Quality of Repro scopes for NO4 T

[Surpmil]

It might be beginners luck then, but the suncorite seems to have 'taken' over the JB Weld. I use a broadly similar method to hold No32 tubes in my Myford, but the pitting on the Ex Indian scopes is very variable so I do much of it by hand, especially where there is pitting fairly close to the markings.

That might well be the best option then, for those with access to Suncorite. For those without, look for a substitute or powder coat... Powder coating needs 350-400 degrees F to cure, so presumably JB Weld won't stand up to that, or just won't provide an impervious enough surface that the powder coat finish is the same as on metal surfaces(?)

I have no information on cerakote etc., but that might be another option with the Lab-Metal or JBW.

[Warren]

There are automotive primers that will/advertised to take the 350 to 400 deg. heat
I have been working with one company for some time and once they get it perfected I will give the tube restorers the name.
It is used for the restoration of antique automobile panels after bead/sand blasting, chemical cleaning and then baked finishes similar to powder coat and cerakote.
These are show cars and not street rods and watching them finish a panel is unbelievable in time and effort.
So far I have taken the product to 350 plus and no problems but I want to take it higher and see the results.
Time, where does it all go.....

[Wernher von Beige]

What Peter Laidler said.

I don't have any direct experience with the Red Star Mountain replicas of the No. 32 scope, but I do have some experience with [somebody's -- no idea who the perpetrator is] Far Eastern replicas of the German / Czech ZF4 scope used on several German WW2 guns including the G43. In fairness -- if we knew these replicas were made in Japan, I'd buy them in a heartbeat -- I can't think of a single Japanese product that disappoints, especially in the field of optics. But I think it's a safe bet these are not made in Japan -- that country is by no means a "low cost" producer.

My G43 was sold by an alleged G43 Guru as having a genuine modern Czech repro. Said guru was either lying or willfully ignorant because the thing was obviously a Turd World copy. When cranking the elevation drum, the pointer (visually like the pointer in a No. 32) described not a straight up-and-down line but a sort of S-shaped curve -- think of a hysteresis curve or an "integral" symbol from high school calculus. And not by some small amount -- it was many minutes of arc -- more than the apparent size of a standard target.

This being unserviceable, I found a new, recent repro made by Meopta in the Czech Republic, at the same factory (in WW2 operating under the name Optikotechna) that made them for the Germans in WW2. The Czech repro works fine.

Out of curiosity, I took both scopes to the local courthouse where they have a scanning device to check for nasties being smuggled into the building. I asked the sheriff's deputies there to compare the two. I took photos. The insides are not even remotely similar. The Far East repro was designed to be cheaply made.

I eventually sold the Far East repro, with full disclosure that it's unserviceable trash, to somebody who wanted it for stock. It's his karma, not mine. I think it would be perfect for "re-enactors" -- people who run through the woods pretending.

My own No. 32 works astoundingly well. And no wonder, since Peter Laidler himself overhauled it! (Thanks ever so much, again, PL!)

I just looked at Red Star Mountain's web site. What total thieving trash. They even have copies of ancient Swiss K31 diopter sights (far better to buy the redesigned American ones from Swiss Products; or a genuine Swiss vintage one for less than the fake); a ripoff of Swiss Products' K31 clamp-on scope rail; repros of the scope for the M1903 Springfield (why not just buy a genuine Lyman or Weaver as allowed by the rules...) even fake stock discs for Swedish Mausers. Geez. Yup. They're in Shanghai.

The two takeaways from my long-winded story:
1) Avoid cheap Far Eastern repros. Of anything.
2) Peter Laidler knows whereof he speaks. If he says they're trash, then they're trash.