I meant to post this earlier this year for anyone interested. Archival picture from Springfield Armory of the 'original' prototype M14 pattern sniper rifle that was tested at Ft Benning in 1958. The 2.2x M84 scope was the 'control' scope during these tests, and various commercial scopes in various hinged mounts were tested by the US Army. It was not adopted.
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Here's a replica of a 1955 T44E4 with the 1958 prototype hinged scope mount that allows top-loading via the cartridge clip guide. Not adopted as it was too complex to zero the mount + scope to the rifle, and was not strong enough for hard combat use. However, it is an interesting vintage collection piece.
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Below shows the M84 scope flipped over to the left side to allow top-loading via 5-rd stripper clips. That was the thinking in 1958..but by the mid-1960s the Army wisely determined that M14s were usually loaded via their 20-rd magazine, and this complex hinged system for top-loading was unneeded, and this design was also not strong enough for combat use. The Army quickly developed a simple fixed scope mount in 1967 for the M14 w/ M84 scope.
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Background for anyone interested: The top half of that original hinged scope mount was found on eBay back in 2019, but it was missing the bottom half that mounts to the receiver. I acquired some high resolution pictures that were taken back in 2004 of the only surviving hinged prototype original mount that was owned by a deceased collector. Then asked an engineer to reverse-engineer the original mounting bracket and provide some very nice drawings. Lastly, two years later, I had a machinist finally make the new bracket during 2022-23. I have not taken this optic system to the range yet, but I will in 2024.
Anyhow, just some pics of the "alpha" version of an M14-based sniper rifle.