Scope Mounts

  By Larry B. Schuknecht

    This page is not and probably never will be complete. After the development of dependable scopes in the early years of the 20th Century many manufacturers and inventors developed what they thought would be the answer to the removable scope mount which when re-installed on a gun would maintain it’s original setting. Following are just a few of the more common mounts. More will be added as information and images become availible.

Noske Telescope Mountings: Click Here to view a 16 page booklet about the mounts made and sold by R. Noske in San Francisco which is courtesy of Axel Pantermühl in Germany

    Below is the most common mount, the Suhler Claw Mount.

From the 1952 edition of the Waffen Lexikon by Richard Mahrholdt

A. W. Triebel developed a variation of the common Suhl claw mount with a release on the mount rather than on the base.

Catalog 18 (1932) of A. F.  Stoeger, Inc. of New York, N.Y. included a selection of Claw Mounts and AKAH Mounts which obviously were imported from Germany for sale in the U.S. 

From the 1932 (no. 18) catalog of A. F. Stoeger, Inc. showing both AKAH and Claw Mounts.

    Another mount often seen is the Sempert & Krieghoff mount. This mount slides on to dovetailed blocks in the top rib and the locking screws have an intercepting radius that drops into a groove in the block and at the same time pinches the legs of the mount against the sides of the dovetail.

Sempert & Krieghoff mount from the 1952 edition of the Waffen Lexikon by Richard Mahrholdt
Sempert & Krieghoff mounts
Sempert & Krieghoff mounts

    August Schüler of Suhl had a variation of the Claw Mount (no. 12) that had the release on the mount rather than in the base. They also had a mounting system similar to the Sempert & Krieghoff  that slid on to bases (no. 6).

From the 1952 edition of the Waffen Lexikon by Richard Mahrholdt

Brenneke had an off set mount which allowed use of open sights (no. 7).

From the 1952 edition of the Waffen Lexikon by Richard Mahrholdt.

    The AKAH Firm, (Albert Kind Aus Hunstig) had several scope mounts one of which (no. 8) used a single base and was for use on 22 rifles and small dia. scope tubes.

    The “Columbus” mounting system (no. 2) was designed and used by H. Burgsmüller & Sohne. It appears to be a variation of the claw mount with the claws entering the side of a top rib.

An illustration of the Columbus Mount from a Burgsmüller Catalog
From the 1952 edition of the Waffen Lexikon by Richard Mahrholdt

Below (no. 3) is a side mount system used by Greifelt.

From the 1952 edition of the Waffen Lexikon by Richard Mahrholdt

Below are two pages from a circa 1940-1942 Greifelt & Co. Drilling Catalog.

Thieme & schlegelmilch incorporated a dovetail base on the top of the right barrel which the scope mount slid on to.

Below-The Foerster Mount- W. Foerster, Berlin

The following scope and mount is on a H. Barella, Berlin Drilling. The mount appears to be an AKAH mount.