Barska strikes again, out that is.

[Mowgli Terry]

Back Then: My old time most successful varmint rifle is a Remington 700 VS in 222 Remington. Most of the shots here are less than two-hundred fifty yards.
The rifle is now forty years old. The scope? An even older Unertl 10x inch and an eight scope. Mounts are external. Still works and shoots well after all those years. Shot it after twenty plus years living in the gunsafe. Rifle shot very well, as usual, and had remained in zeroed.

Addendum: The old long scopes with external mounts were killed off by the receiver mounted high powered scopes. One of the gripes was that the scope was tethered to the barrel. I remember seeing a generation of heavy barreled rifles in LGS's with tape on the barrels to compensate for scope related problems. If it goes bang being trouble free is a dream. The BV-20 Unertl was a receiver mounted scope. Remington also offered a similar scope at the same time. Those long scopes had become dinosaurs.

 

[Slamfire]

After glass bedding this pre WW2 (pre war) M70, I decided to install one of my vintage El Paso Weaver K4 rifle scope. After getting a good 100 yard zero, I took the rifle to CMP Talladega. And, I was amazed, the whole rig shot well, out to 300 yards




I zero'd the rifle with this ammunition. Had a low shot, and it was a split case neck. I'll blame the case neck.



Because I did not trust the repetitiveness of the windage and elevation adjustments, I did not try to correct for elevation or windage once the group was well established. And this follows what a previous poster said, these things were zero'd and then, left there. These were not target scopes and there was no expectation of anyone clicking their way from the nine ring to the X ring, real time.



But, better is the enemy of good. This old weaver, while clear enough to quarter the 300 yard bull, was not as clear as later scopes. And the rifle shot well. So, had to buy a new scope. Took it to CMP Talladega, started on the 100 yard line, and shot a rather decent group with some of the crappiest bullets I own. I have shot these IMI FMJ bullets in other rifles and had horrible groups. So, if I was simply going to blaze away to establish a rough zero, why not? I kept on going expecting a thrown shot, but I ran out of patience.




This is the old military match bullet, and they still are not bad.



Next time I brought the rifle I had a good 100 zero and I worked my way out to 600 yards with the Leupold scope. This scope seems to track consistently, it was clearer, but I am not going to claim, the groups were all that tighter.





Pulled bullets.



These are pulled bullets, and there were always a couple that just seemed to have a mind of their own. The new scope was click adjustable for windage, the old K4 took a coin and was not click adjustable, so with the new scope I could put on a couple of clicks between ammunition changes and be pretty sure the group would move two clicks. And it did. With the old K4, you estimated the amount you cranked the knob, then shot it, to see if it actually moved that amount.



Benchrest types have pissed all over my 600 yard targets, but they have not shown me their 600 yard targets, with a hunting rifle. Most of these shots are within 12 inches at 600 yards, which in my opinion, is pretty good with a light weight hunting rifle.

 

[IndianaBoy]

Vintage American made scopes, while utilizing older technology, are probably built much better than modern budget grade made in China scopes.

An old Leupold or Weaver was probably built by an American using parts made by an American, with attention to detail.

High end modern optics have the advantage of improved production techniques for both glass and internal adjustment assemblies.

Yes you might find one $3000 March that fails out of the box, but you can bet that March will take care of you. A highly durable vintage Leupold will probably keep on working just fine for another 50 years, but it won't perform like a modern Leupold or similar optic. You could certainly roll the dice on optics on the used market if you want the old school build quality of some of those vintage scopes, but with the type of warranty offered by companies like Vortex, Burris and Steiner, that is where I would spend my money.

 

[Mowgli Terry]

The low end makers send a mixed message quickly replacing defective scopes. First up, these companies do take care of their customers. The only time I have had to spend any money was on a low end scope that had been abused. That is other than shipping. When the low end people made that quick replacement it's as if scope is not worth fixing. That's the mixed message. On two occasions the replacement have been an small upgrade. Recently a BSA was sent back for a friend. The cross hairs were tilted. My cost was the shipping both ways. The scope that came was an upgrade. Found the scope was one sold in England. This scope was certified for springer air rifles. To me, that meant a stronger scope. It would work good for what friend wanted. Dealing with that company on the phone was very pleasant.

It's good to keep in mind,that these old US made scopes were not sealed. No sealing meant serious fogging problems.