10x unertl sniper telescope
I've had a large number of those style scopes on various Martini Henry, Ballard, Stevens or Winchester falling block or Winchester bolt action varmint rifles over the years in 1". Remember the spotting scopes in those days when a 15-45x50mm was a big deal (now 20-60x85mm is normal and 100mm optional) or the smallest pair of binoculars (not opera glasses)? What we now consider "old school" wasn't even made or was cutting edge.I got my first IBM computer in 1982 and my watch today has more memory, bigger hard drive and a faster processor then it did!!! Those of us from that era, think back and how many rifles DIDN'T come with iron sights compared to today where they don't have any? Remember when Redfield came out with their ground breaking 4-12x Varmint scope-at that time the highest magnification variable and a number of years later with their 4-16x? What was the highest fixed power in those days 25x (or was it 32x?)? Remember that back then variable scopes were very fragile, heavy, expensive and had terrible click adjustments even when they switched over to the Redfield 3-9x/ART scopes and all the controversy it generated and they weren't the greatest and one of the reasons that they stayed with the 10x Unertl as the choice of the USMC sniper community until Desert Storm ll/Iraq.
![10x unertl sniper telescope 10x unertl sniper telescope](https://cmp1.zenfolio.com/img/s/v-10/p1870813994-4.jpg)
Hathcock didn't use WW2 surplus like the beautiful condition '03/06 that SlamFire1 pictured but Marksmanship Team (National Match?) Winchester target rifles with the "latest" Unertl scope available.WW2/Korea scopes could have been either Lyman, Unertl or a couple of other makers who I've forgotten.Remember this is 1964 to 1968 we're talking about (45/41 yrs ago). It did mention in the book that these were basically left over items from WWII and earlier. Johnwilliamson062 - Thanks for the extra pics, especially the close up of the rear adjustment knobs and the front slide rail. (This, by the way, is the same scope and mount that Hathcock mounted and used, not only on a M70 but also on a Ma Deuce.) I have a genuine Unertl "USMC Sniper" 8x on a Winchester 52, and while the picture is a tad yellow, this combination has no difficulty knocking spent 12-gauge shells off a target frame at 100 yards. There is no way Unertl or Unertl-type scopes and mounts could be manufactured today for what mass-produced Japanese and Chinese scopes with internal adjustment tubes and, frankly, better optics are sold. The real reason you don't see something like this today, though, is economics. And the sheer length of the scope and girth of the mount made them, well, other than svelte. Some models using fine wire crosshairs werer a tad fragile. By today's standards, the optics were a bit crude and the light gathering capability was limited. These scopes weren't perfect, but the issues had nothing to do with the external mounts.
![10x unertl sniper telescope 10x unertl sniper telescope](https://p1.liveauctioneers.com/21/168801/85103974_1_x.jpg)
And, contrary to what you might think, the scope returned to perfect zero every time. Scopes and mounts were made (by hand) by John Unertl and by Lyman. Actually, this design was very popular at one time, both for military precision shooting and for target shooting, both centerfire and rimfire.