suit the different services. Sadly, the Steyrs will either be destroyed or sold overseas. Probably not a bad thing as I think they are bloody awful anyway, and only marginally better than the SA80!
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Thank You to Woodsy For This Useful Post:
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I wish that you'd had the opportunity to come over Rod, maybe when Colonel KA was the NZ Liaison Officer here. He was a GOOD friend of ours. You could have had a half day or so on the FF or 100m range with the SA80-A2. I know that when I sing its praises people always say '...well you've got to say that haven't you...?' You know....., sing the party line and all that........ But it really is a different weapon now. I'm serious when I say that it was as good as anything else of the type. Ironically I'm meeting up with some of the old A2 REME trials team tomorrow. Have a good weekend
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Contributing Member
Originally Posted by
Woodsy
I doubt it as mine were sold locally. I do know that later batches were sold overseas. The NZ L1A1's were mostly AD59 through to AD64, with very small numbers in later years. The bulk of them were supplied in 61-62. I have a 59 in excellent original condition with the acceptance number NZ 43 (only the first thousand rifles were so marked) which is the only one I have kept from the 1,000. I suspect it is either ex Navy or Air Force judging by the condition, as the Army were pretty hard on their gear and virtually all of their early rifles had been upgraded with later parts (laminated fore-ends, plastic furniture, etc.) in a mix and match fashion as required to keep them serviceable.
When I went to BOD Trentham to collect my rifles I saw many cases of new AUG's ex Steyr in
Austria, as
Lithgow were not in production of them till later. The first 5,000 were Austrian manufacture with the NZ prefix on the serial number. The armourers had mistakenly issued NZ0001 to the field and had only just got it back to give to the Army museum. It was only two weeks old and was well scuffed up when they got it back. The Steyrs are now being replaced with the Lewis Machine Tool version of the AR15 in various iterations to suit the different services. Sadly, the Steyrs will either be destroyed or sold overseas. Probably not a bad thing as I think they are bloody awful anyway, and only marginally better than the SA80!
Having an NZ census marked AD59 is one hell of a rare beast,wow, well done Woodsy! Love to see some pics of her...
I believe virtually all of the early NZ contact 1959 rifles had their receivers replaced, alas the NZ census numbers went with them..
Last edited by mrclark303; 09-02-2016 at 05:43 PM.
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