Hi,
I noticed on the gunsinternational site that most drillings were on sale without having scopes even though they still had the base claw mounts fitted.
What happens? Do they get lost along the way or what?
Such a shame to see them split up and sold seperatly.
Martin

Beign those drillings between 30 to 70 year old, it is not surprising that most scopes were lost thru honest use and some little abuse. Optics before the seventies was somehow fragile. Better get the claw mounts and buy new optics, unless you want an original optical item.

From memory the Germans were to only turn in the arms and the scopes were put away for another day.

Kind Regards,

Raimey
rse

For the older "bring back" spoils of war items, Raimey would be correct. The German citizens who owned firearms were required to surrender them. They were not required to surrender scopes, binoculars, or other similar items, so they simply removed them, stuck them away, and hoped to salvage what they could. Seems some of the "locals" in Bavaria would have mentioned that.

I also had the same story, first hand, from a gentleman whose job it was to collect the German sporting arms after the surrender.

This is one reason the solitary prewar scopes with attached claw mounts are quite commonly found in Germany even today. The other reason is that German hunters are pragmatic and exchange original optics for newer scopes without much regard for the balance and looks. While I am a traditionalist I understand this well, as much of the hunting here is done at or near night where modern scopes are way better. But it's not a nice sight when you see a prewar drilling adorned with a Korean scope, not even a new Zeiss. IMHO an acceptable compromise is to use classic German optics from the 1960s and 1970s; my favorites are Nickel and Hertel & Reuss such as Macro 2 3/4-10X. But I do retain the claw system, modern EAW mounts on old drillings is too much for me to digest.
With kind regards,
Jani

Jan,
Thats my feeling also as I often see an elegant drilling here and it usually has a piece of drainpipe fitted sporting a modern eloxied (or powder finish) which matches newer rifles well enough but on older guns it ruins the elegance and balance of the piece.
If you must shoot pigs at midnight please use a moder setup is my feeling.
Martin

quality scope belongs in fine leather case when not being used. the upside is most of those pre-war scopes had one coat of magnesium oxide if you lucky on exterior surface of objective and eyepiece lenses. that makes them equal to or worse then modern "Tasco". the real downside is that such mounts were made as unit bases plus rings so custom fitting new ring pieces must be very expensive.
i had early 60s czechoslovak factory mauser sporter in .358magnum with 3x meopta scope. the scope had dial type elevation adjustment only was was designed to make one miss. the rifle was horrendous kicker the worst rifle i have ever owned.
we are lucky now as top quality scope made up to say 20 years ago is still very good choice. what have they done to improve quality of optical performance in last decade or so? How about nothing. hope i'm wrong but from optical performance point i don't anticipate much improvement in the future anymore.

I agree about the lens coatings point, but the attitude that I see here in Germany even today about not letting anything out of a factory unless it is best they can do is still their work ethos. But now it comes with a price tag to match.
Shame you cannot take an old kaput (milky lens) scope in claw mounts and part out the modern lenses from a Tasco type scope as an upgrading method (6x42 is always 6x42 diameter after all, but I am sure that would be too simple) or have I just found a new market niche, Ha Ha.
Martin