Re: UNERTL Sniper scope 10x USMC
<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Marauder</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Guess I'm a little late on this one, though I thought I would put in my 2 centavos with the caveat that my input speaks to no one individual's input with respect to this thread.
My research, personal conversations with John years ago, hands-on knowledge of the 'service' scopes and ownership of one, leaves no doubt in my mind that the 'T' series Unertl 10X scopes were originally put together with precisely the same Unertl manufactured parts (at least the early SN ones)that the USMC' (and other less known concerns) were, pulled from the same pile and assembled by the same individual/s. Inconsequential factors such as whether John was living at the time, company ownership etc. are all irrelevant in my opinion. The only difference was in the manner in which they were scribed, attributable to the demands and vanity of those service branch/agencies which purchased them, be it the USMC, FBI (HRT), etc. 'U.S. Gov' would have sufficed if ownership and theft were the overriding concern.
To say that a Unertl 10X that went out to the FBI's Hostage Rescue Team (HRT)and which were marked 'FBI Sniper' or whatever (I can't remember) or those marked '10X Sniper' or 'Unertl 10X' have any disparity in value other than the historical, is misguided. Sure, a 'USMC' marked scope has historical significance and increased value as does one that may say 'FBI' and there's no doubt that a 'cool-guy' and exclusivity factor may exist for those that may have them in their possession (I don't want to know), but they are ALL Unertl scopes, true and blue, and any owned 10X is of significance due to their limited production, availability and association with those entities who used them.
As for the production value, yeah, $700 would be an inflated value (but value has to do with 'wants', availability and historical significance, not construction costs)and I have NO DOUBT that those agencies and units that used them did so largely because of the guaranteed exclusivity offered by Unertl, and to set them aside from those less 'hooked'. Let's face it, the scope weighs a ton, has no 'O' rings, was sealed with bee's wax on the threads for God's sake, and fogged up due to the unsealed interior and accompanying introduction of humidity into the interior of the scope. The Leupold MK4 (Ultra), which was available to those at the time, would knock it's socks off shoulder to shoulder (easy now, just my opinion as I own both), and the Schmidts and Hensoldts are all together on another planet at this point. The marked scope requirement placed by certain entities is of the same sort of service vanity and arrogance that has the Springfield Armory 1911 custom Operator (current contract gun for several agencies), under specification and delivered under contract, with bbl bushing and trigger 'in the white', the remainder of the gun 'black-t'd'! Looks cool -vanity.
As for the USO, it's involvement in government production was due to the failure of the Unertl company in keeping up with USMC maintenance and production needs, essentially a clone of the original Unertl scopes. Some improvements were attempted but it is still intended as a copy of the original Unertl, both easily outclassed by other available optics at the time. The USO has monetary and historical value due to it's service history as a Unertl replacement with the USMC, along with it's limited production and availability, just like the Unertl scopes. The historical component value of either scope can never be refuted and will always be reflected in the market.
As for the Unertls......well, they're Unertls and you can never take the ownership significance of any one of the 'original parts' scopes away from anyone or shed negative light on either simply because of the one YOU happen to own. If one does, one had better lump in the USO 'non-original' clones as well and come to grips with the fact that that's what they were - clones. Let's be fair and unbiased here.
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Ye of little posts: I will say thank you cause every thread needs criticism and both opinions. As to the quality of Unertl 10x scopes, I have one and can attest that no matter the bashing it is a performer and it is 20 plus years old.
