Gentlemen,

Does anyone know where an older 50's or 60's scope could be found? I have a German .22 rifle from that era and would just like to match it up w/ a scope from that time period, that's all. I assume many of them were not 1" tubes?

It currently has an older Leupold 4X scope on it now. Thank you in advance for any tips!

Brittman

I find them on eBay. The steel ones are usually 26mm but many have half rings soldered on, which can be problem because they would probably need complete stripping to remove. The dural ones are bigger but have rails, which can be hard to match with dovetails. 14mm used to be a common width, though, and these can be found.

Therefore, though cheapest when new, the prized collectibles are clean steel scopes with no soldered demi-rings.

Zeiss/Hensoldt, B. Nickel (Marburg), Kahles and Pecar are my favorites.

Make sure the reticles are not constantly centred, to get the true classics from the correct time. If you find one with no windage turret, don't despair, they are probably even more reliable because of that - but you will need mounts with lateral adjustments, such as the Leupold STD. Scopes with stop screws on top are mostly pre-war and not quite as good.

Sambarman338,

Thank you for your answer to my question, I do appreciate it! I had NO idea there was so much to learn about European scopes - WOW...!

I will begin to watch eBay as you said and see what I can come up with. There's no hurry, luckily!

Thank you, again. All the best to you there!

Brittman

Thanks Brittman, if you want such info in more depth, you could watch for my book LIGHT AT THE START OF THE TUNNEL Are rifle scopes off the rails?

It's been posted in the AR Classifieds but, with the roaring trade there, will be three or four pages back by now.

I must think of something else to say, to bring it to the top again

You may also want to look at egun.de and do a search for the old brands suggested above

26 mm tubes are no problem as Brownells has Delrin Ring Reducers (inserts) both from 1" to 26 mm, and 30 mm to 26 mm.

I just bought a set 30 mm to 26 mm for my 26 mm Docter 6x42 to be used on a stalking rifle.

Though real ones are still out there, Arild, your suggestion might be nearly as good as it gets.

Optics Warehouse in England had two used 26mm types but pages of 34, 35 and 36mm mounts - where will this end?