Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Optics Used scope company --- okay or ?

vintagegunscopes is on Ebay claiming that they have the best used scopes in the world.
Claim the everyone goes through a "depot level" inspection and refurbishment.
Prices are 2-400% of other like items. All their Ebay feedback as a seller is at least 6 months old.
Any member experience ?

Out of Corvallis, MT correct? I’ve seen their offerings also and was wondering the same about their reputation.

Have you checked their website. Sure looks like a going concern. They claim to ship to a number of countries overseas.

They ask a pretty penny for their stuff. One has to decide if the price is worth it for vintage appearance combined with perhaps mediocre optical performance compared to modern stuff. Certainly a collector might feel it is.

Since they have no feedback on Ebay, as a seller, for 6 months. I'm not buying a thing. No one of Opticstalk forum has heard of them.

They sell direct, as far as I can tell. Why add the expense of ebay to the equation? If I had a really nice vintage rifle (I don't), I'd look into one. My old mausers are either beaters in appearance, or have been modernized. My old Husky wears a Lyman Permacenter that looks as worn as the rifle. Works fine.

Because if you buy thru Ebay and the scope is crap you have recourse.

And if everyone on e-bay thought and did what you're saying, how does one start a growing feedback count? Perhaps they stopped selling on e-bay for several months due to personal issues?

OK, so you have made up your mind. Why are you asking here then? Just want to get a head start on the normal optics thread progression?
Welcome to the ‘fire, btw.

Sooo.... even with Recourse, you won't buy from them without Feedback. Okaayyy, so why ask then? Sounds like it was over before you started.

Lots of old scopes on Gunbroker, maybe some Feedback, but Recourse is reputedly sketchy. Good luck.

No I won't buy because they are way overpriced. Nobody is gonna pay a VX3 price for a K4 weaver.

Yea they snag up old scopes at gunshows for 15-20 dollars I'll bet...
For me half the fun in setting up vintage rifles is the hunt ....I have found several really nice Lyman's and weavers for les than 40 bucks...

Easy pass.

Reason #3 for the win!

You might be surprised what some may be willing to pay. Collectors want period-correct scopes for their prizes, and many, right or wrong, regard older scopes as more reliable than current models, especially one brand we won't mention. And not everyone enjoys scouring the www or gunshows and pawnshops for stuff. I have a good source for stuff like this at reasonable prices, with Feedback, and Recourse, so in most cases, I'd use that instead, but I'm not ruling these guys out.

WTH is "depot level inspection" anyway, I've never heard of that term. Can't conceive of what they do to an old scope to make it worth the prices they're asking. +1 on the easy pass for me too.

If they can see the home depo sign across the street its good to go..

Maybe they replace the lenses with those with improved coating so your K-4 has the resolution and brightness of a VX-3. So now you have a scope that appears period correct but has 21 century innards. I would check 'em out before I trash them.

And I'm a fan of the recourse you'll find on Ebay. I got on an auction on Ebay for a supposedly almost NIB VX-3i 3.5-10x40 Leupold and won the auction for $290 some odd bucks. But when it showed up here at the house it wasn't what it was advertised to be. It was a 38 year old Vari X III. I know because I called Leupold and ran the SN by a C-S Tech and he said according to that SN it was made in 1981. In 1981 Scope lens coatings were in their infancy. Modern VX-1s have better coatings than that. If I would have settled for that scope I would have an entry level scope for damn near a VX-3 price. But thank God for Ebay's Recourse. I sent it back and they gave me my money back and I bought a brand new in the box VX-3i 3.5-10x40 from a store that sells out right on Ebay for a few dollars more, at $318.

Now I'm not saying that I'd run out and buy from these guys, but I am saying check them out better before passing them up. Check 'em out. You might be pleasantly surprised.

It looks like go slow, "depot level" inspection is the first warning. There is no such thing, just BS, to trick some
into thinking it is special. I would go with a trusted seller on here, before anything like that.

At those prices, I'd expect to get a repair/refurbish summary sheet from Ironsight, Inc. with each scope.

If you're not in a hurry. like 8 to 14 months not in a hurry, Ironsight, Inc., does good work.

8-14 months for what ? Tell us more.

To have your old scope rebuilt in Tulsa, OK.

www.ironsightinc.com

Just received 3 BalVar 8s, 1 BalVar 5 and 1 BalSix bought on Ebay. The average cost delivered was under 90 bucks. One BalVar8 has the rare floating dot and TCH, With one exception (the 60 buck 1st mdl BalVar8) they are all 100% optically. As good as any $300 new Leupold or Bushnell. The $60 one is Remington/Savage "package scope" quality.

Folks forget the B&L scopes were the most expensive USA made scopes back when.

That outfit is a scam just like the Chinese "Leupolds".

Classic rig (722 244) topped w/BalVar8 in Stith Adjusto mount.

Stith Master Mount?

Leupold made the Adjusto-Mount.

Adjusto Mount



Master Mount & Box

I believe that the Stith Mount that you have captioned as an Adjusto Mount is a Do It Yourself mount.

<blah blah>

PS: now I'm reconsidering that it might be a Stith Master base. Time to go home and hit Stroebel's.

PPS: It's definitely a Stith Master Mount from what I'm seeing.

Definitely know this one, but think it's Install It Yourself (did they have 2 different ones, possibly?).

Yes, you are correct, I had a brain cramp. The Adjusto Mount was a Leupold mount, not a Stith. Made for use with early Leupold 7/8" no IA scopes and then expanded with 1" and 26mm rings.

The first pic is a Stith do-it yourself.

The best looking adjustable mount was the Buehler Micro-Dial which at first glance looks like a mount for scopes with IA. Shown here on a 721 w/BalVar 8.



Better pic of Master Mount showing adjustments.

The Buehler Micro-Dial is the most rigid mount with external adjustments that I've seen/used, but it isn't a QD system like B&L envisioned for their BAL-series scopes without any internal adjustments. B&L's original concept was that a buyer could purchase one expensive for the time scope and use it on multiple rifle with fairly inexpensive for the time bases. I chased down the B&L rat hole about 25 years ago and accumulated dozen of scopes and mounts. I used them for awhile and still have a couple of large tote boxes in the storage unit full of B&L, King-Pike, Leupold, and Stith bases and B&L, Kollmorgan, Lyman, and Unertl scopes. Rings for the 26mm Kollmorgan and 7/8" Lyman Alaskans were hard to find 25 years ago and although I haven't looked, I suspect that they are no easier to find now, even with that assistance of the internet. These are an example of a concept that looks great on paper and actually does what it is intended to do, but never captured the interest and the money from the target market.

Back to the op, "depot level" was a term applied to the highest level of maintenance and/or repair back in the 1970's army on nearly any piece of equipment to bring it to "new, to be re-issued" condition.

Hello Larry Root!

Back again with a new handle I see.

How are things in Pinedale, WY?

Heard from JWGIBSON lately?

Remember what he posted about you on 07/19/14?

"beware of deadbeat lying pompous ahole seller WYMTNRANGE on gunauctions.com

Larry Root
83 Antelope Trail
Pinedale, WY 82941
307-367-7711

embellishes and misrepresents his wares. Piss poor photos and hyper inflated prices. Do not believe me then check out his sales for yourselves. http://www.gunauction.com/shop/gunshop/wymtnrange
Read the descriptions and the remarks on some of his sale ads. unless you want to be rooked stay away from this unscrupulous seller.".

To paraphrase John 8:32, "If you know the truth, the truth will set you free.".

"Read the descriptions and the remarks on some of his sale ads. unless you want to be rooked stay away from this unscrupulous seller"

Took your suggestion. 100% positive F/B, $4000 in sales since June, no sign of "Gibson" ----- guess your computer has secret powers ?

Of course an invisible "post" from a non-member five years ago is far more important than current facts.

But when you name yourself after 6.5 cartridge that is on life support, what is to be expected ?

Creedmore rules !

Larry,

You can look up JWGIBSON in the User List.

There are 19 pages of posts on a thread that you started on 07/18/14 under your oldman1942 user name. There isn't a single post in that thread that was supportive of you. Don't you think that says something about your reputation on this site? How many times has Rick asked you to stay off his site? Once? Twice? More than twice? A lot more than twice?

Notice that I've had one user name on this site since I signed on and you've had dozens of them, so which one of us appears to be running away from something, you or me?

EDIT: Please stop sending emails to me. Anything that I receive from you goes straight into the trash, exactly where is belongs.

OR maybe 6.5 BEE rules ?

Oh boy, I'm in the [bleep] now. The Commander of the Troll Patrol (the obese defrocked TX civil servant hiding in Fredrickburg TX) has me in his sights. Sadly he never carried out his threats to come to WY and kill me. Probably would have stroked out from the altitude.

But as always, for the past 12 years, I'll be back watching him twist his 4XL boxers in a knot.

He really needs to update his avatar picture.



or:





his hero:






ever wonder who Brickrtop really is":( a skinny wimp who shoots lactating females)

Adios ----- I'll beeee baaaack !

Larry,

Isn’t there a widow who needs defrauding somewhere?

Jeffie, nice dodge.

1. Where is Gibson NOW ?
2. Why was he canned from Gunauction.com
3. Have you contacted ANY of the members I told you I have done 100s of deals with ?
4, And of course you read my emails as your OCD disorder would not let you do anything else.
5. When can I look forward to you collecting the gutless troll patrol and coming here to hold "The Big Pindale Campfire" you boys promised ?

Third rate corn shucker from a 4th rate state trying for 15 minutes of fame. LAFFIN !

No you're still alive.

1. Don't know, don't care.
2. Don't know, don't care.
3. I don't read your emails.
4. See #3.
5. Don't know what you're talking about.

15 minutes of fame for doing what?