This is getting out of hand

[John Nors]

 

[Mr. Z]

Says who?
Don’t listen to her…

 

[acudaowner]

out of hand it's just a couple of rifles now when you start moving furniture outside with the wife and kids to make room for guns and ammo that's a bit extreme a great idea just a little extreme . never let someone else dictate what your passions should look like . Personally I prefer the company of my guns they don't talk back , they will never just up and leave you , they will never make you choose between things you love , never asked loaded questions like does this dress make them look fat . take care of them and they will last you a life time .

 

[BEJ762]

Disagree. That’s a proper collection. One day, I need to get a photo of my group.

 

[CMP70306]

Now that you have most of the M40s you have to pick a direction, newer for the M40A6 or older with the M70 and M1903.

 

[USMCSGT0331]

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Excellent collection! Do you plan on adding an M40 and A6 in the future? Any plans on switching up some of the configurations (such as a Redfield greenie on an A1, etc.)? You should be proud of those 3 S&B scopes, every version of the USMC SSDS is very rare!

It looks like the S&B scope on the left (mounted on the A3 with the painted stock) is 1 of the 14 USMC M8541 SSDS scopes that were recently sold by EuroOptic. I'm assuming it's one of these scopes because it has "Schmidt Bender" engraved on the left side of the ocular housing instead of the earlier "Premier Reticles" engraving in the same location, and it has an obliterated UID engraving below the S&B marking.

Out of all the scopes that have been released through civilian and DRMO sales channels, the batch of 14 EuroOptic is the only group of USMC S&B M8541 SSDS scopes to have the engraved UID destroyed. I have no idea why they did this prior to civilian sale, maybe it's similar to crossing out the "USMC" on the Colt M45A1 pistols when they were "decommissioned."

There's a lot of speculation amongst collectors about the origins of the EuroOptic scopes. Some people claim that S&B took NOS ocular housings that were originally made and set aside for a USMC contract, but when the Corps moved on from the M40A6 and M8541 SSDS there was no reason to keep these ocular housings on hold for a USMC order that would never come in. So, in theory these are actual USMC ocular housings that were supposed to go in new production (or repaired) USMC M8541 SSDS scopes.

This theory also leads to more speculation; if the ocular housings are original USMC contract, were the scopes assembled for the Marines or for the collectors? This is difficult to determine, but to me it doesn't really matter. If everything proves to be original parts that were purposefully made for a USMC contract, then it's a correct scope. No more, no less.

Another theory is that these ocular housings are just a deliberate cash grab by S&B and were made specifically for the collector market. The claim is that S&B knows how popular these items are and they wanted to create a fantasy piece with incorrect markings so that it wouldn't violate any of their contracts. There's a few different versions of this theory with slightly different details, but this is the main idea.

So, the big question is: Are these 14 EuroOptic S&B scopes the real deal or are they fantasy pieces that were made strictly for collectors?

I am here to tell everyone reading this that the 14 EuroOptic S&B M8541 SSDS scopes are the real deal and that the ocular housing markings are 100% correct. As far as I know, no one else has confirmed this exact information and have it verified with photos as proof. The markings on the EuroOptic scopes are the exact same as later scopes that were purchased or repaired for the Marine Corps. Everything is correct, the writing, the font, the placement, the UID, everything. S&B doesn't do laser engraving on these scopes, this is all high quality machine engraving.

The next question is whether or not S&B had these scopes already built and ready to ship to the Corps (but without an order from them), or if the scopes were assembled from USMC ocular pieces that were sitting around and waiting for a USMC order. Were these scopes already assembled or were they built from existing pieces just for collectors?

In my opinion, this 2nd question doesn't matter anywhere near as much as the first question. In my opinion, I really don't care why the scopes were built. This is because there's no way to truly know unless someone from S&B gives us a definitive answer, and it really doesn't matter since the scopes are 100% correct and are exactly the same as later issued USMC scopes. Either way, the scopes ended up in civilian hands, not the Corps, so they will never truly be "real" USMC issued scopes.

That's just my opinion, but other people might only view them as "real" USMC scopes if they were completely built in preparation to send to the Corps, no to send to civilians. Unfortunately for the people who hold this opinion about when the scopes were built, almost everyone seems to agree that the scopes were built from already existing ocular housings for civilian sale. I haven't asked anyone at S&B about these scopes and how they were made, so I cant give anyone a definitive answer.

I have one of these EuroOptic scopes, I ordered it from them when they were released for sale and I think it cost me approximately 1 Flip. I photographed my EuroOptic scope next to a legit surplus USMC issued scope that I'm borrowing from a friend for my research (photos amd comparisons to other known scopes). I wish I could have kept the surplus scope, but I already mailed it back and I don't think my friend would have been too happy with me had I switched these 2 scopes around, lol.

This is proof that the 14 EuroOptic S&B M8541 SSDS scopes have the correct markings, including the Schmidt Bender on the left side of the ocular housing instead of Premier Reticles. The engraved UID tags are the exact same on both scopes. The EuroOptic scope has the UID tag, but unfortunately it was destroyed by S&B. Had this tag still been intact, the scopes would have been identical except for the serial number. Speaking of serial numbers, both scopes are very close in serial number, so they were made roughly the same time (maybe same month or same year, depending on how many scopes S&B makes per year).

@John Nors, sorry for this very long post, but I figured that you and other people might want to know this information. The EuroOptic scopes are legit and this was a great opportunity for collectors to acquire a correct late contract USMC marked scope that's the exact same as the issued ones (except the destroyed UID tag). Hopefully other people on this forum were able to purchase these scopes (unfortunately a greedy asshole bought 6 of them, not 8 like he originally claimed). Congrats again on the amazing set of USMC M40xx rifles and optics!

Now that you have;bb&&&&& most of the M40s you have to pick a direction, newer for the M40A6 or older with the M70 and M1903.

Well, the obvious answer is to go all of the directions! Lol

 

[HarryBC]

USMCSGT0331: I have two of the “civilian sale” S&Bs, yes the S/Ns are very close to those recently released lot of 14. Both of mine are marked Premier, but have different elevation knobs. Neither have the NSN or QR codes. Obviously the parts to assemble the lot of 14 came from original production given the s/ns. Your analysis is spot on. I have never seen an original NSN marked scope so I appreciated seeing your posted photo.

 

[sirhrmechanic]

Disagree. That’s a small start to collection. One day, I need to get a photo of my buildings.

Rather than Write something for myself, I’ll just steal your succinct and well-written post and edit it for accuracy.

Sirhr

 

[Moose]

The kitchen of my dreams.Great collection of rifles.

 

[D̷e̷v̷i̷l̷D̷o̷c̷A̷Z̷]

Neat rifles. I can only imagine what your primer stash looks like.

 

[21bto11b]

I agree. That is absolutely out of hand. You are running out of counter space for display. Get more counter space.

 

[hafejd30]

Beautiful!!

I know someone selling S&B scopes if you need more

 

[Jgault]

I love the rifles, very impressed. Funny story, I ordered a rifle, my wife is rather paranoid about the aft, she’s always worried I’m going to buy artillery. The same week she new my rifle was coming(yes it was being shipped to my ffl) this 7 foot long package was delivered, she took one look before I opened it and said “Oh my God we are going to jail”. It was just runners for my truck but I laughed.

 

[macethetemplar]

I have to agree with the theory that the 14 scopes from Eurooptic were overrun/contract replacement scopes that had been sitting on a shelf. The serial numbers are too close.

If someone came across a new in box “USMC Sniper” marked Unertl MST-100, there would be no question in anyone’s mind that it was a legitimate scope, regardless of having being issued or not.