Right, my K98 project is nearing completion so I'm on the lookout for a decent scope to fit.
I know there's the odd bit of info around here but like a lot of the older topics the links and images are now defunct so there's no real centralized source of what's on the market.
So what is currently available? Not just talking about replica and period sights but any scope rails and mounts that will fit or scopes that look the part too.
I know G&G do a scope as do Tanaka but their availability over here along with the price is quite a chance to take especially if they're not up to much. Anyone use them? How do they perform? Are they actually useable or just for looks?
The Zf41 scopes you can get, in a word, suck. The magnification is just not worth the bother. You can get repro telescopic sight mounts (by accumounts, if I recall) but, for a period, practical scope, there is no repro and genuine ones fetch silly money. Having owned a couple of Tanaka K98's and springer ones too, I can honestly say that scopes aren't worth the bother. They do look really cool but they limit you so much in the role you can play at a game. There are very few opportunities for "sniping" in WW2 airsoft.
If you are going with a spring K98, you can get a reasonable lookalike by cutting and grinding a ris rail down and using a basic (ie, non illuminated, limited zoom, or even a fixed zoom) modern scope. A bit like this, on my original K98 springer...
When I want your opinion - I'll tell you what it is!
The Zf41 scopes you can get, in a word, suck. The magnification is just not worth the bother.
Yeah that was my worry about them, my eyesight isn't tops. It's okay with glasses but wearing contact for airsoft knocks it down a bit so a low magnification might be a bit pointless.
Really like the look of that scope on your rifle, Mine is a spring conversion too so I think I'll make sure and leave mounting holes for the scope mounts.
The ZF41 is an aiming assistant in much the same way that an ACOG is - it helps with target acquisition, not as a "sniper" tool. If you use it with that in mind, it works beautifully; if you try to snipe (per conventional understandings) with it, you will be disappointed.
The trouble I found with the ZF41 is that is was tricky to get your eye in the right place as the sight picture isn't big and you need to get the eye relief point spot on (I'm sure the real steel sight must have had better optics that the toy repro). By the time I'd faffed with that the target had gone. That said, the low magnification meant it is the only 'scope' that I could hit a target with.
Actually you can get exact repro ZF39 scopes and turret or side mounts from the US. Not cheap but not ridiculously priced either.
[link]http://www.ww2scope.com/k98.htm[/link]
The also do repro Mosin Nagant PU, PE, and Enfield No32 Scopes and mounts.
“I wanted to come to the Volga at a specific location at a specific city. By chance it carries the name of Stalin himself. So don’t think I marched there for this reason – it could carry another name – but because there is a very important goal... this goal I wanted to take – and you know – we are very modest, we have it already."
Adolf Hitler, November 1942
"Comrades, Red Army men, commanders and political workers, men and women guerrillas! It is on your perseverance, staunchness, fighting skill and readiness to discharge your duty to the country that the defeat of the German-fascist army and the liberation of the Soviet land from the Hitlerite invaders depend! We can and must clear the Soviet land of Hitlerite vermin."
Joseph Stalin, November 1942
Handy link but as you say still a bit pricy. I might have a go at machining some mount posts if I can find rings that are close. I could probably make some sort of aluminium shroud to cover the curvy profile of a modern scope.
