Check this out :

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/swarovski-optik-habicht-6x42-tele...QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

A blue scope.

How bad is that?

Maybe it's just me, but it seems like it's black as usual, just photographed in bad light conditions.

Now that's a pimped out scope:

I have seen Swaro scopes that were black, green, and blue. I think they had some problems with their chemicals doing wierd things over time.

I have two older Helia steel tubed scopes that are blue-ish in lowlight.

They will only appear black at night or direct sunlight.

There is a firm in the US that will anodize scope tubes to most any color..

/C

Maybe it is only a light effect. Pric65 photo make me think that the work on that rifleand scope is excessive. But I saw some other worked in that way and I never appreciated it.

About pimping scopes there is some other work that I know it is done, to change the magnification of the scopes used in competition, where the magnification is fixed. As Range Officer I've found some scope, defined 6x on the tube, pimped at 8x or 10x or more.

Horrible.

All it is is a bog standard Swarovski Nova from the early 80s to mid 90s which came with a steel tube that was blued just like the rifle it would have sat on.

This was in the days when stalkers were called stalkers and rifles had wood and metal that was half decent which this scope matched. Now that using an oily rag is a major issue it is viewed as obselete as no doubt am I because I continue to buy these rifles and that particular scope which in my not so humble opinion is the best designed scope that was ever made being a perfect blend of performance, simplicity and aesthetics that I can take apart and send to be reblued with a rifle should I so desire.

Not that I feel strongly about this

Because the butler creek caps seem to be the same colour as the scope, I thought maybe some one sprayed it metallic blue to match a swirly McMillan stock .

Do agree though, fixed 6x42 is a great scope. I have a Meopta that size which is better than anything I seen short of the big German names.

That scope is just black, check out the second picture.

Frans (fixed 6x42 Schmidt&Bender on my .300WM)

Actually, as 1894 pointed out, steel tubes used to be very common just a few years back - they have almost become obsolete these days due to weight savings with aluminium tubes.

However, in their heydays these scopes actually had their champions. As you can see from this picture,


the steel tubes not only allowed engraving (if that took your fancy), but they could also be soldered. This is also the case for this scope - which is probably soldered into the lower rings (thus no upper rings). After whatever custom work was done on them, the scope went back to be blued. Presto the perfect finish on top of engraving etc...

I'm a bit confused about the looks of this particular scope, though. It seems the eyepiece is a bit modern for a steel tube to have been used, but maybe I'm just not aware of exactly when steel tubes were used...

Btw, notice the front mount. It looks like they had to use a side mount - probably because it was otherwise impossible to mount the scope in the correct position. Whether you like the engraving and stuff is one issue, but I doubt any of us can deny this is custom smithing at a higher level than most of us encounter on a daily basis. It has largely disappeared these days (too expensive for most), but there is a long tradition of gunsmithing at a pretty high level in (Continental) Europe.

- mike

Not too long ago it was still possible to obtain from Zeiss just the tube for engraving. It was then returned to Zeiss who completed building the scope before returning it.

Here is a Kahles of mine. To naked eye its black but taking photos with a flash light and it appears red. No matter where the flash is pointed.

quote:

Originally posted by Wink:
Not too long ago it was still possible to obtain from Zeiss just the tube for engraving. It was then returned to Zeiss who completed building the scope before returning it.

I think Schmidt and Bender still offer this service if you ask - unfortunately I've never been a great fan of S&B

quote:

Originally posted by Claret_Dabbler:
A blue scope.
How bad is that?

Winning bid: £231.55
Ended: 16-Jun-07 11:22:18 BST

not bad at all £231,55 ~ €344,60 a friend of mine bought the same as yours for 200€ on IWA (Nurenberg) this year...

found another weirdly reddish swarovski scope: