Schmidt & Bender is one of the most prestigious names in hunting optics. Its riflescopes rank alongside those of Zeiss, Swarovski, and Kahles – all top European brands renowned for their quality.
Unlike Zeiss and Kahles who have been manufacturing optical instruments for well over a century, Schmidt & Bender are relatively new boys on the Continental block. Just over 50 years ago, a pair of German instrument makers combined their expertise to start producing riflescopes. Since then Schmidt & Bender company has made an unprecedented rise to become known worldwide for its innovatory designs. Just recently I had the chance to become familiar with their flagship Zenith line when Mialls Gunshop sent me a pair of Mauser M 03 rifles, each with a Schmidt & Bender 2.5-10×56 30mm hunting variable mounted.
Both scopes are identical in all respects except that one has a clean tube while the other has a rail mount scope tube which promotes a rigid no-slip attachment to the rifle. A 30mm tube of aircraft grade aluminium provides sufficient length to mount the 2.5-10×56 even on magnum length actions without being overly long for big-game hunting applications.
This is an unusually bright, clear scope; the optics are superlative. I looked through it into the shadows of a clump of pine trees three hundred metres away after the sun had slipped behind the nearest ridge. With the Schmidt & Bender I was able to look into the dark shadows and make out a black wallaroo feeding there.
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