During his two tours, he was credited with 93 confirmed kills. One of the most recognized names in military sniping during the Vietnam conflict was Marine Corps marksman Carlos Hathcock. The 8X USMC-Sniper Scope is a piece of history. Here is what Leatherwood has to say about their Vietnam Era Sniper Scope: From the available pictures, the mounts for this scope mirror the Unertl type mounts. But the quality and reviews report they are every bit as good as the vintage Unertl mounts, and in fact are probably better as more modern machining is used to manufacture them.Īround this time, the folks from Leatherwood introduced an external mount, Vietnam Era, USMC type sniper scope. I found a company called DZ Arms that offers a very nice set of Unertl type mounts ( ) But at $400 a set, they were more than I wanted to spend for a less than $200 scope.
But it is used on another rifle and I simply don’t have the time to make another one. You can read all about the making of these rings elsewhere in this web site. I even went so far as building a set of external adjustable mounts out of a set of calipers! Every time a set showed up on the various auction sites or in a classified ad, they sold for much more than I was willing to spend. The search was on for a set of mounts that might make this great piece of optics into a workable Black Powder Cartridge scope.Ī set of Unertl mounts proved to be “unobtainium”. The turrets were simply very crude and settings were not repeatable. The included mounts might be fine for hunting or plinking at one known distance, but they were totally inadequate for any type of long range shooting where you will need to adjust the scope for different distances. The optics were crystal clear with a nice fine cross hair. I soon realized what I had was a very nice optical scope with no so great adjustable mounts. Once mounted to the Winchester 1885, off to the rifle range I went. When I received the scope I mounted it to a Winchester 1885 BPCR in 45-70 as my Stevens 44 1/2 was out having the barrel rebored and chambered from 32-40 to 38-55. This scope is a fixed 6 power and includes a set of very simple front and rear external adjustable mounts as was available during this scopes period of manufacture.Īt the time of this writing, this scope sold for $280 at various online suppliers ( ) and it includes the mounts shown in the picture above. Wanting to add a scope to a vintage Stevens 44 1/2 rifle I recently acquired, I purchased a William Malcolm 18″, 3/4″ Tube, 6X scope model number M634181. Malcolm†scope and the shorter late 1880s-1890s style models come with appropriate and authentically styled mounts of those periods. The finest quality reproduction vintage style riflescopes available today! Three basic models cover scoping needs, from late percussion muzzleloaders through the black powder cartridge rifle era and for the early “smokeless cartridge†rifle models. Leatherwood / Hi-Lux Optics has stepped back in the time to once again produce this historic line of telescopic rifle sights, bringing to today’s shooter authentic styling with the added benefits of modern scope production, including far brighter fully multi-coated lenses and sealed tube construction. Malcolm is the oldest name in scope manufacturing, established in 1855. Here is what Leatherwood has to say about their William Malcolm scopes:įine Vintage Style Riflescopes for Fine Vintage Style Rifles Just the thing for those of us born 125 years too late! From totally modern target and tactical scopes to a line of 1800 / 1900 vintage William Malcolm reproductions. Leatherwood has a vast catalog of scopes. So if you have older eyes or simply want to relive the target and sniper rifles of the past, what do you do?Įnter Hi-Lux Optics Co, maker of a line of scopes called Leatherwood (   ). Unertls in good condition are demanding, and getting, upwards of $1000 dollars. (Stevens 44 1/2 with Unertl 1oX external mount scope) If you are a fan of the Unertl type external adjustable scopes for your vintage single shot rifle, you are well aware that a Unertl, Lyman or Fecker scope, in just about any condition, is an expensive proposition.