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USMC 8-POWER J. UNERTL SNIPER SCOPE

Yep, they are out there. Not that rare if you are willing to pay.

That one is neat as it appears to retain some shipping materials but I do see some of rust freckling.

The "new" idea may appeal to somebut others want "salty".

Cplnorton had one that may have been in better condition but he preffered one better matching the patina of his original rifle

Looking for a commercial 10X version of that scope and they appear to be rarer than the USMC ones.
 
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we have a local legand who has several original vintage WW2 rifles. I was surprised when I saw the 03, as the scope and parkerization looked almost green. Neat piece, he lent an 03A1 and an M1C to some fellow Grand Senior shooters to practice and shoot the CMP sniper match in Alabama. So nice to see these rifles on the line and not behind a piece of glass.
 
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The Marines bought 1750 of these scopes in WWII, and really honestly as pmclaine said, they aren't really rare. I usually see 3 or 4 for sale a month. But they usually command a premium, just because they are USMC. Most sell for the $4,000 to $4500 range for just the scope.

This one is pretty late in the serial range. And usually in this range, they look pretty much in unissued condition as does this one above. The really early ones are hard to find. LIke the ones in the 1000 to 1500 serial range. it seems many don't exist anymore. You also seem some in the early serial range where the tube is parkerized. We aren't sure when or where it was done. But you do see them. I do have docs of the scopes being repaired in the Pacific theater and I have wondered if they maybe parked some over there. But I don't know.

Salty looking scopes are also rare. Most real Unertl rifles are in pretty worn shape. So a mint scope on a really worn rifle, it sort of sticks out like a sore thumb. So salty looking Unertl scopes are sort of desirable.

Those scope cans are salty suckers as well. Usually they run in the $1000 to $1500 range. The funny thing, there isn't any evidence they were ever really used in the field. The Marines had them designed to go on the bayonet attachment on their packs. But I just haven't seen any evidence of them ever being used.

Usually a nice scope like this, and a Can will sell for $5000 to $5500 as a set.
 
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Cpl Norton, do you have any information on Unertl serial numbers?

For example, date ranges, what scope models got what #'s, etc...

I have a commercial 12x, 1.5" objective bell dia. with s/n 14809 and I have yet been unable to put any sort of "date" to it. Maybe a little out of your scope of research, just curious.
 
[/QUOTE]
Cpl Norton, do you have any information on Unertl serial numbers?

For example, date ranges, what scope models got what #'s, etc...

I have a commercial 12x, 1.5" objective bell dia. with s/n 14809 and I have yet been unable to put any sort of "date" to it. Maybe a little out of your scope of research, just curious.


I know a little bit about the commercial ones, but to be honest I mostly study that one little niche , the Unertl's on Marine rifles. So I mean I could take a guess on other ones, but I would stand the chance of being wrong.

If I had a question on the Unertl Commercial scopes. I would definitely check out the Yahoo Unertl group. It seems there are a lot of knowledgeable people over there on the commercial Unertls.

https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/Unertl/info
 
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