Is this an ex-mil sniper scope?

[kombi1976]

I was speaking to a friend the other day and he's decided to have a bit of a clear out.
I was tossing up buying an Israeli Mauser he has but then he mentioned that he had a Meopta 2.5x scope that he thought was ex-mil and would suit it.
I said to hold it for me, especially since the scope wasn't going to be too pricey from what I gathered.
I'm buying some other stuff from him too and thought I go and check the stuff out again and look over the Meopta while I was there.
Here's what I found:

The writing says:

meopta

MALOV 2½x

3011936​

As you can see it must have about a 18mm objective lense and the reticle is a "post-&-side-bars" German style.
I apologise for the quality of the reticle pic but you get the idea.
The scope itself only has an elevation adjustment but the mount has a windage adjustment screw behind the rear thumb wheel if you have a look at the second pic.
The end of the scope also turns to the left to adjust focus for longer differences, a bit like an adjustable objective lense.
Suffice to say it's clearly a precision built unit and I'm aware that the Germans used Meoptas on some of their rifles, although they tended to have offset mounts with larger lenses, at least on the K98k sniper models I've seen.
This would've been on integral mounts on top of the receiver and it's a different size to standard Weaver rails, although it would be the work of a moment to make up some suitable mounts.
So what do people think?
Is it a sniper scope or not?

P.S. I did buy it........for $40.

 

[PerversPépère]

You did good on that one!
PP.

 

[kombi1976]

Sorry about the pics.
The hourly transfer rate went too high.
Should be back on in an hour or 2.

 

[Levi Garrett]

Looks stealty enough

 

[Skippy]

At some points the Israeli's were slapping any optics they could find on their Mauser's, and even reimbursing their snipers for scopes bought with their own money. So I think yours will be suitable enough, even if you can't find evidence that they issued that exact model.

 

[kombi1976]

I found this on the Meopta site:
http://www.meopta.cz/index.php?id=149&lang=en
If you scroll down almost to the bottom of the page it shows my scope, without the mount, under the title RIFLESCOPE MALOV.
The fact that the production date is 1959 pretty much disproves the idea that it may be a WW2 sniper scope althought the design could be similar to those used by the Axis powers.
The other thing that struck my just a moment ago is that the gap between the dovetail clamps is not huge.
I measured it roughly and it would have to be 58mm at most, suitable for rimfire and smaller short action centrefires like .22 Hornet, 222 Rem, 223 Rem, 7.62x39 or even 6.8 Rem SPC but not a k98 action or even 308 length cartridges which have a decent length OAL.
I guess the other explanation would be break-open single shots and combo rifles.
Anyhow the mount alone confirms that this scope, if not others, was used for more peaceful purposes.
The only rub is that I'd like to mount it on a Mauser style rifle later on, perhaps a 7x57, 7.65x53 or even a 6.5x55.
The scope body, as per Meopta's site, is 22mm so getting new rings for it would be well nigh impossible but I could cut the mid section out of the bridge mount to create a pair of rings that could be moved any distance apart.

 

[Calum]

What a fine score.