Well, thank you, that certainly clears that up!

Randy the power of scopes being used. Kelly was a renowned Benchrest Competitor back in his day and the scope being shown is a 20X Sidle. I don't recall if the top one is a tube sight or not I would need to go back and look. Pope considered him to be the Dean of Benchrest shooting at the time so he must have still been around. There is not allot of information in regards to the Schuetzen style of benchrest competition back in the day to be found. That 20X scope is basically still the same type we still use in our traditional class today and that is the main point being made. The miss-conception being that we are not using the same type of equipment as they were using back in their day.

I believe I read that Fecker first went to work for John Sidle before going out on his own but I could also be wrong. If so that is where the similarities might have come from including his adjustable scope mounts

It would seem that the photograph was made in 1941, per the typewritten note. Were that the case it isn't surprising that the rifle is wearing a Fecker scope. Mayhaps the rifle's original Sidle is shown alongside.

I've said it once but I'll say it again.  The single-diameter scope with the mounts at its ends IS almost certainly the original John Sidle scope.  On what basis?  I've owned a similar Sidle scope with different mounts and a shorter Sidle scope with the same mounts.

Bill Lawrence

MrTipUp wrote on Aug 16^th, 2021 at 6:19pm:


Not dis-agreeing with you at all, more questioning JLouis assessment that it is a not a post war Fecker, but a pre war Sidle and that they were in common use pre 1917, whiich I had always thought was the hayday and the technology cutoff for traditional class.

Trying to learn if the mis-conception is his or mine, when he was clearly referring to the scope mounted in the rifle. 
I know that post war scopes are allowed in traditional class, even tho most used do not qualify by date of manufacture and most mounts must be modified. 

 
Quote:


Quote:


I guess it's a matter of opinion, but I see a huge advantage to using a something with a belled objective vs a straight tube scope. 
I just don't know of many pre war belled objective scopes, that I would say we are using the same type of equipment as back in the day.

rkba2nd wrote on Aug 16^th, 2021 at 9:24pm:


Since the title of the thread is Quote:
I was assuming, maybe incorrectly, 1890-1920 as a loose time frame. So yes, my reference was WWI, and why I referenced 1917 earlier. I do remember the Maine so the Spanish/American war could be on then table also.

As you stated, you prefer the Fecker over the Sidle, I think most shooters look for the technological advances of their time. 

I don’t know what the rules were when the ASSRA was founded concerning scopes, but what is allowed in the traditional class now, were pretty popular and common at that time, late 40’s. It would be interesting to know, at least for me. 
Was there a traditional class then, if so what were the rules on scopes?

It’s all academic for me, I just don’t agree with the original assertions, and would like to know if they are correct or not.

The original assertion was that the Fecker scope mounted on the rifle pictured was typical of what was used in pre 1917 Schuetzen matches, this was based on the incorrect assumption that it was actually a Sidle scope.

That incorrect assumption was given as the reason why the post war externally mounted scopes are what is used today in the traditional class.

I think it might be a bit more simple, it was what they were using when the association was formed, and sometime later the technology advance was stopped.  Hard call, could also be that the cut off was basically pre WWII technology, since the association was formed just after.

Maybe one of the members with a better knowledge or link to the founders would chime in with the answer.

Just interested.