Fitting a scope to a Number 4 - any tips please

[enfield303t]

Personally have a S&K no drill mount on my Savage No4. It works very well, have never had a issue and allows for very accurate shooting. It was recommended to me by one of the guys that owned the LGS as the only one to use. Took his advice and well worth the money.

[Peter Laidler]

Er.......... but you haven't mentioned that you want to use iron and/or optical sights intermittently like our originator has. And you ain't going to alternate iron to optical without re-zeroing!

[mike16]

I thought he said he "was not interested in a 4/T replica"

maybe he should be

and presumably just because you specificly dont want a 4/T replica does not mean you dont want a good mount. You can use any one of many modern scopes, on the T mounts. Nobody who's opinion matters will mistake it for a 4/T.

I have tried 3 different mounts and they all seemed to be too flexible or came loose, all of them were aluminium. that means they have a different co efficient of expansion than the steel they are mounted to.

good luck keep her zero'd

[villiers]

I realise that quite a few folks have got on well with the Armalon `no smithing´ type of scope mounts ... bit I didn´t. I had to use shims to get the scope higher at the front, I didn´t particularly like the stress it placed on the action and the whole setup had to be re-set whenever it was removed. It was all a waste of time and effort, and I should have had the rifle drilled for the standard 4T scope mount pads at the outset. I now have (and use) two different mounts: a standard and a Canadian one with a picatinny rail that both fit precisely and can be removed for transport. But, of course, the choice is yours ...

[Peter Laidler]

Precisely Villiers.......... There, spoken by a man that's been there and done it.

[villiers]

Thanks, Peter .... just a private whinge ... the Canadian scope mount is heavy! I have to remove the scope after use, as I´m a biker and so have to limit the size and weight of my gear on my way to the range. Most people seem to favour the `qick fix´ type of sight base, and don´t remove
the setup when leaving the range. And, of course the standard scope mount limits you to the few remaining scopes with a 1" tube. The Canadian type mount with the picatinny rail enables the use of all types and is therefore the best option. As Peter mentioned, this is the only way to go if (like me) you frequently use the service aperture sight, as well as a Parker Hale.

Edited:

if you do decide to have the sight pads mounted, I´d copy out Peter Laidler´s advice form this site (I translated the text for my Bavarian gunsmith and he wouldn´t even have started on the project without it)

[Surpmil]

If you don't mind drilling and tapping the rifle, you could fit one of the Soviet Russian Kochetov mounts designed for the PU scope on the Moisin-Nagant rifle. It is probably the most brilliant scope mount design ever for the simple reason that the base can be screwed onto the receiver with reasonable accuracy and the bracket then collimated to the rifle's bore by adjusting the set screws and two shoulders on the inside face of the bracket. Care is needed as the two shoulders are filed down to collimate the scope axis to the axis of the bore, both horizontally and for cant, and once filed down the only way to build them up again is welding or machining. I'm not aware of any other mount system that provides for collimation and the quick removal of the bracket. You can also get one or two sporting type brackets to fit the Kochetov base.