Older Zeiss scope?

flying pig

flying pig

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A friend has an older Zeiss scope mounted on a rifle I am very interested in. He figures he bought it in about 1993 and that it was about $1200 new. Its a 3-9x40. He was telling me that the older ones like that are a full lifetime warranty and are a much better scope than the new American made ones. Is this true and is it that much higher quality than what is currently out there? I had my heart set on a Leupold VX-2 3-9x50 before...
 
Might be better quality ... can he tell you if there is a "model" name or place of manufacture on the tube anywhere ...around the ocular (eye end) ? Not familiar with a European made 3-9x40 (was a 3-9x36 Diavari-C)
 
flying pig said:
A friend has an older Zeiss scope mounted on a rifle I am very interested in. He figures he bought it in about 1993 and that it was about $1200 new. Its a 3-9x40. He was telling me that the older ones like that are a full lifetime warranty and are a much better scope than the new American made ones. Is this true and is it that much higher quality than what is currently out there? I had my heart set on a Leupold VX-2 3-9x50 before...
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Zeiss made a Diavari 3-9x36, I don't think they made a 3-9x40. Their lifetime warranty really started with the Conquest, most of the higher end German made models carried a 30 or 35 year warranty as under German law they weren't permitted to give Lifetime warranties, I'm not sure if that's changed now.
You really need to give us a model number and name to get an exact answer. FWIW, not all current Zeiss scopes are made in the US. The Victory line is German made.

If it has "T*" written on the scope after the power range/objective diameter, chances are it's a higher end German made model.

IMG_20100429_0012_ZeissDiaCT3-9x36.JPG
 
While likely a nice scope and likely better than some of the Zeiss models currently available, many of their new models would definitely be far superior to it. Glass and coating have come a long ways in 20 years. Like some have said above, you'd need the model number.
 
While likely a nice scope and likely better than some of the Zeiss models currently available, many of their new models would definitely be far superior to it. Glass and coating have come a long ways in 20 years. Like some have said above, you'd need the model number.
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Yes - I believe optic manufacturing has gotten better..and also cheaper to produce a good to excellent optic. But not sure the optical improvement that we are likely to see under normal hunting conditions is huge - we've had multi-coating, aspherical lenses and low refractive index glass for a long time. Other factors like mechanical precision and durability also play a huge role in what makes a suitable hunting rifle scope as well. An extraordinarily sharp and contrasty image is of little use if the reticle wont stay put. The older Zeiss had a very robust construction as well ... and could take a beating. I do not know about the newer US assembled scopes .. they may be even better ... or not?
 
AP said:
Yes - I believe optic manufacturing has gotten better..and also cheaper to produce a good to excellent optic. But not sure the optical improvement that we are likely to see under normal hunting conditions is huge -
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As one gets older, the eyes degrade significantly and light transmission becomes critical. I think that's when one really notices the difference in optic quality.....at least that's been the case for me.
 
As one gets older, the eyes degrade significantly and light transmission becomes critical. I think that's when one really notices the difference in optic quality.....at least that's been the case for me.
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.. have I got a deal for you then.... :)

Proprietary-230-+485°F stable Bertrillium-Zantitium™ multicoated optics for dusk/dawn/shadow enhanced transmissivity, with proprietary HydroShear™ water/ice displacement coating, DustCaster™ Ion-charge for ant-static dust displacement, InfraShield™ IR spectrum filtering coating, TitaniStar™ 68 Rockwell Mil-spec antiscratch coating. Titanium 1-12 versions feature aspheric hybrid primary and secondary lens groups, Aircraft Aluminum features Extra Low Dispersion apochromatic lenses. Proprietary rare earth/nitrogen gas purged, hard earth sealed
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Not sure how long one could survive hunting where there are lots of ant hills with out the "ant-static" dust displacement.... and not being "hard earth sealed" ! would be a real failure ... BUT best of all are the "Bertrillium-Zantitium™" multicoated optics!!!
 
AP said:
Yes - I believe optic manufacturing has gotten better..and also cheaper to produce a good to excellent optic. But not sure the optical improvement that we are likely to see under normal hunting conditions is huge - we've had multi-coating, aspherical lenses and low refractive index glass for a long time. Other factors like mechanical precision and durability also play a huge role in what makes a suitable hunting rifle scope as well. An extraordinarily sharp and contrasty image is of little use if the reticle wont stay put. The older Zeiss had a very robust construction as well ... and could take a beating. I do not know about the newer US assembled scopes .. they may be even better ... or not?
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I've got a three of the older (~80's) Zeiss BGAT* rubber armoured binoculars in 8x30, 7x42 and 8x56 and a 70's Zeiss Diavari 1.5-6x36 scope and I can honestly say I don't see much difference between them and the newest versions of any top manufacturer, they are that clear. Same goes for an old set of Swarovski porro prism binocs I have.
It's actually been my observation that most things newer are not necessarily built as robust, be it optics or guns. There seems to be too much emphasis on weight reduction lately.
 
Just found my Zeiss Diatal-C and Diavari -C pamphlet . Circa 1985 . At that time the warranty was 30 years.
I would not be suprised if Zeiss would extend this to lifetime...
 
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