I love the look of that Unertl. What model is it, objective diameter? Is that a standard rear adjuster?
I have a Martini International Mk II with a period Redfield, but that Unertl looks nicer.
OK, story time.
1. The 1952-made Unertl belonged to our club's late secretary, who died in 2003 after being the club sec for 56 years. It is a 2" target/varminter with a 1/8th MOA dot reticule - the rear adjuster is standard, according to Mr Greiner of the Unertl CA. I have the recoil spring and collar set-up, but on a .22 it's not needed. The rifle is a 1957 BSA Martini Intl MkII true leftie, and came complete with a set of Al Freeland micrometer tube sights in POSA mounts, and sixty [ten of each] different foresight elements for the Anschutz tunnel foresight. Also a Gehmann single-point sling and a Centre bipod stand. It cost me £55, and buying it saved it from becoming part of a drive paving along with about four hundred other Martini rifles of various eras.
2. The MkII with the laminated stock was the property of a former regional .22 prone champion shooter, who did not care for the two-piece BSA stock design that located the forend on the underneath of the barrel by a whacking great bolt. He felt that tension here from slinging was going to affect the POA. He went to night-classes to learn about ergonomics, and a year later figured out that he was ready to make the stock, and did it. The first one was not quite right, but this one was exactly to his taste, and he continued to shoot it for about twenty years until Chronos caught up with him in 2006. Getting down on the mat was easy, but getting up took some thinking about. I bought gun for $100.
3. The Anschutz had been in the back of the gun safe for many years, and I had never actually seen it before - never needed to, I have seven .22 to choose from. About five years ago, the club secretary asked me to clean up all the old guns in preparation for a sell-off to raise a few ££££ towards another gun, so digging them all out, I got to it. I wish I'd taken before pics, as the varnish finish looked as though it had been strafed by somebody who knew their job, and the entire visible metalwork was covered with a fine dusting of rust - just like you'd sprinkled it with cocoa powder. No backsight, but that wasn't a problem as I have five Anschutz backsight assemblies of various era. I pushed the barrel through and got a dust bunny like a length of black spaghetti, put a sight on it, and put five bullets through the same hole at 25y. I prised it out of the club's possession for just under $50. I took it home, dismantled it, and set to work. Cleaning up the stock took me a week of evenings and great care to maintain the sharp edges of the thumbhole - the dings on the left side are cuts from where the safe door had been shut on it. The rust came off by using a Birchwood-Casey lead remover cloth - the funny yellow material thing that has no smell, but gets all the baked-on powder burn marks off your stainless guns. I tried it on a bit that didn't matter, the spent a week and three cloths using it VERY carefully. I finished off the stock with twenty coats of B-C stock wax, and keep it up every now and again. The harmonic damper really works, but it cost me six times more than the rifle. The rings are Warne - we spend part of the year in Oregon and that makes sense with a pal who works there - all my scope rings seem to be Warne....BTW - if anybody needs a replacement spacer collar for one of this style Anschutz bolts [they split] - be advised that are none in the factory. I bought the very last one in the UK and got a patten-making pal of mine to make a few spare.. If you need one, give me a call.
I have four of the Tasco Super Target scopes, in 16x, 18x, 20 and a variable 6-15 - all were bought off GB for a fraction of their true worth. They are all totally stunning to look through, and you can watch the bullet all the way to 100y/m. Not one of them cost me more than $250, and two were BNIB.
As for the mounts/bases, as many of you will recall, back in the old days when guns were made of wood and steel, there was the usual 25y and 50, but also the 100y match, and the scopes permitted were the long typ that we see here, with external adjustments - Litschert, Fecker, Unertl, Tasco, Reading and Bausch & Lombe were the main players here, and a couple of others I can't recall right now.
Shooting these old guns is a real pleasure.
I'll answer any reasonable questions that anybody has about almost anything over here - I'm a chatty kind of person - and remember that we also spend time in SE Ontario for part of the year as well, so a local meet-up is not out of the question. A PM will get you in contact if you have anything embarrassing or unpleasant to say.
Best
tac
PS - the stuffed vulture is called ig - he takes me everywhere.
