Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Optics What was the best hunting optic in the mid sixties?

Thread title says it all, but I specifically wanted old timers or other experts to state how they thought the various scopes of the day stacked up. I assume Weaver's, Lyman's, Bauch & Lomb, Leupold, Redfield, any others of note.

I remember in 1964 looking through my buddy's, Dad's fixed four power Leupold with a dot rectical that he had mounted on a .222, and thinking it was a good as could be. I have heard praise on the old Lyman Alaskans and early Weavers to. Of course I really love my 2.5-8 B&L Balvar, and would be interested in where it stacks up against its contemporaries.

John

This should be an interesting thread! I didn't start hunting until 1973. If I remember correctly, Redfields were more popular than Leupolds. Those Redfield Widefields were certainly an innovative feature at that time. I know the Bushnell Scope Chiefs were made by B&L, and were under 50 bucks, I think.

My first scope I purchased was like 1974, and I bought a Redfield Widefield 2-7x for around $100.00. Dang, that was a lot of money. I mounted it on my Rem Mod 700 BDL,which I paid $135.00 for. I still have the receipt tucked away. It came with a leather sling, which I still have and use. I still have the rifle too!

I have the same Widefield scope on my .222 to this day.

Leupolds were good scopes back then and we still shoot a couple of them.

stumpy

Interesting, interesting thread. . . used Redfield, Leupold, El Paso Weavers et al back in the day. . Just my 2 cents but the old Lyman All American perma center scopes were about as good as it gets and are still very, very good.

A little off topic, but my friend Art tells me that he and his father started hunting around that time. They used an old carcano 6.5 I think and an enfield. Whatever you could find surplus. Hunting ammo was scarce for them. They used whatever they could find. They were able to hunt almost anywhere and were considered the heroes of the neighborhood cause they always shared the meat. Anyway Art says any scope that one could afford was considered an improvement. He always liked redfields and leupolds but his first were the Weaver fixed powers. He still owns a few of each.

RedField's were pretty popular. And Weaver held a large market share. But Zeiss was still king of the hill. You just didn't see as many of them. I got my first Zeiss in the late 70's. A straight 6X. Still have it, and it works like I bought it yesterday. Tom.

2.5-8 B&L Balvar was one of the better ones, still have mine.

Bushnell had a 7x50 binoculars that were selling for $200 in 60's.

I used Leupold, Redfield and Weaver. I liked the Leupold best. I do remember my Weaver 3-9 was not so certain about holding zero through the power range. The optics were acceptable on all three. I am not so sure that I really liked the Leupy better or if it was a combination of a good scope on a better rifle. I do have a 60s vintage Redfield now that's on an older rifle, and I can tell you that for certain it shoots as good as any other rifle I own, at least in decent light.

I'm 74 and been hunting since I was 6. Back in the "old days" the Weaver 2.5 and 4 power were the most popular and common, then the Redfields. The B&L & Leupold were considered the "Cadillacs", but I couldn't afford one. A Ziess was something you just dreamed about! I always wanted one of those neat little Mannlicher Schoenauer Carbines that the African hunters used, but that was another dream! I finally fulfilled that dream in 1996 when I bought a MS Carbine 6.5x54 and put a 3-9 Zeiss on it. Now I have a dozen MS's in various calibers, but that little 6.5 Carbine is still my favorite hunting rifle!

Funny, I think binocular when I hear "optics" I think gunsight when I hear riflescope. I think the best binocular in that time frame was the Baush & Lomb Zephyr. While maybe not the best riflescope, the Weaver K series, I had a K 4 and later a V 7, were certainly good enough and being reasonably affordable, plus reliable, and decent image probably saw more use than anything else.

Me too, Steve. I still have my old B&L, 9X35 Zephurs that my grandfather purchased in 1958. In the late 70's, I had the hots to buy a Zeiss 10X40 classic. But the most successful hunter of 30 inch muleys I've ever met talked me out of doing that. Pointed out I already had a binocular that was just as good. He used the 10X40 Zeiss simply because he couldn't get a new B&L Zephur. He went on to point out that I needed to learn more about those big bucks and how to properly use my binocular.
As far as rifle scopes went, my grandfather believed strongly in B&L's Balvars. Which I also used. My first rifle scope purchase, which I still have, was an internally adjusted 4X B&L. Finally, by the early 80's when B&L's were really hard to find, I let the very experienced hunters I'd met talk me into a Leupold. I've had little or no reason to use much else. E

Don't forget that Unertl made conventional hunting scopes, too.

Bruce

They sure did, I have a very nice Unertl 4x Hawk. Those had a steel tube with aluminum ocular & objective bells.

My fathers 03-A3 sporter from the late 1950's has a Kollmorgen 4x Bear Cub with post/crosswire reticle & crystal clear optics. I recall he also used Redfield Bear Cub, Bausch & Lomb, Lyman All American Perma Center & Leupold M7, M8 and Pioneer scopes during the 1960's.