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adjustment is left in the scope for relaxed civilianshooting. Notice the emphasis on well made assome of the foreign made reproductions needconsiderable work to make them even fit on tooriginal mounting pads and collimation is oftennon-existent so that most of the scope’s adjustmentis used up in one direction to even get close to thetarget.Machining JigsBrothers’ brackets have more rounded edges whilst theDalglish brackets have more square edges – asyou can see from the picture. Roger’s brackets arecopied from the Dalglish type.During the war Holland and Holland carried out mostof the conversions – in the process matching scopesto rifles with precise machining of the mounting padsfixed to the side of rifle actions so that scopes wouldbe precisely in line with the bores of the rifles withreticules centred so that the maximum number ofadjustment clicks are available for elevation andwindage. Hence each scope is collimated to its rifleand the scope number is then stamped on to thebutt of the rifle so that scope and rifle remain as amatching pair. Brackets might be swapped whentrying to salvage a rifle or scope – hence it is quitecommon to see different rifle numbers stamped onthe bracket but this could be a laborious processwith armourers trying different barrels to ensurecorrect collimation. Having said that, I’ve neverhad too much of a problem trying different brackets,a well made one of the correct dimensions andmachining will line up well enough to ensure enoughBox of Machined Brackets prior to handfinishingSo what work is involved to produce accuratereproduction brackets that have been described as“perfect” by Peter Laidler? The answer is lots oftime, effort and considerable expense. Specificallythe following elements are required:1. A “pattern” is hand made by a pattern maker sothat a number of casts can be made in one go – inthis case eight brackets. The pattern is made in twohalves – one half is shown in the picture. A skilledjob in itself which is then followed by the skill ofcasting in malleable iron. A cast bracket is shownfrom a previous batch which was broken out of themould too soon and then proceeded to bend slightlybefore cooling – hence it had to be rejected.2. Cradle screws - a special tapered pattern thatcannot be purchased off the shelf. These are whathold the scopes rings and eight are needed for eachbracket so it makes sense to get 1000 made (I havesome spares if anyone needs them).3. Thumb screws – two per bracket, used to securethe bracket to the rifle. They are specially designedso that the circumference of the round thumb pieceallows the correct tension to be applied by thumband index finger. There have been many reports thatthe foreign made thumb screws have been knownto shear off under thumb /finger pressure leavingthe threaded portion stuck inthe mount pads! Again morespares are avilable if needed.The picture shows a batch– the two originals are at thetop with the small springsthat help achive the righttension without damaging thebracket.4. Machining jigs – anotherhand made and expensiveitem which is required to holdeach bracket prior toprecision machining. The samecompany has been usedfor the last three batches soquality and accuracy is veryhigh.Target Shooter 71