Ranger Finder or sight ???

[oldflagswanted]

Comments please, as to origin, use, time period, and value?
............ OLDFLAGSWANTED ............

[Stew]

Hi oldflagswanted,
I can start the ball rolling....I think its a gun sight from an artillery piece...now we await input from mlespaul ...

[blinky]

It looks like a US Model 1917 panoramic artillery sight or a later model of it. It's a pretty cool looking sight!

eric

[mlespaul]

You crack me up Stew-man.

Yes, it's actually a M12 A7 Panoramic (or possibly a M12 A5, depending on the marking.

If it's a M12 A7, I believe it dates to 1953 as the A5 was used in 1944 as the alternative mounting telescope for the 75mm Howitzer Motor Carriage M8 for indirect fire. A7 was a post-war/early 50s. model I think.

Check the markings again (following numbers valid for 1944):

Marking = Gun it went to

M12 = 155mm Gun Carriage M1, 8" Howitzer Carriage M1, 240 mm Howitzer Carriage, M1 and 8" Gun Carriage M2, 4.5" Gun Carriage M1, 155 mm Howitzer Carriage, M1.

(The above all depend on which Telescope mount was used)

M12A1 = 75mm Gun Carriage, M2A3

M12A2 = 105mm Gun Carriage, M2 Series, or 105 mm Howitzer Motor Carriage, M7.

M12A3 = 3 inch A.T. Gun Carraige, M6 or 3 inch A.T. Gun Carriage M1A1.


These are the official US Army Ordnance office nomenclature. Howitzer will usually mean "field artillery ", and Gun Carriage usuallly means mobile artillery.

[oldflagswanted]

...a M12 A7 Panoramic (or possibly a M12 A5, depending on the marking.
If it's a M12 A7, I believe it dates to 1953 as the A5 was used in 1944 as
the alternative mounting telescope for the 75mm Howitzer Motor Carriage
M8 for indirect fire. A7 was a post-war/early 50s. model I think.
Check the markings again (following numbers valid for 1944):
Marking = Gun it went to
M12 = 155mm Gun Carriage M1, 8" Howitzer Carriage M1, 240 mm Howitzer
Carriage, M1 and 8" Gun Carriage M2, 4.5" Gun Carriage M1, 155 mm Howitzer
Carriage, M1.
(The above all depend on which Telescope mount was used)
M12A1 = 75mm Gun Carriage, M2A3
M12A2 = 105mm Gun Carriage, M2 Series, or 105 mm Howitzer Motor Carriage, M7.
M12A3 = 3 inch A.T. Gun Carraige, M6 or 3 inch A.T. Gun Carriage M1A1.
These are the official US Army Ordnance office nomenclature. Howitzer will usually
mean "field artillery ", and Gun Carriage usuallly means mobile artillery.

mlespaul:
Thanks for your reply, so if I understand you right, based
on this U.S. Gun telescope number being D29394 it is circa 1944.
I was going through my ~40 year collection long term storage
and this item turned up along with a couple of thick angle glass
maybe tank windows? Just some odd stuff picked up years ago,
such as a complete Norden Bomb Sight with C1 stabilizer mount.
.......

[mlespaul]

What I mean is that there should be another marking. The D number is a serial lot. There should be another model marking along the horiizontal axis somewhere that starts with a "M12" followed by the next number...like "M12A5" or "M12A7" or something like that.