Noske scope

[madsenshooter]

Anyone got any info on Noske scopes. I just bought one that has the elevation knob graduated for the 30-06 172gr bullet at 2700fps. It is not like the ones pictured from the 30s in the sales flyers you can buy off ebay. The adjustment turrets are different. I've looked through literature available on ebay, read what Stroebel and Bob Bell had to say about them, but can't find info on this one. I'm thinking it was made post 1938, perhaps an improvement over the previous ones.

[clintonhater]

Couldn't have been made much later than '38, because the company was out of business by about 1940; in fact, I think Noske may have died. '39 Gun Digest shows the same four models he'd been making for most of the '30s, and they are the only variations I've seen. Guess you could have some kind of prototype for a model that never went into full scale production. Any chance of a photo of that elevation knob?

[clintonhater]

Found an ad for two new Noske scopes in the April, 1940, Rifleman: 2.5X Hunter and 4X Sniper, both with "the new Noske elevation dial, up to 1000 yards."

Ads continue until August, when there's a sale price notice for his old models. After that, I couldn't find ANY Noske ads for the rest of '40, and none either for '41, unless I just overlooked them. (Not impossible, as they're quite small, but I don't think so.)

[madsenshooter]

Thanks! That's a big help in pinpointing the approx time. I've seen pics of the 4X, and a few like mine. It's certainly a lightweight, only weighs 5.7oz. I found mention online by the late Jon Barness of the 1954 Stoeger catalog featuring them. Perhaps they bought the remaining stock then. Got one of the catalogs on the way. I also found a patent issued to Noske in 1941 that may have been the basis for a prismatic scope he called the Imp. It looked similar to the Boone scope, but may have been completely different internally.

Well, I got the 54 Stoegers, waste of money, maybe the 54 was a typo and Jon meant 44. I'm not going to buy a 44 Stoegers to find out. I also got an old flyer from Cornell pubs. No date on it, but it announced that the A&B had been replaced by the Hunter models. So with what you found, I'd date the scope as made around April to August of 1940.

Knowing that the patent I mentioned above wasn't issued until 1941, I'd guess the Imp ad that Stroebel pictured is from 41-42, rather than the 39 he has it captioned as. By then the price of the Hunter had increased to $66, from its 1939 or 1940 introductory price of $54. That's a big increase in just a year or two! The Imp was only $40 installed, prisms must be a lot cheaper than lenses.

[madsenshooter]

I found a death notice, but not a full obituary for a Rudolph Noske who died in CA, circa 1958, at the age of 83. Maybe his patent on the prism scope made him more money than what making scopes did. He'd have been facing some pretty tough competition with Weaver and Lyman just getting going full tilt.

[madsenshooter]

Although the story ends with the death notice mentioned above, it appears there may be more in between. It also appears Bob Bell and Stroebel were wrong, and Noske continued to some extent through WWII. Stroebel has a pic captioned as from 1939, but I found Noske's patent for Noske's Little Imp. The prism system patent was applied for in 41, granted in 43. Then the "sighting device" patent was applied for in 43, granted in 46. So the photo Stroebel shows as 39 is likely to be from 43 or later. He could have made some that were protected by "patent pending", or by the prism patent alone. In 43 Noske was already 68ys old! Bell was wrong about new models not coming out, but he was busy with WWII duties at that time. So, the price jump from $52 to $66 for his regular scopes likely happened over a spread of 3-4yrs. I've included a pic of where my Hunter 2.5X is going. I have a couple more rings coming. I can still use a charger with the scope in place, and the rings will protect the scope from damage. I'm anxious to give the scope a torture test in an 88rd match. Oh, I'm still looking for a good price on that 44 Shooter's Bible, or someone willing to look in the scope section for me!

I want to add, I have owned both Norman-Ford Texan and Lyman Alaskan scopes and I feel the Noske is far superior optically! The objective lens is meant to be adjusted and even though my right eye is getting really bad, bad enough that I can't focus on a front sight, I can adjust the Noske to a very sharp focus. The Noske on the Winchester in Stroebel's photo is one of the 4X "Sniper" models.