No32 Mk3 Thread question.

[Surpmil]

I see! I used a bull nose cone at the headstock and a live center at the tailstock which happened to have a convenient cone on it as well. Of course those were MkI's so the ocular retaining ring could be left in to protect the threads.

Those dollies ever come in handy?

PS: your photo reminds me I must finally buy a copy of Crum.

[Roger Payne]

And I must send you your parcel!

[Roger Payne]

Well, there's been much cursing & dropping of the little central set screws into the mire on my garage floor, never to be seen again........but I've finally managed to make three, which with the odd one I had anyway, will allow me to restore two scopes. I just need to put the screw slots in the 'outer' screws, so I've still got time to bugger them up. I don't think I'll be going into volume production.

Addendum.........there's actually four shown, but one's a scrapper.

[bombdoc]

... be very grateful the scopes were never made by Enfield!

Enfield Threads anyone?

...and is there any truth to the rumour that Parker Hale went out of business because they lost the last Enfield tap and die used to make cleaning rods?

[CINDERS]

Probably Bomdoc but what a loss to the rifle fraternity I wont be selling my P&H 22/250 Safari Grade 1200 series anytime soon

[Alan de Enfield]

.and is there any truth to the rumour that Parker Hale went out of business because they lost the last Enfield tap and die used to make cleaning rods?

And a sad day when A J Parker closed the doors and left this lot inside (Photos taken 5 years after they closed down)

[Roger Payne]

It wasn't appreciably better five years earlier when I went round with Edna's niece & great nephew. There were 19 No15 transit chests lying in the back garden in varying stages of decay, just like those abandoned brand new No4 butts....

I used to buy those butts off Edna for 50p apiece......

Happy days.

[Mk VII]

...and is there any truth to the rumour that Parker Hale went out of business because they lost the last Enfield tap and die used to make cleaning rods?

The bloke who bought them had some strange ideas about the direction he wanted the company to go, and he made it clear that it was 'his way, or the highway'. Accordingly, most of the key personnel took the highway, and shortly after they were no longer in business.

John Rothery (Wholesale) don't don't use dies, they roll the threads into the rods.

[bombdoc]

John Rothery (Wholesale) don't don't use dies, they roll the threads into the rods.

Yes, aware of that.. but it doesn't help me if I want to make custom jags or repro Martini Henry clearing rods..!

My post was semi-whimsical as many people do not know that the PH cleaning rod thread is an Enfield one! Peter Dyson used to sell the taps and dies for this thread, but has stopped..

Its all a bit chicken and egg.. you need a tap to make a die, and a die to make a tap...! The problem with the cleaning rod thread is that it has a rounded profile that is difficult to create using conventional methods. I think the only thing you could do would be to make a profiled form tool that would cut the thread on a lathe.. not an easy thing to do with such a small thread.

The loss of so many engineering firms such as AJP, PH and the way in which they happened is tragic. Like much of western technology the business has been hollowed out with the majority of the remaining firms being simply marketing shells for imported goods..

On the subject of threads, the two major organisations that stuck with proprietary thread systems were the RSAF Enfield and the Singer Sewing Machine company, although Enfield did standardise most of their threads in the 1920s when they made the No4.

[Surpmil]

What a pity Sir John Harvey-Jones didn't make it there for an episode of "The Troubleshooter"! But then there were probably hundreds like it to choose from, all going down the same path to oblivion.

In many cases they had history, name recognition, established and proven product lines...what was missing?