Old target & varmint scopes

Started by Paul Hoskins, September 14, 2018, 02:18:52 AM

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Paul Hoskins

Was plundering around looking for a company that could replace crosshairs in target scopes & found several old R.A. Litschert-Davis scopes for sale. I couldn't believe the prices. They run from 200 dollars to 600 dollars. There may be more that are asking even more for these old scopes. I seriously doubt any of these old scopes costing more than 200 dollars new. Litschert scopes were low end target & varmint scopes back in their day but most likely the best scopes for the money anywhere. .....Mr. Litschert retired around 1961 & sold the business to Myron Davis. I suspect Myron only made scopes when he got an order for one. Litschert Optical was located in Winchester, Indiana, a little farming town across the Ohio state line not far from Oxford, Ohio. I'm not sure but I suspect Myron worked for Litschert before Litschert sold him the business. When Myron took over the business he changed the name to Davis Optical Co. Myron & I became good friends shortly after he bought the business. Litschert made a varmint scope that I really liked but couldn't afford when I was only making $1.50 an hour as a toolmaker apprentice. That scope was called a Super Eagle. It had a one inch tube. The standard Eagle model had a 3/4 inch tube but still an excellent scope. After Myron bought the business he didn't want to make any more Super Eagle scopes. He told me they were difficult to make & there was no money in making them. ........More later. .......Paul H

Paul Hoskins

After I bought a couple more scopes from Myron I kept harassing him for a Super Eagle of 15 power. He finally relentd & agreed to make one more if I promised not to tell anyone. A few months later I contacted him & it was finished but he didn't like the optics. He asked me to come up & look at it. He had it set on a tripod in the shop for me to look at. I looked thru it & couldn't detect anything wrong. He still wouldn't give me the scope. He said the glass was no good. :( A month or so later he called & told me the scope was good to go. He ordered glass from John Unertl in Penn. & installed it in the scope. I went back up & picked it up. I was so happy I could have kissed the cows in the pasture across the road. I have never owned a better scope. Put it on my Hi Wall Win. chambered for the 225 Win. & have killed over a thousand groundhogs with the combination over the years. The crosshairs are broke now from not being used for years most likely. Myron put Unertl mounts on it instead of Litschert. Supposedly the mounts are worth a couple hundred or more now. That's more than I paid for the entire rig years ago. I'll attach a picture of it & my 14X Spot Shot on a Stevens 44 SS.   .......Paul H

gitano

WAY cool! And very interesting history lesson!

Paul
Be nicer than necessary.

Paul Hoskins

From conversations  with Myron on visits to his shop I gather Mr. Litschert had a contract with the government to make sniper scopes for the military during WW2. Myron had connections in the government too. His son was under secretary of agriculture to Earl Butts, who was at the time Reagan's Secretary of Agriculture. Myron, a small time farmer got information thru his son on cash crops to plant. Myron told me he had something like 1,600 acres of soybeans. :eek: On one of my social visits with Myron he was busy bending what looked like electrical conduit when I found him in the shop. There must have been several tons of the stuff in the shop. This was during the Veit Nam war & he told me he had a contract with the military to furnish bows that support the canvas cover on truck beds. He designed & built hydraulic pipe bending equipment for the job. That's the kind of person I admire. Jack of all trades. I also admire people like Earl Butts & Sir Winston Churchill that have a quick wit & sense of humor even under the most dire circumstances. Earl Butts may not have been all that witty. He just told it as he saw it with a witty twist.   ....... P.O. Ackley knew Mr. Litschert back in the day. He told me he hunted groundhogs around Winchester, Indiana when he lived in Ohio. Apparently the area was prime groundhog territory back in the 1930's. I suspect Mr. Litschert was one reason Ackley hunted the area. .......Paul H

Jorge in Oz

Nice scopes Paul.

They fetch a fair eBay those old target scopes.
"The Germans brought the best hunting rifle to the war. The Americans brought the best target rifle. The British brought the best battle rifle!"
 
"The early church was married to poverty, prisons and persecutions. Today, the church is married to prosperity, personality, and popularity." ― Leonard Ravenhill

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