RK31 Aiming Circle

[Tim g]

Hi guys ,

New here so be gentle, hope you dont mind me picking your brains on occasion.

[img]http://www.upload3r.com/serve/181207/1198009073.jpg[img]

This is a bit of a trail in posting so please excuse if pic is not actually present

Cheers
Tim

[Tim g]

Hi guys ,

New here so be gentle, hope you dont mind me picking your brains on occasion.

[img]http://www.upload3r.com/serve/181207/1198009073.jpg[img]

This is a bit of a trail in posting so please excuse if pic is not actually present

Cheers
Tim

Well .......that went well ..not

http://www.upload3r.com/serve/181207/1198009073.jpg

[Tim g]

Full hight pic of set, the tripod was obtained separately from the instrument. Spotted it on ebay and it marry's well with the one illustrated in Volk Myrvangs book.
The construction is identical to the Mg34 Dreibien AA tripod only somewhat smaller. It comes with a curious leather carry case that was unfortunatley broken but i aim to have it repaired.
The head is of course set for the aiming circle.

http://www.upload3r.com/serve/181207/1198010505.jpg

If anyone could explain how to provide a picture and not just a hot link it would be appreciated

Regards
Tim

[Bil]

Tim-very nice-real nice condition ,and diferant than most of the optics we see here. The picture thing-First,go to 'MG42 Photos' section,near the to in announcements there is a picture re-sizer,if you don't already have one.The big pics take forever to download. To post,there are several ways,the one I use--go to the 'new post' or 'post reply' Look below the box to write in,there is a box labeled 'browse' click and it opens your computer.Look for the file with the pic you want,click open,then click 'add the file'You can write about the pic in the box,but it comes out small.Just remember -the pics post in reverse order,so if it makes a dif,put them on in reverse order and they will be right when they show up.Are you more confused than before? It is real easy. ---bil

[Ed S]

Rk31's are pretty common, but finding the correct tripod is the hard part. This set up looks good.

[Tim g]

Kind of you to say so ED, could not believe it when i saw it on the auction and sweated it till it was over !

Have to find the saddle worker for the leather work now, will take some pics of the carrier and post so the guys have something to go on.

Agree on the RK, quite a few around as they were used for arty and mortars as well, not sure about the tripods used with those
to be honest.

regards
Tim

[bergflak]

Just to clear out some confusion:

The very nature of the tripod is the key!
Any type of gun, MG, Howitzer, Mortar etc, that was used in indirect fire was aligned with a RK31 or RK40 prior to shooting. A gun firing indirect can not be directly observed by the enemy, and the tripod used for the instrument is a normal three-legged stand made of wood/brass or other non-magnetic metal. I.e. to align the indirect firing MG, a normal wooden stand would be used for the RK31 or RK40, as this offered the user with the best overview and most sturdy workstation!

The tripod-stand in this thread was made for and used by forward observers (FO). The picture in question in F.M.'s book shows a FO-team with a range finder and the RK31. The RK31 was mainly used for glimps-observation of enemy artillery at night or direct observation of enemy targets at daytime (at daytime they worked together with the EM-operator). The FO-team would then relay the angle and distance from own position to target back to the HQ who would calculate the data and issue the correct elevation and mills to the guns/mortars. At night the angle only from two RK31's would be triangulated to calculate the position of the enemy artillery. The FO had to operate in view of the enemy, in concealment, in order not to draw enemy fire, which explains the small, lightweight tripod in this thread! This tripod could also be used with the scissors binos (SF14z).

[Tim g]

Thanks for that Bergflak, makes eminant sense when described as you did.

Cheers

Tim

[MG34Biker]

Bergflak,
Great info on German FO Doctrine. Sounds like their prominent use of Polar Plot Fire Missions would be slower but more accurate. I was a Mortar Maggot for 10 yrs.

[ChrisPCook]

Just to clear out some confusion:

This tripod could also be used with the scissors binos (SF14z).

Scissors Bino-

[ChrisPCook]

Scissors...