I was at an antique store and a vendor has a scope made by Kollmorgen from Brooklyn. It is a fixed power looks like maybe a 2or 3x28. The windage and elevation are adjusted in the mounts, not through a turret. The recticle is an extremely fine line with a blue dot in the center. The optics are surprisingly clear and crisp.

Thanks

Ryan

No clue , sounds like it might have been a brand that might have competed with Unertil when they were all the rage. Look up Unertil and you may find mention of the Kollmorgen if a direct search yields nothing.


444fitch

My memory isn't what it was, but I think Redfield bought Kollmorgen's Bear Cub line of scopes sometime in the 1950s.

Bye
Jack

I believe Jack Montieth is correct.
You'll run across the name Kollmorgen in the writings of Jack O'Connor.

I think it is pretty neat. I wonder if it is worth the $25 bucks on it?

If it comes with the adjustment mounts - why not? The $25 only buys about 1/2 tank of gas these days, anyway!

I was at an antique store and a vendor has a scope made by Kollmorgen from Brooklyn. It is a fixed power looks like maybe a 2or 3x28. The windage and elevation are adjusted in the mounts, not through a turret. The recticle is an extremely fine line with a blue dot in the center. The optics are surprisingly clear and crisp.

Thanks

Ryan

Kollmorgen Optical Company (K.O.C.) has been in business since at least the 1930's. They started out making submarine periscopes (and still do) and also make photographic color control instruments and weapons control systems for the Navy. Your scope is a fine quality instrument, we have overhauled many of them, most just for cleaning. Your $25.00 was a good buy. Earl

I was at an antique store and a vendor has a scope made by Kollmorgen from Brooklyn. It is a fixed power looks like maybe a 2or 3x28. The windage and elevation are adjusted in the mounts, not through a turret. The recticle is an extremely fine line with a blue dot in the center. The optics are surprisingly clear and crisp.

Thanks

Ryan

Hi:

Kollmorgen was started c. 1917 by a German Immigrant optical engineer in Brooklyn. They became America's sole maker of submarine periscopes in WWI and were moved by the War Department inland to Northhampton, Ma. to get them away from the coast during WWII. (NY was considered a target for bombers or submraine shelling). Kollmorgen Electro Optics is still in Northhampton and still make Periscopes.

In the early pos-WWII period, the demand for submarine periscopes evaporated. There was a surplus of WWII attack boats and no wars to fight. The Nuclear Navy was still a decade away. So Kollmorgen went on some very lean times. To keep the workforce intact, they produced everything from rifle scopes (for a booming postwar hunting consumer market) to glass ashtrays! Anything to keep the machines working and the workforce together.

The hallmark of the Kollmorgen scopes is incredible optical quality. They were made by the same equipment and machines that were making periscopes, long range naval artillary directors, etc. The optics far outstrip the price that these fetched new and compare favorably to today's best coated optics. The goal wasn't to make a cheap consumer product... it was to do *anything* to keep the workforce together and trained. The consumer was the beneficiary!

Early scopes were Stith branded and had mounts that adjusted, versus having adjustments on the scope. Later ones had traditional dial adjustments. In addition to the consumer versions, they made a 6X that was sourced by the USMC and mounted on their 03A3, Garand and M14 sniper rifles before being succeeded by more modern rifles and Unertl scopes during the Vietnam era.

Redfield acquired Kollmorgen's scope business in, I believe, the late 1950's, though for a while they were co-branded until Redfield took over production.

Kollmorgen Electro-optics still make submarine periscopes, though for many years, the company's main business was Motion Control (servos and motors of high precision.) This business, based in Radford, Va., has been absorbed now by a larger motion control player.

Typical prices for a Bear Cub with the (more usable) dial adjustments are about $100 - 150 in mint condition. Which is a bargain. Non-adjustable w. Stith mounts go for $75 - 100 and are somewhat in demand for Pre '64 Model 70 rifles and similar.

Kollmorgen scopes are eminently usable on today's rifles. I hunt with one on my Sako Finnbear and swear by it. In fact, I am looking for another one (pref. dot reticle) for a Model 70. Anyone have one for sale?

Hope this helps.

Cheers,

Pierce

Fascinating information. Thanks.
"To keep the workforce intact, they produced everything from rifle scopes (for a booming postwar hunting consumer market) to glass ashtrays! Anything to keep the machines working and the workforce together."
Different times, I guess- today, the company would be sold or the jobs outsourced pretty quick...

sirhrmechanic:

Great history of Kollmorgen. I just barely remember the Bear Cub scopes. If they were optically as good or better compared to my Unertl target scopes they must have been awesome!

axlenut

I hunt with one on my Sako Finnbear and swear by it. In fact, I am looking for another one (pref. dot reticle) for a Model 70. Anyone have one for sale?


Ihave a 6x parkerized kollmorgen bearcub for sale right now on gunbroker...plz email me if interested...thx tim

vtxretro02@cox.net

Hi:


Kollmorgen scopes are eminently usable on today's rifles. I hunt with one on my Sako Finnbear and swear by it. In fact, I am looking for another one (pref. dot reticle) for a Model 70. Anyone have one for sale?


Pierce


I got to the forum by searching on Kollmorgen, because I was looking to trade or sell mine. It's a Bear Cub 4x, serial no. 14691. Has been mounted to my Sako 243 for 30 years and has helped several members of my family take deer over the years. Has very fine crosshairs with dot in center. Excellent condition with just a few dings.