Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Combination Guns and Drillings Zeiss rail mount refurb for combo gun

I purchased this scope from a great fellow campfire member. It should work perfectly on my newly acquired German combo 20 gauge/25-35 win. I purchased two different sets of claw mounts from eBay Germany, they arrived withen 10 days! Shipping cost was 6.50 Euro, hell I don't think you can ship something USPS that cheaply, let alone across an ocean! Anyway, the Zeiss Jena 4x scope has awesome glass for its age, and the German #4 reticle just looks perfect for this application. Scope body is in really good condition with just a few wear marks here and there. Not bad for a 60+ year old scope! The only issue is the center rail mount. The scope has been mounted on several rifles over its lifetime, judging by the 4 different holes drilled through the rail. None of these holes are anywhere near where my rear mount will fall, so I decided to plug and refinish the rail to get rid of the swiss cheese look.

I found an old broken 3.5mm 17-4 surgical drill bit in the scrap pile at work which is the perfect diameter for plugging the holes. I used a dremel wheel to cut 4 plugs to rough dimension and epoxied them in place with JB weld. I ground, filed, and sanded them flush with the rail and am quite pleased with the result!

I will be taking it as it sits right now to my gunsmith to decide which mounts to use. This decision will dictate if I need to plug one of the front rail holes also. I am hoping not as one of the front mounts lines up perfectly with the holes. From there all that is left is to recolor the rail - most likely black paint as the original finish appears to be the same. Here are a few pictures if interested.

https://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php/galleries/12239764#Post12239764

Great job filling the holes! Most of the rail scopes I get have been mounted twice over their life.

That front AKAH claw portion looks like a perfect fit. I would guess the scope was last fitted with AKAH mounts. I think with your background and equipment you will do a clean job mounting the scope on your smaller BBF. The small Zeiss Jena 4X30.5 is about a perfect match to it, IMO.

Keep us posted, please.

Painted the scope over the weekend. I am happy with the results. Hopefully I will get the rifle back from the gunsmith within a month so I can work on getting the claw mounts fitted!

Looks like new.

Cool stuff for sure!!! I have one drilling with claw mounts I'd like to find some rings for but getting the fit.....wow. My hat is off to you!!!!!!!

I have the rail mounts complete and scope touched up. Only waiting on the rifle to be back from the gunsmith. I have some very minor shimming to do on the front two cam surfaces.