mystery rifle scope

[Drache]

Here's a mystery! Walking through a gunstore and came across and scope and side mount that stated they were for a K98! They wanted $430 for the set. Here's the mystery though, the scope was made by a company called CP Goerz in Berlin. They were VERY famous in making cameras, lenses, binoculars, etc and started making rifle scopes in WWI. They even opened a factory in the US who stayed open until the 1970s.

Now between 1926 and 1929 the Carl Zeiss company (world leader in rifle scopes) bought the majority share of Goerz and a few other companies. They bought up the companies who produced as good or better lenses than they did. So for awhile all lenses/scopes/binoculars/etc were marked as the original company name and either said Zeiss or had the Zeiss logo.

Eventually Zeiss forced these companies to stop making lenses all together and thus making Zeiss the world leader in Lenses at the time.

Now here is the stampings on this scope:


Now you notice it states clearly CP GOERZ and BERLIN and does not have the Zeiss name/logo anywhere. So this would have to put the scope sometime before the takeover by Zeiss or very shortly after the takeover and before Zeiss forced their name onto the optics.

But the mystery comes in that supposedly variable scopes weren't invented or in production until the mid to late 1940s and some sources say early 1950s. If you notice this scope is variable! The variable points are 3-3/8, 4-1/2, and I think the last was 5-3/4 or something like that.

The glass was amazing going through the variables! But trying to find out exactly when the scope was made isn't easy. Searching online brings up people claiming it was made from 1920-1930, others claim 1930-40 and others claim 1940-50 and some claim even later.

I've contacted a forum about cameras and lenses where I noticed some people collected Goerz items and knew some stuff about the company. Waiting on them. No one on the gun websites Im members of can narrow it down. Contacted Zeiss themselves. And even wrote to a guy on Ebay who sells nothing but German scopes from WWI, WWII, and later.

[charge69]

I certainly cannot help you solve this mystery but that scope must be amazing to look thru as far as brightness and contrast, edge to edge!  :2thumbs:Is the mount a 30mm or a 1" ?  I suppose it must be a 30mm tube being European.

[Drache]

I certainly cannot help you solve this mystery but that scope must be amazing to look thru as far as brightness and contrast, edge to edge!  :2thumbs:Is the mount a 30mm or a 1" ?  I suppose it must be a 30mm tube being European.

Actually most likely a 26mm which was the standard size for most German scopes at the time.

And yes the glass was AMAZINGLY bright and clear for a scope that age! Goerz really made nice lenses and did make sniper rifle scopes and scopes for things like tanks and artillery during WWI and WWII.

[69_500]

Very nice. Can not say I have seen one not labeled as Zeiss from that early. Definitely a rare piece.

[Drache]

So I walked in and asked the guy about the scope. He said it was off a vet bring back rifle. Probably BS. But he offered me the scope and mount for $230 included (wanted $430 plus taxes). I hummed and hawed and procrastinated and he offered me the last two boxes of 243 I wanted for $14 off the sticker prices and threw the taxes in on top of that. So got the ammo and the scope for $270 flat.

Talked to a collector and he told me the scope is late 1920's as he has owned a few of the exact same ones. The mount is a 1940's Jaeger. The scope MIGHT have been used in WWII but there is no proof one way or another.

Glass is amazing though so I'll be using it for sure!

Took more pics! Forgot to take one picture though, on one of the "arms" was stamped "8.." (8 with two dots after it).









Be aware there is a blizzard going on! :-p



The scope is 100% clear and crisp. Just not easy trying to take a picture of it

[rt green]

man, that would look good on my mauser

[Drache]

man, that would look good on my mauser

That's where it's going, onto my mauser 

[draftingmonkey]

So I walked in and asked the guy about the scope. He said it was off a vet bring back rifle. Probably BS. But he offered me the scope and mount for $230 included (wanted $430 plus taxes). I hummed and hawed and procrastinated and he offered me the last two boxes of 243 I wanted for $14 off the sticker prices and threw the taxes in on top of that. So got the ammo and the scope for $270 flat.

Talked to a collector and he told me the scope is late 1920's as he has owned a few of the exact same ones. The mount is a 1940's Jaeger. The scope MIGHT have been used in WWII but there is no proof one way or another.

Glass is amazing though so I'll be using it for sure!

Took more pics! Forgot to take one picture though, on one of the "arms" was stamped "8.." (8 with two dots after it).

The scope is 100% clear and crisp. Just not easy trying to take a picture of it

He was probably correct that it was used in WWII as D.R.P. was a designation for Deutsches Reichspatent (German Patent) used from 1877 to May 1945.

[Drache]

Ok so I'm still trying to take a good picture through the scope so you can see the clarity. The picture has blurred images around the edges but those aren't truly there when looking with your eye. Boston Pizza is 500-600 yards away.

[Chargerguy74]

Nice glass

[rt green]

I want you to hit the 4th pepperoni from the left