I have 1 Unertl, 1 Fecker, and 3 Lyman STS.
The Unertl is serial 171, a very early one and both it and the Fecker are very close in light transmission, both are 10X. The Lymans are all 1950's era and are also similar in light transmission even though two ar 15X and the 3rd is 20X.
The center adjust parallax on the Fecker is easier to adjust when shooting, it and the Unertl do not have distance markings on the adjustment but the Lymans do. The objective parallax adjustment on the Lymans is a bit easier to use than the Unertl for me.
When Litschert retired his son in law took over the business and the name changed to Davis. I have looked through both Litschert and Davis scopes and they appear very serviceable though I have never shot with one. They don't appear quite as bright as Fecker, Unertl, or Lyman.

I have way too many old target scopes, and from a large assortment of makers. I've found brightness to be mostly based on objective bell sizes. The larger the bell the brighter the field of view is.
My favorite of the well known makers are JW Fecker scopes. I think Fecker made some of the finest target scopes around, and I love the center focus. But Fecker wasn't the only one to use a center focus. AW Peterson also made scopes with a center focus, and may have done so before Fecker? My Hubalek scope is later around WWII and it adjusts like a Fecker, so he copied Fecker's design.
I have some old Malcolm, Sidle and Souther scopes, and both Souther and Sidle scopes have some of the finest optics I've ever looked through. Malcolms I own are good glass, but very small diameter tubes and need lots of ambient light.

Jonathan wrote on Feb 25^th, 2026 at 7:52pm:


I have no problem buying optics needing repairs or cleaning. The price needs to be adjusted for condition if they aren't perfect of course. But there are numerous resources to help you learn how to clean and repair crosshairs, or people to send them to for repairs. 

better to look good than shoot good   me to   art

Watch out Rick, I have a new lens in my right eye! 
Next week I home to get my new Miller killer 32 RKS high wall to the range for the first time.

I didn't get a chance to discuss your good idea of having a 2 day match with the 50 shot on Sunday only before Kurt scheduled a Saturday only match, sharing the range with the muzzle loaders at the far end, which worked out OK the last time we did it.  I will have to confirm everything with Kurt, but the match is mid April.
I will get a flyer out eventually.
Hope to see you there.

Jack

Good,
I thought it was only 1 day when I looked. I will text Kurt and recommend the 50 shot be on Sunday morning first thing. That way anyone will be experiencing the same conditions. That way things are going it may just be me and you.

The Japanese optical industry had it right when they farmed out lens grinding to small mom & pop shops. Precision optical lens grinding was an established profession in Japan since WWII and perhaps prior. After the war Japanese established MITI  ( Ministery of International Trade & Industry ) which oversaw trade, policy and quality. Lens grinders fell under their control. The practice was to place orders from several known quality grinders then pick out the best or all but don't put all your eggs in one basket.  Those that failed would get no more business. 

Our approach in the U.S. is to contract with one source and in so doing you are locked into one source, good or bad. Yes we use QA but when there are completion timelines we more than often just have to bite the bullet and take less than perfect or spend more in court. With small independent shops they essentially control the QA knowing failure means closing their doors. If a sole source goes on strike, has a fire or other casualty they become the weak link in the manufacturing chain. Small independent lens grinding shops reduce or eliminate this risk and yield better results. Caveat: much of this has changed with computer controlled equipment but older Japanese lenses are generally high quality and still needed for final polish. 

In the 90's living in CA and NH my Wife ( 42 yrs aerospace QA engineer )  met and we took in a sort of engineering German exchange student who worked for Schott AG of Germany. They are the premier specialty glass maker for medical, astronomy, aerospace etc.. She had a grant to attend UCLA and MIT developing glass for satellite wave guides. Their glass was used by B&L in NY and several firms in Japan for various lens applications after WWII. I asked her once about rifle and spotting scopes and whether Unertl, Fecker or other high end scope makers used their lens glass. She said Schott kept scrupulous records from 1879 when they started. She would ask somebody back in Germany about my inquiry. Sure enough Schott had entries for "JUOC" John Unertl from the 1950's forward. She explained that no Schott glass left Germany during the war. 

Just thought this may be of interest
Rick

The association of German and Japanese optical glass goes back to at least the start of WW2.  I've been interested in giant binoculars for a while.  I read that just before the war Zeiss sent 100,000 pounds of optical glass to the Japanese.  The Japanese used some of it to make giant binoculars placed on their Navy's ships.  Early in the war the allies were surprised at how early the Japanese were seeing them.  They captured a Japanese ship and found the giant binoculars and immediately started making them.