Unertl 8X scope SN 1114 - was it USMC?

[Randy A]

Here,
Unertl Scope Repair. Any suggestions???

For the life of me I can't remember the folks down south, lovely lady and her father (he worked for a big name scope co) that do great work Arizona/New Mexico, just can't remember. Other than that sounds like the above link will do the trick and you won't have to wait 9 months.

Anyhow, in regards to the OP, would be great to know if his 1114 had the early USMC small ring crosshair center? might answer questions in the odd chance it's got the original reticle. Yes they had them and I know 1325 still has it.

[diirk]

[cplstevennorton]

Just a little bit of info that may help. If you go on the yahoo Unertl group, they are keeping track of the serials of the Unertl scopes of the members there. They do have some commercial serials that overlap into the early Marine Corps serial ranges. Since I too have seen serials that come before this, with the USMC Sniper marking. I would say this has to be one of the civilian serials that seem to overlap in that yahoo Unertl list I mentioned above.

But I would add the caveat that going through the Marine paperwork, it looks like they requested and got approval to purchase 20 Unertl Scopes for testing around July 1941. I imagine these test scopes were not USMC marked. That might explain what this one is and explain it's history. It would just be hard to prove either way.

And I have seen the black enameled mounts all the way into almost the 10,000 serial range on commercial scopes. So they are not exclusive to the USMC contract.

[JGaynor]

Just a little bit of info that may help. If you go on the yahoo Unertl group, they are keeping track of the serials of the Unertl scopes of the members there. They do have some commercial serials that overlap into the early Marine Corps serial ranges. Since I too have seen serials that come before this, with the USMC Sniper marking. I would say this has to be one of the civilian serials that seem to overlap in that yahoo Unertl list I mentioned above.

But I would add the caveat that going through the Marine paperwork, it looks like they requested and got approval to purchase 20 Unertl Scopes for testing around July 1941. I imagine these test scopes were not USMC marked. That might explain what this one is and explain it's history. It would just be hard to prove either way.

And I have seen the black enameled mounts all the way into almost the 10,000 serial range on commercial scopes. So they are not exclusive to the USMC contract.

Steve, i also have copies of the file (SRS) on USMC sniper rifles and Senich's USMC sniper book. Although both sources contain copies of the 20 scope requisition prepared at Capt. Van Orden's direction I believe later in the file (or text) there is an indication the 20 scope requisition was cancelled.

From where I sit the scope certainly looks like it may have been used in combat as opposed to some civilian or military target shooter.
I would not overlook the possibility the "USMC - Sniper" nomenclature was simply omitted due to a manufacturing screw-up. (vis a vis the 3000 M1903A4 receivers built with the wrong serial number.)

[03Shooter]

John Unertl was indeed making 1 1/4" Target commercial scopes in 1941 prior to the USMC contract. They are few and scarce to be found, but they are not to be confused with the USMC-Sniper scopes that were purchased by the US Marines. Your scope is one of these commercial target scopes. The mounts may in fact be identical as those used on the USMC-Sniper scopes. There was considerable "cross-breeding" of parts during the war years and after. Your scope, despite its wear is a valuable piece. I would recommend you try Aaron Davis for any Unertl repairs or information. He worked for John and I believe has much of his old equipment. My last phone number for him is 937-631-2854. This was a work number.
As far as the Marine corps using "target" scopes in combat...well, I have not seen ANY evidence that this was the case, for any of the 3 wars the 8X Unertl saw duty. I've spoken with more than a dozen 8541's and 8112's and they only recall USMC-Sniper Unertl's or 10/12X Lyman Targetspot (very infrequently).
I hope this is helpful, good luck with your scope.

[JGaynor]

Earlier in this thread a question was asked about how did the community know the serial number range for the USMC Unertl Sniper scopes.

There is a MarCorp document dated 29 April 1945 which states the original order was for 1750 Scopes. At that time the document further states 975 of the scopes remained on hand in USMC depots.