Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Optics Older Weaver 3-9 Marksman Experience

I found one of these in nice shape that I could use for a Pre 64 project. Have you used this scope? How did it hold up? What vintage are they?

This one is clear and the zoom ring moves freely. I think it may be steel as it feels heavy, but haven't given it the magnet test.

Any opinions and or information appreciated......

I’ve never seen one

The two we had were both junk within 2 years.

Only owned one and it was one too many. It was intended to be a lower priced Weaver and was of dubious quality.

Had one new years ago and it fogged first hunt.

It's not looking good so far. Thanks for the input.

Look for a Weaver KV.

To add insult to injury, when adjusting the windage, the reticle curved in the middle - ( - .

The Weaver Marksmans were a late 1960s to Early 1980s line of economy scopes.

Often made under contract for certain retailers and many years not even in the catalog.
They were built to a low price point and often used up inventories of obsolete parts from previous discontinued Weaver models.. I would stay away from them on anything but a rimfire or beater rifle.

If the intent of your wanting a Weaver is getting a decent period scope made BEFORE 1964 ,than the Marksmans are out simply by chronology.

The KV is a poor recommendation because they were made in the early 1950s and they don't even have a constantly centered reticle as do modern scopes.

To get a pre 64 Weaver that is most like a modern scope and usable in the field ,my recommendation is to FORGET a variable Weaver- period.


Weaver never built a continuous variable scope with internal adjustmwnts until the "V" series came out in 1965...

The best pre 64 Weavers (and some of the best they ever built ) are the fixed K3, K4 and K6 fixed powers with the 60 and 60-B zuffix.
Those scopes were made from 1958 to 1964 and had the.best of everything available at that time.
Fog proofed.1/4 click adjustments, constaintly centered reticles . They also.had All metal construction - steel tubes and aluminum lense frames( post 65 to 1972 Weavers actually had PLASTIC lense frames on the ends).

It was not until 1977 when Weaver began making the Micro-trac Steel-lite II scopes that they actually built a scope equal to the old "60" series scopes..

I have a K-4 60-B that rides on a pre 64 m70 and other than the lense coatings not being quite as good and the plain cross hair reticle in practicle terms ,it works about as well as a modetn scope.

This ^^^^^^^^

NONE of the pre-1956 Weavers had constantly centered reticles, while ALL of the post-1955 scopes, including the KVs, had constantly centered reticles. KVs had a fairly long run, from 1950 into the mid-1960s, but probably didn't sell as well as the K2.5, K3, K4, and K6. I don't think that KVs are practical scopes in 2017, but they are certainly "period" and the two or three that I've played with worked fine and didn't change POI when the magnification was switched from 2.5x to 5x.

Optically speaking, the B&L Bal-series of externally adjusted scopes were among the best period scope to install on a pre-1964 rifle, but most people struggle to get them zeroed, as setting the windage and elevation via the bases requires a bit of trial and error.

According to the actual El Paso Weaver catalogs and brochures I have on hand from 1945 to 1984 (every year they were printed), the KV scopes were discontinued in 1959 and replaced by the V-8 with external adjustments. Why did Weaver ditch the KV for an externally adjustable scope? Because the KV power range was 3 or 5x..most folks just split the difference and bought a fixed K-4. From an engineering standpoint, they could not get a CONTINUOUS power adjustment, a constantly centered reticle and internal adjustments in one scope..Nobody figured that out in the US market until Leupold came out with the Vari-X scopes in the early 1960s. The Weaver V- 8 was actually made until 1965. The internal adjustment V series scopes did not come out until 1966.

I think that I have 3 KVs around somewhere and have owned V-8.

The KVs were OK, while the V-8s weren't nearly as good as the comparable B&Ls.

IIRC, KVs were stilled listed in the early 1960's Shooters Bibles.

Checking my late 50s catalogs you were correct that the KVs were converted to constantly centered reticles along with the other K models. Thats strange that the Shooters Bibles of the early 1960s show the KVs as they were not in any Weaver catalog from 1960 onward.. Makes me wonder what else in those Shooters bibles was inaccurate....:()

I don't collect Weaver scopes or Weaver paper, so your information is likely more accurate than mine.

I went through a "Bal-Var" phase back in the early 1990's and learned to dislike the tapered crosshair reticle on the 2.5-5x and 2.5-8x scopes for hunting in low light situations.

The only externally adjusted hunting scope that I still have mounted is a Unertl 10x Vulture via B&L bases on a Remington 722 in 222.