Thread: Identifying and unknown spotting scope

Hi all,

I've got this spotting scope from my brother in law. He himself got it second hand from the NSE rifle club when he was shooting in school.

All markings have been rubbed off over time apart from the eyepiece which says 25x. Not super helpful.

The focus is solid and the magnification is great but the eyepiece is scratched to hell and back which makes the image blurry. I dismantled it and the rest of the lenses and prisms are in mint condition.

So I want to find out what the scope is so I can buy a new eyepiece for it.

Any info or thoughts would be great.

Cheers.

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Looks like a very old Kowa. They were very popular with fullbore shooters. Very good scopes in their time, likewise their modern models.
This is what AI also thinks it is -

Try a Jeweler or Watch repairer they do great work on watches with paste on a mop.

Try Mike Colings in Whakatane. He may have some spares laying around.

Thanks for the hint Zimmer. Searching for 25x kowa brought this up which is so close:

https://spottingscopes.name/vintage-...e-25x-60mm.htm

Shall have a look for replacement eye pieces and if they're expensive I'll take it to a watchmaker first and see what they can do.

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Yes it’s an old Kowa. An oldie but a goodie

Are you firm that its scratched or is it a doublet lens, two halves glued together and the glue has failed?

Replying to myself for anyone else looking in future:

http://optical.kowa-opt.co.jp/ts/e/concept/history.html

The model above is a TS-2 from the 1950's Kowa has moved to a bayonet fitting instead of screw thread, so will look for second hand (very old) eyepieces.

And yep, definitely scratched as I can feel them under my finger sadly.

I still use a Kowa TS-3 x20 spotting scope for long range shooting. It is clearer than almost every single other modern spotting scope I have looked through. It is also tiny and fits in my range bag very easily.
If anyone has another floating around I'd be happy to buy it for a reasonable price as I know several people that would appreciate one.

Originally Posted by Makros

I still use a Kowa TS-3 x20 spotting scope for long range shooting. It is clearer than almost every single other modern spotting scope I have looked through. It is also tiny and fits in my range bag very easily.
If anyone has another floating around I'd be happy to buy it for a reasonable price as I know several people that would appreciate one.

I agree with this I shoot long-range with @Makros a few times a year and his old 1980's Kowa is one of the best scopes on the line certainly better than my modern Leupold
to be honest it is probably only outdone by the very pricey European brands Swarovski etc
its only downside is its fixed 20x which 95% of the time is fine but on the odd occasion it's nice to have more power

all that being said the vintage-classic Kowa's come up on Trade Me from time to time and when they do, they are $200-$400 so whether that makes yours un economical to repair or not looks fairly rough I have no idea what it would cost to repair but could be more than it's worth?

Mine came with a 20 and a 40 lense. it took me years to fine one with the 40X

I think mine is 1960s rather than 80s...

Originally Posted by Makros

I think mine is 1960s rather than 80s...

probably right was a pure guess certainly not modern

They are a good solid optic, I have a TS1. Is itjust the rear lens that scratched, try the likes of jacobs digital or check with someone that goes to the auctions?

I've still got my Kowa TSN-1 which in its time was the primo scope. Only issue is it's not waterproof but was semi protected by a cover with zip open ends for the lenses.
I have 30x an 25x (bayonet) lenses. In my fullbore days I just used the 25x which is their long eye relief lens. I didn't have to get my eye right up to the lens to view my shots.
With the 25x I could see bullet holes (with good light) no problems, at 300 yards in the black or white.
My previous scope had a selection of lenses up to iirc, 50x. Although Japanese, the poorer optics meant that the higher powered lenes were useless and I ran that on 30x. This is still the case today with the cheaper spotters on the market.
The latest Kowa Fluorite scopes are up at the very top but are also very expensive. Bird watchers salivate over Kowa scopes :-)