what would a Winchester a-5 scope with mounts, excellent optics cost today?  Thanks, Hank45

40 Rod's advice is good

Take the MVA about 600 dollar price as a bench mark then figure the original scope based on condition more or less. Only thing the internet sniper crowd has run prices on Winchester A5's up. If not looking for original I would (and have) go for the new MVA. It's a nice scope.

Boats

Exactly pay MVA prices for old one you won't get the glass and may be liable for expensive repairs from some one who will take a year to fix it.

Boats

IIRC, the Winchester A-5 was deliberately made with some offsetting optical problems to prevent unauthorized or unlicensed repairs.   Why sign up for something that could become unusable?

As an owner of other antique scopes, I have come to the "enough is enough" stage.  I am thinking about an MVA.

waterman wrote on Feb 28^th, 2014 at 9:30pm:


This is a myth, though compared with other scopes (esp. Lyman's 5A), they're unnecessarily complicated.  Still, it would be ridiculous to acquire one (at a high price) for match shooting, or any other kind of routine use.

Dr Tom wrote on Feb 28^th, 2014 at 11:09pm:


The "Ivy League Professor" had NO patents pertaining to the A5--they were all held by Winchester engineers, & pertained to mechanical details, not optical design; read them yourself.  The patented mechanism for holding the lens cells in place within the tube is MUCH more complicated & trouble prone than in the 5A; take your A5 apart if you doubt this.   

The only changes made over the years by Lyman were in their mounts--the guts of the scope were the same from start to finish.

Surprised by the difference you find between your scopes--I've not noticed such drastic differences between the several A5s & 5As I've owned; after cleaning, at least.  Being older, A5s tend to be dirtier, & thus less bright, but both Winchester & Lyman used B&L lenses of comparable quality.

Redsetter, As you state, Winchester the corporation never patented anything; their engineers did. People can apply for patents. Corporations cannot. All of my patents (strangely enough, in the field of optics) are in my name. In separate documents unrelated to the patent office or the patenting process, some of them are assigned to my employer or, in one case, to someone that I have never met. Since Winchester farmed out the glass work, patent docs would not necessarily be traceable back to Winchester without having the assignment docs as well. Presumably, Cody has those. That said, I could have used the word "design" instead of "patent" and the effect would be the same. The story is very well known.

Now about A5 and 5A. I've had more than a few of each apart. My oldest 5A IS MECHANICALLY IDENTICAL 1N EVERY SINGLE RESPECT to my A5. (This was kinda the reason that I emphasized the word "my" in my earlier post.) All of the parts of this 5A interchange with an A5 with one exception which amounts to about 0.006". As the 5A matured (after they used up the Winchester parts that they inherited) it was simplified. Hence my noting the "running changes". A close friend in Houston has a 5A with Winchester glass in addition to the Winchester mechanicals. I don't know how rare these are. Does anyone?

I totally agree!