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M82 and mount found

Jarridmoore

Private
Full Member
Minuteman
Sep 5, 2014
25
6
Missouri
I've run across this setup from a gentleman old enough to have seen it new and wondered what it fit originally? How would one know if it's real and is there any value or just a neat plinking scope? I got it thinking it'd be neat on my M1a. Thanks in advance for educating me!
 

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That vintage scope fits on an M1C/M1 Garand sniper rifle. It is missing the rubber eye piece but it has the sun shade, which is important. The scope's rings and mount looks correct. It has much value and would look great on my M1C with original WWII scope bracket....;-)

That is a late WWII or Korean War era 2.5x scope and personally I think you should use a more contemporary scope for an M1A. If you want to trade for a 3-9x scope plus cash let me know...as that M82 is for a restoration, IMO.

Random Guy

PS: I have the vintage rubber eye piece in my parts bin in case I found a scope like yours missing that piece.

Here's 2 spare 3-9x scopes that I could offer as trade fodder if interested. Both scopes likely made in the 1990s.
Top is a Springfield Armory ART IV with a B-Square M1A mount
Bottom is a Leatherwood M-600 with built in base for its ballistic cam.

ART IV & M600 scopes on M1A.JPG
 
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I really appreciate your awesome information and opinions gents. I agree as I think about it, the scope belongs on a garand. To think I picked it up to use on a .22 at first is funny now. Thinking about your offer as well and really appreciate it.
 
Sounds good. The old M81/M82 and M73B1 military scopes were disposed as surplus items back in the 1960s/70s at very low prices. The military made moved on to the M84 scopes and other newer designs, and a lot of those lower power 2.5x scopes ended up on 22LR rifles as everyone by then was using larger magnification scopes on centerfire hunting rifles (4x, 6x, 10x, 12x and variable scopes, etc). Very common practice re those old 3/4" surplus military scopes, and I have heard from other collectors that they still see them of old 22 rifles from time to time.

In fact, a couple of years ago I was in my local gun store and ended up buying a sporterized WWI German Mauser in 22-250 simply b/c it had a nice M73B1 scope on it with a Litchert 6x magnifier. I restored the scope as that is what was used on the 1903A4 rifles in WWII. Folks do more restorations of these rifles these days, and less sporterizing of them, so the M82 is a nice restoration item.

Here's the reproduction M82 scope that is fairly popular: https://www.gunpartscorp.com/products/1289030

FWIW, here's my M1C I got from CMP in 2012. In this picture it has a civilian Kollmorgan 4x Bear Cub scope, but I have since found the military MC-1 4x scope. You can see the unique scope bracket that is attached to the side of the M1C with 3 large screws and 2 dowl pins, and your M82 scope has the correct USGI rings and mount to slide onto that scope bracket. My current set-up is a 1950's era M1C, but if I put an M82 on it, it becomes a very late WWII and Korean War era set-up. My rifle was made in Dec 1944 and the scope bracket still has the matching serial # from the rifle when it was made in late WWII. Many M1Cs rebuilt in the 1950s have restamped or non-matching scope brackets. So I kind-of like the idea of an earlier configuration with an M82 scope, hence my interest in a trade re your vintage scope...just an fyi.

M1C_left_side_stock.JPG
 
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I would be curious of the serial number on the G&H mount. I always send them to Dave McClain when a new one pops up to just see if their is a potential match to anyone.

To put this one on a M1A, they did make a base that mounted on a M14, and these mounts would slide onto it. But they are really sort of rare. I have one somewhere if you wanted to see a pic of one. But they are usually pretty salty when they hit the market.

As others said, you would be better to sale/trade to someone who has a M1C and get something else for your M1A.