$20.00
WHY DO THESE SCOPES LOOK SO BAD?
- Condition:
- Make:a book by Samuel B. Mann
- Model:'LIGHT AT THE START OF THE TUNNEL - Are rifle scopes off the rails?'
Private User
| Seller Type: | Private User Licence # 431-725-90B |
|---|---|
| Location: | ESSENDON NORTH, VIC, 3041 |
| Phone #: | *** click to reveal *** |
| View other listings from this seller | |
Description:
ANSWER: Because they stayed on the job for decades and were not replaced under some lifetime warranty.
Those old scopes all still work but similar ones that have not got beaten up can also be found, and will outlast anything made today. (see second picture)
Why did they last so well? Because they used a different mechanical system not prone to shaking to bits.
The left-hand scope is a Raven 4x, made at Punchbowl NSW (the closest place Australia has had to a Wetzlar). The brand was well respected by writers like Nick Harvey in the 1950s.
Next to it is a J. Unertl (4x 'Hawk'), America's last reticle-movement scope line, made until 1985 by a family who knew the 'new' stuff was rubbish. Unertl resisted image-movement for 30 years after Kollmorgen first patented the concept in 1955 and the famous target-scope firm may never have touched it while still in the family's hands.
In the middle is Sam's old Kahles Helia Super 27 from 1980, which served faithfully on his go-to sambar rifle, a Sako .338 magnum, for 33 years and was only replaced then so he could try some even older scopes on it. The scratches come from his using the rifle as a brake on slipping down a greasy cascade.
Next to that is a late reticle-movement Kahles 4x32, given to Sam by an ADA stalwart who probably thought the power a bit high for his own sambar hunting.
On the right is a Bushnell Scopechief 4x made by Kowa in Japan, that country's most-respected scope maker in the 1950s and '60s. (Its sister, the Kowa Prominar can be seen in the second photo, next to a better-kept Unertl Hawk. The S&B Geco had been minty until the exit attendant let it slide off the bench at the gun show where Sam bought it.)
Most old scopes like these are hung on to, of course, but some do come up for sale occasionally. The third pic here is of Sam's recent acquisitions, a Pecar 3-7x now on his Whitworth 7mm RM and a Kahles Helia Super 39 on a Tikka 270 WSM. The Tikka is his wet-weather rifle, hence the electrical tape, just to be sure.
Scopes like these don't appear every day but hunting for them is half the fun. To know what to look for, read:
'LIGHT AT THE START OF THE TUNNEL - Are rifle scopes off the rails?'
Still $20 plus postage, now $5. It still comes with 24 pages of extra information emailed (or printed and inserted - $35-45)
