The MC1952, the Marines M1C

[cplnorton]

This is something that was on my bucket list and I finally have it together after about 10 years of looking. I did piece this together but everything is real. The M1C rifle is from the CMP and the nice thing is, it's within about 400 digits of two documented MC1952 rifles. The mount and scope are both the later MC1 versions. Really about the only flaw is the scope has ring marks on it from being used on some other application. But after seeing what one sold for on Ebay last week and what I paid for this one, I can never complain.

I have to admit I love this setup for actual use. The Kollmorgen scope blows away all the other scopes from the time period like the USMC Unertl 8X and the M82/84. I could see why the Marines were found of it. I know I am. I hope you guys enjoy it.

[Dan Shapiro]

Nice work!

[jgaynor]

Very nice rig Steve. Interesting rifle about which very little is known. Kollmorgen was acquired by Redfield around 1957 and or course Redfield scopes were used by the USMC on the Vietnam Era Remington 700 snipers.

[cplnorton]

I would love to see a actual picture of one being used in the Marines but as far as I know one doesn't exist.

Which is really weird because we have a ton of photos of Marines with the M1D, even in Vietnam, but I've never seen a pic of the MC1952. Which just makes me wonder why when the kollmorgen scope is light years ahead of the m84.

The only thing that makes sense to me is there just wasn't very many of them built.

[CPC]

Very nice set up Steve. Do you think that scope may have been refurbished? The few that I have seen had a consistent color on the scope. Your scope appears to have two colors, and I have seen both shades of finish used, just not on the same scope. They are great optics though. My father used to use a 4X Kollmorgen post reticle on his hunting rifle. Unfortunately even though it was purchased in the 50's it was the civilian type. Thanks for sharing another great rifle from your collection.

CC

[cplnorton]

It could be possible or even some type of transitional one, I asked Dave McClain the same thing and he didn't know. The body does not have the serial number on it, and the eyepiece does not have the FSN number. But the body and eyepiece are both correct for the Marine Corps contract. Otherwise the eyepiece is not from a commercial bear cub. It's a 4X double marked one.

Kollmorgen might have had extra eyepieces from the 1st run and used them on the early 2nd run. Or the eyepiece could have been damaged and they swapped it from another Marine scope, or there could be any number of scenarios that would work.

They say there are less than 50 of these scopes out there, so it's really hard to gather a ton of info on them because there are so few to study and even less documentation on them.

Not matter what the answer is, if you guys knew what I paid for that scope, you would probably put me in jail for theft. So I can never complain.

[Johnny in Texas]

Eye piece is from the early version of the scope does it have a s/n on the tube?

[cplnorton]

No, no serial on the tube.

[Cass]

Nice set-up! As you've all discussed, the body is the second type Kollmorgen and the eye piece is the first type.

I doubt that it was a transitional scope or that it was produced that way by Kollmorgen since the first contract and replacement contract were six or seven years apart (about 1952 and 1959). More likely it was swapped out later by the USMC or another owner.

I have found one commercial Kollmorgen scope that has an eye piece with identical markings to the first type MC scope, but as you've said most of the commercial scopes are marked Bear Cub.

Cass

[cplnorton]

The guy I got the scope from found it at a thrift store for $8. I think we all dream of finds like that. lol