ranges. A long-range varmint hunter is particularly vulnerable, not to mention today’s big game hunter attempting shots often beyond their means. In the following paragraphs I will share some of my interesting experiences and fi nd- ings with the rifl escope, spanning more than six decades. Combined closely with developing rifle accuracy, my work involves gunsmithing, including barrel fi tting and chambering, advanced action bedding techniques, scope mounting and sighting, load development, test- ing, and all manner of trouble shooting in general. The dependable rifl escope has become indispensable in my efforts to further test and evaluate fi rearms, as well as a wide variety of ancillary equipment. In no way could or would I tolerate sighting equipment to become a deterrent to my goal for extreme accu- racy, which has become both a passion and a challenge for me. Back in the late 1950s, I became
seriously involved with long-range tar- get and varmint shooting as many new cartridges had just been introduced. My shooting largely included test rifl es and other hunting rifl es with a fairly wide range of different scopes and mounts.
But target/varmint scope availability back then paled by comparison to those of today. Companies like Unertl, Lyman, Weaver, Leupold, Redfield, Fecker, Litschert and a few others led the fi eld. It wasn’t until later these scope manu- facturers even offered centered reticles where the crosshair remained at optical center while being adjusted. Lyman lat- er announced their “Perma-Center” All American scope, and Weaver their K8x and K10x Models. Leupold announced the 8x Westerner for under a hundred dollars, and the Weaver Ks at $59.50. I was paying 28 cents a gallon for regu- lar gas and $134.00. for my fi rst Model 70 Winchester varmint rifl e. Some of today’s scope afi cionados wouldn’t be caught dead with these earlier models with their need for the much heralded sophistication we are seeing today … built in rangefinders, all manner of reticles … even electrically operated. But these former scopes were instrumental in my learning process as today’s scope sight remains so. As I backtrack still a few more de-
cades, you will see my indoctrination to the scope sight was quite different from most, going back to the mid-1940s. For
years we had an old brass telescope in our house used for viewing things we perhaps weren’t supposed to be looking at anyway. That was until an inquisitive 15-year old kid got an impetuous idea to convert the old telescope to a scope for his old .22 rifl e. My father never hunted, and never knew what happened to the old “spy glass.” Somehow, within the focal plane I attached a pair of crosshairs and devised an external adjustment style mounting system. It worked. But it also served as a stark introduction to why scopes don’t remain sighted-in. My younger brother and I would shoot targets and a few squirrels with the old gun, only to fi nd it didn’t always hit where we were aiming the next time we used it. I later graduated to a Weaver J-series scope. But the more things changed, the more they seemed to stay the same. The Weaver scope didn’t remain sighted-in either, and had very poor resolution. As I grew older the accuracy game
was gradually improving rifl e barrels, actions, bullets, powders, et al. Scopes were close behind, but all too many continued to be in the catch-up phase. Though I was feeling more confi dent
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