If the previous owner never shot it because he didn't have a scope, he clearly bought it with the pads already fitted, and he wasn't the one that had the pads fitted, as you don't get someone to fit mounts without having a scope!! Likely the owner that had it scoped, sold the scope separately to the rifle..!!Richo wrote: ↑Sun Apr 16, 2023 8:39 am I have no illusions about this L42 clone being an original rifle, i know it isn't but i do fancy trying to get it shooting, The work thats been done to it seems to be of a high standard but i dont know anything of its history, all i do know is the previous owner had it for over 20yrs and never shot it, presumably because it didnt have a scope.
I have a No32 Mk3 scope without a mount but the lenses are all fogged up due to internal fungus so that you cant see more that 50yds, and i haven't had any luck trying to find someone capable of stripping and serving it for me otherwise imcould buy a replica mount and fit ghat one.
As you have found there is no one left in UK willing to do commercial refurb on No.32 scope. There is a guy in Canada who will do it, but that's a lot of cost and hassle.
Anyway, there's no point fitted a No.32 scope that hasn't been modified into a L1A1 scope, as the range drum markings on the Mk.3 are in yards and graduations for the 303, and the drum markings for the L1A1 modified scope for the L42 are in metres and grads for the 7.62x51 NATO round.
The only decent repro mount brackets for the 4T/L42 were those that Roger Payne had made, but he's now sold out of the final batch of brackets he had made and he has said there will be no more made up.
I wouldn't risk buying it unless it was VERY cheap....and by that I mean, in the £300-400 range. It could still be a good range rifle with a no-gunsmith mount added to the rar sight mount and a modern scope fitted of course. Or, as I said in an earlier post, buy a one of the repro L42 S&B brackets and try and find an S&B scope, but again, that won't be cheap, so rifle would have to be sub-500 quid.