Winchester 70 Van Orden

[Marine A5 Sniper Rifle]

Assuming the scope is what he claims, as from the pics he posted, I don't see the USMC stamping, which most people would show.

jt

[swampyankee]

I have been to his shop. It's a grundgy little hole and everything and I mean everything is way overpriced in it. He does get some nice stuff but always wants an arm and leg for it. I can't figure how he's still in business, all I can think is there are a lot of Conn. millionaires and are free with there money. Must be nice.

[cplnorton]

I cheated Jim. Many of the records of the rifles Van Orden sold are in Chandlers Death from afar volume 1.

He does list maybe like 7 or 8 that were shipped to the Marines. All the rest went to the Army, Coast Guard, or civilians.

[cplnorton]

Oh and if it was sold with that Unertl. At least from the books I've read on these Van Orden rifles, the lyman Supertargetspot was the go to scope on them.

[Marine A5 Sniper Rifle]

Oh and if it was sold with that Unertl. At least from the books I've read on these Van Orden rifles, the lyman Supertargetspot was the go to scope on them.

How did VO get his hands on a USMC Unertl scope? At the time this rifle was sold, the Corps had not surplussed the Unertls.

jt

[cplnorton]

How did VO get his hands on a USMC Unertl scope? At the time this rifle was sold, the Corps had not surplussed the Unertls.

jt

I think someone added it later on. All the info I've seen on the VO rifles and the advertisements I've seen from back in the day, detail the lyman scope. I will look, I think in one of the books it has an ad from Van Orden and it describes the Supertargetspot.

But yeah I think someone added the Unertl much later on to make it look like a USMC sniper.

[cplnorton]

[jgaynor]

At the beginning of WW2 then Capt Van Orden promoted the use of the 8x Unertl on a winchester Model 70 for the standard USMC snipers rifle. The brass balked at adopting a new, non standard rifle so the Unertl scope was used on M1903A1 National Match and Special Target rifles that were in inventory.

Van Orden went off to lead an amphibious unit in the Pacific where he was awarded the Navy Cross.

It has never been clear to me why he continued to flog the idea of a target scope on a snipers rifle after WW2.

[keith smart]

Thanks, Jim. His affinity for the Unertl remains a mystery but his background lends to his ability to access the scope

[Marine A5 Sniper Rifle]

Thanks, Jim. His affinity for the Unertl remains a mystery but his background lends to his ability to access the scope

He had access to government property scopes to use on his commercial operation rifles? I seriously doubt that. His own circular stipulates he used Lyman Super TargetSpot Scopes on his commercial rifles.

jt