My long-awaited replica T44E4 sniper rifle optic system is finally complete. First here's some quick history: back in 1958 Springfield Armory tested several “hinged” scope mounts on nine T44E4 rifles that had their receiver’s machined and threaded for the scope mount. The M84 was the ‘control scope’ in these tests, and about 13 commercial scopes were also tested. It was not adopted at the time, and the Army continued to use the M1D w/ M84 scope as its official sniper rifle.
There is one example of the prototype T44E4 sniper in the Springfield Armory museum still equipped with the hinged mount and a 4x Kollmorgen MC-1 scope. To the best of my knowledge, it’s the only prototype T44E4 sniper rifle still in its 1958 test configuration.
During the Vietnam War the hinged mount was again re-evaluated and tested in the summer of 1967, but it was not adopted for a variety of reasons. One, it was overly complicated to zero the rifle with the eccentric screw adjustments on the bracket, and 2) it also somewhat fragile and not durable enough for combat use. Four rifles were tested in 1967 with the hinged scope mount, so only a handful of prototype mounts were likely made. The only one that I have seen in private hands belonged to an advanced collector named Thomas Buss, who passed away over a decade ago. Not sure what happened to his original 1958 prototype mount, but it is seen in Lee Emerson’s excellent book: M14 Rifle History and Development (Vol 1). In addition, a couple of books by Peter Senich also show a few pictures of the 1967 prototype hinged mount with an M84 scope on an M14 rifle.
In late 2019 I purchased on eBay the top half of one of these odd scope mounts that is stamped “M84.” The seller thought it was some sort of prototype sniper set-up for the M1 Garand, but it was actually one of the mounts for the T44E4 or M14. The problem was that while the top ‘cradle’ with the rings and hinged ball-joints were all intact, but the mounting bracket to attach the cradle itself to an M14 was missing. Here was the starting point - the top half of the hinged mount:
Thankfully M14 researcher and author Lee Emerson, had several high quality digital pictures of Mr. Buss’s mount that he had taken back in 2004. Using those pictures, an m14forum.com member was able to reverse engineer the bracket and provide me with some excellent engineering drawings of the bracket in the summer of 2020. The project languished for a while, but I finally found a machinist (John Taylor/Taylor Machining) to make the bracket. In of spring of 2023 he finished it. It is a somewhat over-engineered bracket and way more complicated than he expected. In his words “I couldn’t possibly charge you for all the time I have in that project,” and while it was at times frustrating, but in the end I think he enjoyed the challenge.
Anyhow, the original Pachmyar hinged scope mounts were designed back in late 1940s or 1950s for the M1 Garand and other rifles, and its design allowed top-loading of the M1 rifle via its 8-rd enbloc clips. When the prototype T44E4 sniper rifle was designed in the late 1950s, this same type of hinged mount was made to accommodate ‘top loading’ via the cartridge clip guide (via 5-rd stripper clips).
However, by the mid-60s’ the US Army correctly decided that this hinged feature wasn’t needed, as the M14 was typically re-loaded via its detachable magazines, so the hinged mount requirement was dropped. A much simpler stationary side mount was quickly developed in 1967 that used the old G&H scope mounts/rings from the obsolete M1C sniper rifles. Hundreds of these Army Weapons Command (AWC) mounts with M84 scopes were sent to Vietnam, and reportedly used until the end of that war.
Example of an engineer's work to reverse-engineer the missing scope bracket. You can see one of the two spring-loaded pins in the bracket itself, along with the complex adjustment mechanisms on each end to zero the bracket to the rifle.
After much back-and-forth assistance of a machinist up in Idaho during 2022-23, here's the final product. I'm going to parkerize/phosphate the base/bracket since it was blued and he had to do a little more machining to this part after it was fabricated and blued.
Right profile. It may not look that complex from this angle, but a lot was involved to get to this point.
Here's the vintage M84 scope in the standard "up" position that is directly over the bore (note: iron sights are still useable with this old mount):
...and here's the M84 scope flipped over for top loading via the cartridge clip guide. The mount is held on the down or 'standard' position via 2 spring-loaded pins in the scope base that interface with the hinged bracket on the bottom in two D-shaped 'detents'. Those two detents can be seen here, and that's what holds the scope in the down position during recoil, etc.
Here' a 5-rd stripper clip w/ dummy rds with scope folded over. I guess in the 1950s it was assumed that this top loading feature via stripper clips would be needed for the M14, hence the complex hinged scope mount design...but by 1967 the military decided that re-loading via its magazine made more sense, and a simple stationary scope mount would be a better system than this hinged mount, resulting in the so-called Army Weapons Command or AWC mount.
Top view:
Obviously this odd system was never adopted, but I think it’s an interesting retro-design. So, while I won’t use it very often, I might try it at the range from time to time, just for grins.
Synopsis: After over three years of effort, my replica vintage T44E4 sniper rifle project is finally complete. I call these two replicas the "alpha" and the "omega" of M14-based sniper or DMR-type precision rifles used by the US military. The Alpha prototype was a modified T44E4 circa 1958, and the final or the Omega of precision M14 rifles was the Navy Mk 14 Mod 2 circa 2011.
So, these two rifles show 53 years of technical progression regarding an M14-based sniper/DMR rifle. Together they basically bookmark the beginning and the end of my little collection from a historical or chronological perspective. Anyhow, I hope others found this random post interesting.
There is one example of the prototype T44E4 sniper in the Springfield Armory museum still equipped with the hinged mount and a 4x Kollmorgen MC-1 scope. To the best of my knowledge, it’s the only prototype T44E4 sniper rifle still in its 1958 test configuration.
During the Vietnam War the hinged mount was again re-evaluated and tested in the summer of 1967, but it was not adopted for a variety of reasons. One, it was overly complicated to zero the rifle with the eccentric screw adjustments on the bracket, and 2) it also somewhat fragile and not durable enough for combat use. Four rifles were tested in 1967 with the hinged scope mount, so only a handful of prototype mounts were likely made. The only one that I have seen in private hands belonged to an advanced collector named Thomas Buss, who passed away over a decade ago. Not sure what happened to his original 1958 prototype mount, but it is seen in Lee Emerson’s excellent book: M14 Rifle History and Development (Vol 1). In addition, a couple of books by Peter Senich also show a few pictures of the 1967 prototype hinged mount with an M84 scope on an M14 rifle.
In late 2019 I purchased on eBay the top half of one of these odd scope mounts that is stamped “M84.” The seller thought it was some sort of prototype sniper set-up for the M1 Garand, but it was actually one of the mounts for the T44E4 or M14. The problem was that while the top ‘cradle’ with the rings and hinged ball-joints were all intact, but the mounting bracket to attach the cradle itself to an M14 was missing. Here was the starting point - the top half of the hinged mount:
Thankfully M14 researcher and author Lee Emerson, had several high quality digital pictures of Mr. Buss’s mount that he had taken back in 2004. Using those pictures, an m14forum.com member was able to reverse engineer the bracket and provide me with some excellent engineering drawings of the bracket in the summer of 2020. The project languished for a while, but I finally found a machinist (John Taylor/Taylor Machining) to make the bracket. In of spring of 2023 he finished it. It is a somewhat over-engineered bracket and way more complicated than he expected. In his words “I couldn’t possibly charge you for all the time I have in that project,” and while it was at times frustrating, but in the end I think he enjoyed the challenge.
Anyhow, the original Pachmyar hinged scope mounts were designed back in late 1940s or 1950s for the M1 Garand and other rifles, and its design allowed top-loading of the M1 rifle via its 8-rd enbloc clips. When the prototype T44E4 sniper rifle was designed in the late 1950s, this same type of hinged mount was made to accommodate ‘top loading’ via the cartridge clip guide (via 5-rd stripper clips).
However, by the mid-60s’ the US Army correctly decided that this hinged feature wasn’t needed, as the M14 was typically re-loaded via its detachable magazines, so the hinged mount requirement was dropped. A much simpler stationary side mount was quickly developed in 1967 that used the old G&H scope mounts/rings from the obsolete M1C sniper rifles. Hundreds of these Army Weapons Command (AWC) mounts with M84 scopes were sent to Vietnam, and reportedly used until the end of that war.
Example of an engineer's work to reverse-engineer the missing scope bracket. You can see one of the two spring-loaded pins in the bracket itself, along with the complex adjustment mechanisms on each end to zero the bracket to the rifle.
After much back-and-forth assistance of a machinist up in Idaho during 2022-23, here's the final product. I'm going to parkerize/phosphate the base/bracket since it was blued and he had to do a little more machining to this part after it was fabricated and blued.
Right profile. It may not look that complex from this angle, but a lot was involved to get to this point.
Here's the vintage M84 scope in the standard "up" position that is directly over the bore (note: iron sights are still useable with this old mount):
...and here's the M84 scope flipped over for top loading via the cartridge clip guide. The mount is held on the down or 'standard' position via 2 spring-loaded pins in the scope base that interface with the hinged bracket on the bottom in two D-shaped 'detents'. Those two detents can be seen here, and that's what holds the scope in the down position during recoil, etc.
Here' a 5-rd stripper clip w/ dummy rds with scope folded over. I guess in the 1950s it was assumed that this top loading feature via stripper clips would be needed for the M14, hence the complex hinged scope mount design...but by 1967 the military decided that re-loading via its magazine made more sense, and a simple stationary scope mount would be a better system than this hinged mount, resulting in the so-called Army Weapons Command or AWC mount.
Top view:
Obviously this odd system was never adopted, but I think it’s an interesting retro-design. So, while I won’t use it very often, I might try it at the range from time to time, just for grins.
Synopsis: After over three years of effort, my replica vintage T44E4 sniper rifle project is finally complete. I call these two replicas the "alpha" and the "omega" of M14-based sniper or DMR-type precision rifles used by the US military. The Alpha prototype was a modified T44E4 circa 1958, and the final or the Omega of precision M14 rifles was the Navy Mk 14 Mod 2 circa 2011.
So, these two rifles show 53 years of technical progression regarding an M14-based sniper/DMR rifle. Together they basically bookmark the beginning and the end of my little collection from a historical or chronological perspective. Anyhow, I hope others found this random post interesting.
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