2pdr. Scope Questions?

[Mike Cecil]

Can't quite read the nomenclature on the scope in the image.

The 2-pdr in the Matilda used either a No.30 or No.33 telescope, or in Aust, the No.133 (Aust) Mk.1.

The 2-pdr A/T used the No.24B Mk.3 scope or, in Australia, the No.124 (Aust) Mk.1 Scope.

The 25-pdr also listed the No.24B Mk.3 and the No.124 (Aust) Mk.1 as alternatives.

As marked, this is an Australian scope manufactured by J.W. Handley Pty Ltd in Victoria, Australia. Company also manufactured dial sights and other optics. It is dated 1941, so most likely for the 2-pdr A/T or 25-pdr guns. Matilda didn't start arriving in Aust until first half of 1942.

Mike

[ChaseR83]

Originally Posted by Mike Cecil

Can't quite read the nomenclature on the scope in the image.

The 2-pdr in the Matilda used either a No.30 or No.33 telescope, or in Aust, the No.133 (Aust) Mk.1.

The 2-pdr A/T used the No.24B Mk.3 scope or, in Australia, the No.124 (Aust) Mk.1 Scope.

The 25-pdr also listed the No.24B Mk.3 and the No.124 (Aust) Mk.1 as alternatives.

As marked, this is an Australian scope manufactured by J.W. Handley Pty Ltd in Victoria, Australia. Company also manufactured dial sights and other optics. It is dated 1941, so most likely for the 2-pdr A/T or 25-pdr guns. Matilda didn't start arriving in Aust until first half of 1942.

Mike

I pulled it back out and checked it, it's a No. 124 L.P. Mk.1 scope

[Mike Cecil]

Good: early nomenclature for the No.124 (Aust) Mk.1. The LP stands for 'Local Pattern' ie Australian design or modified for Australian manufacture. 'LP' was dropped by early 1942, replaced by 'Aust'.

Mike

[Ron Pier]

Great information Mike! Mine is a No39 MK 2S? Clearly not correct for the gun as it says 6 pounder up by the cross hairs Ron

[Mike Cecil]

You'll have the 6-pdr owners after you now, Ron, wanting to do a deal!

The markings on the Aust sight are interesting, at least to me. The D/i\D marking is Department of Defence, which technically didn't exist in 1941 - it was the Department of Defence Co-ordination. The Army was the Department of the Army, and the department which actually issued the production order to JW Handley was the Department of Munitions, (specifically the Ordnance Production Directorate through the Victorian Board of Area Management). The spec for the 2-pdr sights were issued by the Army before June 1940 when the Dept of Munitions came into existence.

Leads me to look at later type sights to compare the markings.

Mike

[tankbarrell]

No 39 is 6 pdr tanks though, not 6 pdr anti tank guns. They use a No 22.

[Mike Cecil]

Thanks Adrian, always good to learn these details.

Not a sight with an Aust equivalent.

Mike