Re: UNERTL Sniper scope 10x USMC
Before I retired, I obtained a Unertl 10x scope from DRMO.....for no cost.
It was turned in for scrap by the armory at Camp Pendelton for "parallax out of adjustment". It had been hit on the top of the eyepiece and had a good ding, but the optics were clear and it actually parallax adjusted just fine. At the time (2004), I lived in SW PA, so I took it up to Mars, PA to the then-Unertl shop (I had my paperwork with me). It was a rather small shop, and had a lady at the front desk and Archie (?) was the scope builder. The name and company had been bought by some "investers" in Las Vegas. The shop there had a few of the 100mm spotting scopes being rebuilt for various agencies, including USAMU. Archie took my scope, rolled the eyepiece a bit better round, and did a thorough clean/inspect. He said it was in "quite serviceable" condition> He put the scope in a vacuum chamber, drew it down to a deep vacuum and inerted it with nitrogen. The clarity after his work was outastanding.
In the end, after some calls to Quantico and discussion about the provenance of the scope, the then-head of Infantry weps informed me I certainly legally owned the scope, though it was supposed to be demilled (Pendelton's fault, my gain). He did ask me if I would be willing to return it to him, as they were desperately short on these scopes in functional order for use in combat theaters. Sometimes I kick myself, but I sent it back and can take some personal satisfaction that I essentially gave about $10K+ towards keeping some of our Marines alive.
By the way, I believe these original Unertl's did not have black oxide finish, but a black chromium oxide finish. Much more durable.
