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I think if he is waiting for an older style Unertl target model, he'd be better off buying at a show or auction site. I really don't know about the status but knew the inventory of target models was very low, and they were waiting on lenses from the old country. Chuck, the gentleman who used to assemble and repair the older models, had to retire for health issues. I own a half a dozen, and am not parting with any. I live near Pittsburgh, and see more than my share of them, but the ones I've kept, have been extra clean, almost new. Martyn4802, was the guy's name Bill Svboda, if so, he passed away, and his son sold his whole collection. I would have liked to known of that sale. Butcher
Butcher,
Yes, it was Bill Svoboda. I bought the 1 1/2" 24X scope from him about a month before he passed away. His son Jeff was left with selling off the scopes that Bill had acquired. Bill was a very interesting guy, and knew much about Unertls, a wealth of information. A nice guy too. Bill suggested that the 24X scope he sold me was the only 1 1/2" 24 power ever made, but John Unertl did make lots of scopes to customer's requirements back then, so I don't know for sure if it is in fact a one of a kind. The 1 1/2" 24X was never listed in Unertl's sales catalogs, 20X was the highest power listed.
I lived in Mars in the mid 1950's after I got married. My wife was from a mile outside of Mars, and lived on a farm where I shot a lot of woodchucks with a 22-250 topped with a 16X Unertl scope. It was a 1 1/2" target scope.
Incidentally, I had a chance to buy some other Unertl's from Jeff Svoboda after Bill passed away, but opted for a Mitchell 2 1/2" 32X scope instead. Now, Mitchell is out of business too.
Take care,
Don