Five years ago some Norwegian friends invited me to hunt moose with them one autumn.
Booked ticket to Oslo,pack rifle and bag,pick up a couple of bottles of Irish whiskey in the dutyfree and several hours later I was a couple of hundred kilometres north of Oslo.

The next morning I was dubiously eyeing my friends rifles or more specifically the very low powered scopes on them and the Zeiss 6x42 sitting on my Mauser

Fastforward to the next day and a bullmoose pedals past me with a jamthund on its tail.Everything was going well but Keerist these animals are fecking enormous to a bloke who is used to hunting Sika,Fallow or Red deer.
However with my heart firmly lodged just below my Adams apple I mounted the rifle and saw a big ball of fur at the business end of the scope.

So I held my fire and still wake up screaming in anguish several years later. Despite having gone back every year since for a long or short weekend I have failed to see another moose on the hoof.

I have also suffered an annual addiction to driven boar hunting in Hungary.To further compound my problems my friends in Norway have some very tasty rifles. If interested you can find a photo of them in a previous post of mine.
But I decided that a Mannlicher Schonauer was a must have.

In the depths of depression in October 2008 after the baggagehandlers in Copenhagen left my shotgun on board the plane as I disembarked for a weekends bird shooting my host dropped into one of the local gunshops for something.

Nestling in the corner was a Mannlicher Schonauer Stuzen in 308 with a pair of 1 inch einhack mounts ! Swift negotions and a handful of euros secured a deposit and eventually I got it imported to Ireland.

So what I am looking for is a low powered scope,1-4x20,1 inch tube and a No4,German reticle. I have a distance of 5 and 1/4 inches mounting length from the rear of the rear mount to,um,the front of the front mount.

I have narrowed it down to the Nikon Monarch African. Has anyone any experience of this scope ? Field of view seems impressive but what about the quality of the optics ?

A Simmons WTC in 1.5-5x20 is an alternative but it is a Simmons,enough said.

Any other suggestions that I may consider ? An old Redfield perhaps ?

Thanks for taking the time to read this.

Take a look at the Leupold VX-lll 1 1/2-5. It has an excellent field of view, very forgiving (un-critical) eye relief, and fine optics. For what you describe, it would be my hands down choice.

The old Redfield 2 3/4X has a slightly longer body than many of today's low-powered scopes. If you can find one in good shape, it would probably serve you well. The same is true of the old Weaver K-2.5 and K-3, which are tough as nails. However, they do have a reputation for leaking moisture and potentially fogging, which might be a problem if using them in Sweden.

If your ring spacing allows, any of the low-powered Leupolds are excellent scopes (and are designed with very forgiving eye placement which makes them faster to use than most of their competitors.) Unfortunately, they no longer make the M8-3x, which was their best low-powered scope, but their low-power variables are very dependable. I'd suggest the VX-II 1-4X as the best buy, and it is available with a variety of reticles. However, the VX-2-7X offers a field of view which is plenty wide and also the added versatility of higher magnification.

While the optical quality of all of the big-name European scopes is outstanding, their design requires somewhat critical eye placement, making them slower to use than a Leupold.

The Nikon Africans?

LWD

If you have a an Einhackmontage, you have to be aware that you operate this by tilting the scope forward. So whatever scope you decide to use, should you still want to be able to remove the scope, you'll not only have to watch out whether you can achieve the correct eye relief, you'll also have to watch the scope does not extend too far forward to stop the tilting motion.

Please do not ask me to guess which scope might work for this... Alternatively, you could decide to leave the scope on the rifle, although that would almost be a pity given the Einhackmontage...

- mike

quote:

Originally posted by mho:


Please do not ask me to guess which scope might work for this... Alternatively, you could decide to leave the scope on the rifle, although that would almost be a pity given the Einhackmontage...

- mike

Yes,this is why I am veering towards a 1 inch tubed scope such as the Nikon 1-4x20 or maybe the small new Minox 1.5-5x32. The latter might be a bit more of an allrounder.

Thanks for your replies gents.

The more objective bell you get on your scope, the less likely it is that the forward "tilt" to remove the scope will be possible. A short scope (but long enough to fit into your rings) with no objective bell (i.e. straight 1" tube all the way to the objective lens) will likely be your best bet. The front ring is to be positioned as close to the objective lens as possible - but watch it if you mount the ring OVER the objective lens, as a ring tightened too much can cause the lens to crack! Now in addition to all this, the rear ring also has to fit - as must the eye relief... I have a feeling you might be best off if you could try a number of scopes (perhaps not physically mounting them) on for size?? Perhaps you have a friendly scope dealer in your vicinity...

- mike

Thanks for the advice Mike. I pored over the Minox specs last night and did a bit of measuring with a vernier calipers.

I dug out an old MSW of Wetzlar scope I have nestling with some other old but larger scopes.It has virtually the same dimensions as the Minox.

I fitted it and the bell just clips the back of the rear sight base Pity its a beautiful piece of glass with a Diavari reticle.

Ideally I would like to mount a period scope to suit the rifle. Either I will go down the Leupold or Nikon route or just keep on looking for something suitable on EGun.

We are a nation of large objective bell hunters here on the island.So I wouldnt have much luck in a gunshop.Stil stranger things have happened.

Thanks again.

I have a Leupold VXIII 1.5x5x20mm with the duplex reticle mounted on my 300 H&H for my timber elk hunting. Plenty of field of view.

Leupold is now offering a 3X scope in their custom shop. It has a 1 inch straight tube and is quite a bit longer than the 2.5X. You can get some pretty heavy reticles there for it.

1.1X4 S&B it doesn't get any better thanthat

Minox 1.5-8x32, an older Swarovski PH 1.25-4x24 or Kahles 1.1-4x24 if you can find them. I'd look at Cameralandny.com for the Minox. They have demos for a good price.