Cataract telescope

[Artistsrifleman]

A pleasure to have found the Association, and this most interesting forum.

A question, having just spent the morning reading Brophy's "The Krag Rifle" -

The Cataract Tool and Optical Company apparently produced a telescopic sight (and, presumably, scope mounts) that passed the Ordnance dept, but never went into production.

Has anyone produced a modern equivalent of this scope? With my eyesight not as good as it once was I increasingly use glass optics but wouldn't want to put an ordinary Leupold on my rifle...

[butlersrangers]

'Artistrifleman' - It would be neat to replicate the 'Cataract Rig' on a (non-collectable) Krag.

Because of the 'anemic' almost straight-up ejection of the Krag, receiver mounted scopes need to be off-set slightly to the left. The Cataract system appears very off-set! This would make a good "cheek weld" difficult without some type of pad on the stock comb.

I have a 'sportered' Krag carbine with a Weaver side-mount. I get a stiff neck and wobbly after a few shots without cheek support!

Photo of Cataract catalog with scope on an early Lee-Enfield or Metford.

[reincarnated]

Montana Vintage Arms produces a series of long "Malcom" scopes, modern optics but styled after rifle scopes of the 1870s & 1880s. They are used by those who want to reproduce 19th Century target rifles and appear to stand up to 45/70 type recoil. Their mounts would not work for either Krag or Lee.

Steve Earle Products makes custom scope mounts. Steve is a very accommodating and imaginative person. If photos of the mounts are available, he could probably reproduce them.

None of this is cheap. MVA scopes are priced between $600 & $1,000. Fabrication of mounts might be equally as costly. Because you are in the UK, you may not be able to purchase either. In the US, there is a ban on exporting firearms-associated products.

There is a series of scopes similar to the MVA "Malcom" made in China, marketed under the "Leatherwood" label. Quality not as good, but maybe OK and probably easier to obtain in the UK.

[Jeremy T Garner]

From my research the mounts should be able to be purchased and shipped to the UK without an exporters/importers license. Every firearm accesory is classified with an export number for level of control. The U.K., New Zealan, and Australia have a no license agreement on lower level controlled items like mounts and rings. However this doesn't mean the private company you deal with will sell them to you. They very well may ere on the side of caution and just not do it at all to cover their butt even though it's completely legal. The scope is another matter unfortunately. There would be a tremendous amount of red tape on getting a hold of that. It would require an exporters license to even get it out of country and you would need to check with your local legalities in the UK to ascertain if you could bring it into country just to be safe. So not impossible but certainly a pain I'm sorry to say :( Sounds like the Chinese "Leatherwood" route would be much much easier.

[Artistsrifleman]

Thanks for this - I get the picture and understand the 'offcentre' problem, which I have to a similar degree with my Swiss Schmidt Rubin K31. Best stick with the regular sight, but interesting to see the photo!

'Artistrifleman' - It would be neat to replicate the 'Cataract Rig' on a (non-collectable) Krag.

Because of the 'anemic' almost straight-up ejection of the Krag, receiver mounted scopes need to be off-set slightly to the left. The Cataract system appears very off-set! This would make a good "cheek weld" difficult without some type of pad on the stock comb.

I have a 'sportered' Krag carbine with a Weaver side-mount. I get a stiff neck and wobbly after a few shots without cheek support!

Photo of Cataract catalog with scope on an early Lee-Enfield or Metford.

[Artistsrifleman]

Thanks for this helpful - but discouraging info - and yes, I've come across import/export difficulties before and have experienced the bureaucratic problems bringing in rifles from Montana. With what butlersrangers said in mind and your remarks I think I will settle for the iron sights. I have a supplementary question, which I will post separately. Thanks again.

From my research the mounts should be able to be purchased and shipped to the UK without an exporters/importers license. Every firearm accesory is classified with an export number for level of control. The U.K., New Zealan, and Australia have a no license agreement on lower level controlled items like mounts and rings. However this doesn't mean the private company you deal with will sell them to you. They very well may ere on the side of caution and just not do it at all to cover their butt even though it's completely legal. The scope is another matter unfortunately. There would be a tremendous amount of red tape on getting a hold of that. It would require an exporters license to even get it out of country and you would need to check with your local legalities in the UK to ascertain if you could bring it into country just to be safe. So not impossible but certainly a pain I'm sorry to say :( Sounds like the Chinese "Leatherwood" route would be much much easier.

[Artistsrifleman]

Thanks reincarnated. In view of the comments so far I think I will stick to the original ramp sight, but will look at the Leatherwood site.

Montana Vintage Arms produces a series of long "Malcom" scopes, modern optics but styled after rifle scopes of the 1870s & 1880s. They are used by those who want to reproduce 19th Century target rifles and appear to stand up to 45/70 type recoil. Their mounts would not work for either Krag or Lee.

Steve Earle Products makes custom scope mounts. Steve is a very accommodating and imaginative person. If photos of the mounts are available, he could probably reproduce them.

None of this is cheap. MVA scopes are priced between $600 & $1,000. Fabrication of mounts might be equally as costly. Because you are in the UK, you may not be able to purchase either. In the US, there is a ban on exporting firearms-associated products.

There is a series of scopes similar to the MVA "Malcom" made in China, marketed under the "Leatherwood" label. Quality not as good, but maybe OK and probably easier to obtain in the UK.

[butlersrangers]

'Artistsrifleman' - FYI - The least expensive receiver scope-mount for the Krag is the Weaver 'side-mount', which interestingly is still made.

The down-side to this mount is that it requires four holes in the receiver, interferes with the 'issue' safety lever, and it is a bit off-set.

I have a Krag model 1898 carbine, (relatively rare with only 5,000 made). Years earlier, someone had it drilled for the Weaver side-mount for Hunting. The easiest thing for me to do was to 'fill' the blemish with a mount. It does work well.

Also, (I don't know if it is still made) a company called 'Kraghaus' use to make a 'screw-on' base that replaced the Krag rear-sight. This allowed barrel mounting of a long eye relief scope with Weaver Rings (the hand-guard was left off - IIRC).