Gidday fella,s I have recnntly acquired a German varipower scope with mounting rail, I would like to mount this on a custom Norma Mauser action 6.5x55, if possible by using the rail for both front and back mounting points can anyone help with the logistics of this? I live in the nor west of Australia some 1800 kn,s from the nearest gunsmith so would like to be able to order all parts on line.
Cheers
Jeff.

Hi Jeff,

You could contact me at info@titanium-gunworks.de

Please add some pictures too and I will have a look how I could help you fixing the probem...

Klaus

Hi Jeff,

If you post a few pictures of the scope and the action, it might help people come up with suggestions..

Regards,

Pete

Klaus and Pete I have sent some pics to your respective emails, feel free to share if it may help.
Thanks guys
Jeff.

These are a few pics of the rifle concerned:

Jeff,

This is gonna be a tough one since matching the height differences from the rear bridge to the front to accomodate the prism mounts takes some seriously accurate measuring. Normally acomplished by a German gunsmith with an entire array of mount parts on hand to mix & match.

Plus, from the holes already tapped into the tube body prism you can see that the scope has been mounted using an front action AND barrel mount (most probably a Claw Mount) for the front & rear prisms.

Due to the length of the scope and the position of the rails if you center the scope over your action with normal eye relief the only way to mount using (as you desire) both the tube body & objective tube prisms rails will be to use a Claw or Pivot Mount with the front prism mounted forward on the barrel.

If you want to use only the tube body prisms them you may be able to get the correct eye releif using a mount for the front & rear of the action but the forward prism won't be used.

If this can possibly assist, here the Website for EAW Mounts and on the Links there is an address for a Distributor in Melbourne.

http://www.eaw.de/eaw/index_uk.php

Jeff,

As usual Gerry gives great advice, his experience comes in handy in these situations.

Essentially, unless you want to try your hand at a claw mount (which is highly inadvisable both in terms of cost and complexity), you need a mount which will allow you to use the center rail for both front and rear mount.

There are not a bunch of mounts that will allow you to use one of these rails. As Gerry pointed out, your best bet is probably a European (swing) mount by EAW or similar. At least they manufacture the mount "uppers" which will allow you to attach the mount to the rail.

The rail will need to be (re-)drilled in the correct positions for whatever mounts you get. It would be akin to winning in the lottery if the existing holes may be reused and still obtain correct eye relief. Be careful if you drill the rail - if you drill past the rail and through the wall of the main scope tube, you'll loose the nitrogen which (presumably) stops the scope from fogging up. (All this will explain to you why the "no-drill" rails from Zeiss, Swaro and S&B have practically made the older prism rails obsolete).

It is highly likely that the mount "uppers" will need to be angled to reach under the rail. That is not uncommon in European mounts, so it is a matter of getting the right parts.

Dealing with the difference in height between receiver ring and bridge will be the job of the mount bases. Fortunately, EAW makes bases for pretty much any gun in the World - this one looks like a pretty standard commercial Mauser (FN, Sanat Barbara, Jugo - whatever).

All in all, I have to agree with Gerry that the best thing to do would be to see if you can get the mount parts from a company like EAW. Either work with the Aussie importer, or if he is not used to dealing with the mounts requied, get in touch with EAW in Germany directly (probably with the pictures posted here). EAW should have the parts necessary (I'm guessing), although the price may be a tad higher than what you are used to paying for scope mounts...

Good luck.

- mike

Mike, Gerry,

Is it feasible to remove the rail from the scope, and then use conventional rings?

I didn't think you could on the modern railed scopes, not sure about this one now...

regards,

Pete

Last year, I met a US shooter who bought Zeiss rail scopes (internal rail as opposed to prism) and had the rails machined away. He claimed he could pick up the rail scopes for less $$$ in the US, because the mounting was comparatively complicated (in a country where ring mounts rule).

When he told me that story, I just about choked. The Zeiss internal rail mechanism must be about the finest mounting mechanism available, and what I'd always buy if I had the funds necessary.

I have also seen (gun rag) a scope with a prism rail, where only the parts of the rail needed to bolt on the mounts were left. The remainder of the rail had been machined off. Not that I would recommend this option for a hobby smith, quite apart from the fact you have to deal with refinishing the scope.

- mike

Pete,

I'm sure machining, cutting, grinding, filing or otherwise removing the rail on the tube and objective bell could be accomplished but I sure wouldn't want to tackle such a job without solid facilities to accomplish such and then there's the initial disassembly, afterwards reassembly and purging the scope. Pretty complicated for my way of thinking.

and then......who's gonna finish the tube & objective bell to look half-way presentable afterwards?

IF that is a route for potential consideration then for my $0.02 worth - I'd attempt to remove the rail from the objective bell and use the rail on the tube for mounting above the action.

Thankyou to all you gentleman for your help and suggestions,living so far from any gunsmith I think I'll have to pass on attempting to mount the scope to this rifle, a damn shame as optically its really a class act.

Thanks again
Jeff

Speaking about the rifle can anyone help on its identity? I assume its a 96 mauser but it has very little marking only some tiny crowns and no crest whatsoever.
Thanks
Jeff.

Hrrrmmmmmmm BS the tubing of the Zeiss with inner rail is seriously thin,

http://www.zeiss.de/C12567A800347580/EmbedTitelIntern/J...talog_2007_03_EN.pdf

Se page 9,

There is really nothing to machine with the inner rail, old school rails yes perhaps but just think of the damage done to the scopes internals.

To get this scope mounted with any kind of ease but not cheap, there are EAW mounts that might work.

They clamp the rail and then one can mount it on a weaver full lenght base just like normal weaver mounts.

There are different mounts available, one realy nice is on page 63 in the PDF-file.

http://www.eaw.de/eaw/webkatalog/EAW_Katalog_2007.pdf

Have a looks see and then decide, that scope is rather old and could probaly do with a good cleaning/check up.

Best regards Chris

quote:

Originally posted by mho:
Last year, I met a US shooter who bought Zeiss rail scopes (internal rail as opposed to prism) and had the rails machined away. He claimed he could pick up the rail scopes for less $$$ in the US, because the mounting was comparatively complicated (in a country where ring mounts rule).

When he told me that story, I just about choked. The Zeiss internal rail mechanism must be about the finest mounting mechanism available, and what I'd always buy if I had the funds necessary.

I have also seen (gun rag) a scope with a prism rail, where only the parts of the rail needed to bolt on the mounts were left. The remainder of the rail had been machined off. Not that I would recommend this option for a hobby smith, quite apart from the fact you have to deal with refinishing the scope.

- mike