Thanks! This Schoyen-Ballard was a bargain find at the Denver CGCA show one year. I bought it from a guy I know whose sold me some other Ballards, and always has good stuff. He's always the first guy I go see at the show, before looking anywhere else. With the show changing to Greeley, Co. next month I'm going to have to do some searching to find him!Originally Posted by Rusty Goose
Vall, I have a Sidle scope and no Southers, so even if we made a trade neither of us would be better off! LoL. Also have a Malcom that came with a Winchester 52 about 15 years ago and a couple of Litchsherts along with numerous Lyman and Unertls. One of the Lyman 30x’s I got from you a few years ago when you were helping settle an estate. All are neat old scopes and look great on the old Ballards, Hepburn’s and Winchester 1885s.
I have lost track of who all got my friend Fred's scope collection when I was selling them. Glad you got one of them!
I have two Malcolm scopes, and one has rings on it for a Stevens single shot pistol. Front mount fits a certain barrel diameter, and read fits a small dovetail. I have nothing it fits, but I have hung onto it in hope I might eventually use it. The other has a front mount, but not rear mount, so I need the right mount for it too. Both are those small 5/8" tubes, and both are about 22" long. Someday I'll figure out mounts to put them on guns.
Is there a good auction site to look for old scopes? A short Wm Malcolm would suit me just fine!
Nice old scope! The movie western, "Crossfire Trail" with Tom Selleck, Wilford Brimley, Mark Harmon and Brad Johnson had some great scenes. The villain played by Brad Johnson had a Remington Keen 45-70 with a telescopic sight. Cool gun! The scope was a long tube like the one in your photos. Was looking in my junk box and found an old set of scope mounts. They are offset mounts with external adjustments.
The scope Brad Johnson used on his Remington Keene rifle appeared to be a full length Tasco scope. Tasco made them for Navy Arms Co. back in the 70's and also sold them under their own Tasco name too. I have two of them in my collection. One is the original 4x, but a friend who does scope and lens work changed the other to an 8x. They are much longer scopes than this Souther at about 34" long, where the Souther is about 23" long.Nice old scope! The movie western, "Crossfire Trail" with Tom Selleck, Wilford Brimley, Mark Harmon and Brad Johnson had some great scenes. The villain played by Brad Johnson had a Remington Keen 45-70 with a telescopic sight. Cool gun! The scope was a long tube like the one in your photos. Was looking in my junk box and found an old set of scope mounts. They are offset mounts with external adjustments.
The issue with those Tasco scopes were horrible cast brass mounts with crude adjustments! I changed both of mine to better mounts using Winchester for one scope, and Malcolm for the other.
Your mounts appear to be similar to Stevens with the V notch in the front mount to keep the crosshairs upright. I think Lyman also used this setup after they bought Stevens scope business.
Not many people know it, but Brad Johnson was a skilled gunsmith, and built many guns for various westerns he was in, and for others also. Unfortunately he passed away last year at just 62 yrs. old.
Hey Marlin that is some interesting information on scopes. Didn't know Brad Johnson was a gunsmith. There are some big prop movie rental outfits in Hollywood. When 20th Century Fox sold out all of their guns many years ago I was able to buy a real nice Colt Vickers Gun with mount. The wood crate it was packed in was marked Fox Studios. Also bought a Colt 52A water cooled 50 BMG. Stembridge rents a lot of military guns and equipment for movie work. Thanks for sharing your knowledge.
Real Wm. Malcolm scopes are a rare find, but do come up on ebay occasionally if you watch often to catch them. But prices go crazy on them if they're in decent shape, and usable. Short versions are the most affordable, but expect to pay way over Unertl, Lyman, or other scope prices when they show up.
I have two Wm. Malcolm scopes, and both are the short versions. One is complete with Malcolm mounts designed to fit into two dovetails, so it's not on a gun since I don't want to cut a 2nd dovetail. The other is missing the typical Malcolm rear mount that are so desirable. I'm still looking and hoping to find a rear mount for it someday!
That sure looks a lot like a scope i handled at the oregon arms collector show... I offered the guy a hundred bucks but he wouldn't take it��
Beautiful display by the way...
Your mother was a hamster, and your father smelt of elderberries
Thanks! I totally spaced out at the show, and forgot to take a few photos of my single shots by custom makers display. It was a lot of work, and glad someone enjoyed it!
Beauty!
Gun control is not about guns.
Fantastic, and Thank You to everyone in this conversation for all the education. Good Luck Chris
Looks like I've got another candidate for the Souther scope to mount on! We just returned from the Colorado Gun Collectors annual show, and I picked up another Ballard with a George C. Schoyen barrel on it, and set up for a target scope! It's a factory engraved #6 Scheutzen in .32-40, with a 32" extra heavy Schoyen barrel. Setup once for a palm rest, but that's missing. I'll have to look at one of my spares and modify it to fit the dovetail cut in the barrel, and fit a stem that goes through the hole in the Schoyen forearm to mount it.
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