FH Souther target scope

[marlinman93]

Finally the FH Souther rifle scope arrived today that I won at Amoskeag about 2 weeks ago! Amoskeag packed it beautifully, and it arrived in perfect condition! The auction pictures didn't do this scope justice, as it's better! But they also omitted the fact it came with the original canvas draw string bag inside the leather carrying case too!
Optics are a very fine crosshair, and perfectly clear. The magnification appears to be around 12x-14x compared to other target scopes I own, and rear adjustments on the rings work perfectly. The focus knob on top of the objective is really as good as it gets for focusing! Just loosen the knob and slide the knob forward or back while looking through the scope to focus for distance. The little clamp up near the objective has a V notch to ensure the crosshairs are always vertical.
Tickled pink with what arrived, and how nice it is! This will be going on one of my old Ballard-Schoyen schuetzen rifles.
Souther built these in the late 1920's, and Niedner (among others) touted their quality as the finest rifle scope built when Sourher first offered these. He went to Camp Perry matches every year to sell them to the best target shooters in the country back then.

[2ndovc]

That is one very cool piece of vintage shooting gear. Nice to see it found a home where it will be appreciated.

jb

[Walt]

Very nice, Vall......what a wonderful find!

Thanks for the pictures

[marlinman93]

Thanks guys!
This is the centerpiece of my small collection of old scopes. I own a couple Wm. Malcolm original scopes that were my prize, but the Souther is a rarer scope, and far superior optics.

[GunnyMack]

Ok Val nice score, now we need a range report

[marlinman93]

Ok Val nice score, now we need a range report

On a scope? Not sure how to do that?

[Tycer]

Excellent. Really glad that worked out for you.

[GunnyMack]

Ok Val nice score, now we need a range report

On a scope? Not sure how to do that?

Oh ya got me there!

Whichever rifle you are putting it on is what I meant. It's more than 100 yrs old and I'm curious how well it works for you. so when you get around to mounting it and sending some big ol hunks of lead down range please let us know how the scope works.

[marlinman93]

Ok Val nice score, now we need a range report

On a scope? Not sure how to do that?

Oh ya got me there!

Whichever rifle you are putting it on is what I meant. It's more than 100 yrs old and I'm curious how well it works for you. so when you get around to mounting it and sending some big ol hunks of lead down range please let us know how the scope works.

It will go on my .32-40 Schoyen Ballard, so no big chunks of lead going downrange. I have a mold for a 190 gr. bullet I breech seat with the Schoyen. It has an old Win. A5 scope on it currently, and it's only 4x, so the Souther should be a huge improvement. Lot more light gathering, and much more magnification. Only drawback for this scope is eye relief is fairly close. No problem with a 12 lb. gun in .32-40, but not sure I'd want it on my .45-70 or larger calibers.

[marlinman93]

Had to pull the rear scope base off my Schoyen Ballard and stone it down a bit as the rear ring wouldn't slide over the base. But a little stoning and checking made it slide on fine.

[GunnyMack]

Looks right at home on the gun,I see very little eye relief as you mentioned. That will teach a guy to NOT crawl the stock!

[marlinman93]

Looks right at home on the gun,I see very little eye relief as you mentioned. That will teach a guy to NOT crawl the stock!

Yes, maybe 1.5"-2" eye relief. But considering the gun's weight, and the .32-40 chambering, it doesn't move much when firing. Kinda like shooting a .22LR with this 12 lb. rifle.