Author: Son of EdSubject: Weaver k3 scopes
Posted: May/31/2014 at 08:05
The old Weavers had certain codes for their respective series. Right after WWII Weaver introduced the amazing K series which actually set the parameters for all scope companies to follow...One inch tubes, and 32 mm objectives on their four power K4....everybody else followed suit.
They were simply the Weaver K...they had brass trim around the ocular and objectives. They started with 2.5X, 3X and 4X. I think by 1950 they came out with the K6...originally a 32mm objective also. ( They did not expand the 6X objective till 1963...)
In the old days scopes did not have permanently centered reticles. You could adjust your scope and wind up with the crosshairs off-center in your tube! That was a big problem with scopes. Finding the answer to that was like discovering the source of the Nile River was to the ancient explorers.
Well, Bill Weaver did it. In 1954 he came out with the 60 series. Weaver scopes that say K4-60 are permanently-centered scopes of that first generation. [ ...or K 2.5---K3--and so on...]
Next was the 60 B....then the 60 C....these are late fifties, early sixties...by this time they had lost the brass trim....
During the sixties Weaver was out-selling all the scope companies in America combined, year in and year out. Other series came out---I don't know the chronological order...but there are Weaver K F, K C, K C3, etc...
Weavers were always made of steel. In 1970 Weaver came out with an aluminum scope. But they discontinued them after three years...they are rare. The Weaver Classic. They had the Classic 300 ( 3X), the Classic 400...etc. One, the Classic V900 was a 3X9....
Anyway, about this time Weaver again re-designed and came out with, basically, the last version of their scopes that would remain in the line until Weaver closed in 1983.
These scopes were heavier for some reason. They had different shape and checkering on the adjustment caps. The K4 of this period weighed 13 oz rather than 9 oz from the old days. The K6 was 15 oz...and the V9 was a breath-taking 22 oz!! I don't think these scopes had another letter code. They called it the K4-1. The scope was recognizable by being different! The writing on the scope said WEAVER K4-1-USA....
By 1977, Weaver invented Micro-Trac adjustments and put it in their target series. By 1978, all Weavers had Micro-Trac except some of their less expensive lines ( by the late sixties Weaver had come out with less expensive lines of scopes ---like the Marksman, etc...)
The Micro-Tracs will say Micro-Trac on the adjustment turret saddle on the left side. The body of the scope up by the ocular will say WEAVER K4-1 USA still....but Micro-Trac is present on the turret....That's a Micro-Trac! In my opinion, Weaver also improved their coatings at this time because I noticed a brightness difference over the previous model.
The very last K series was the Steel-lite II series. Everything else was the same, except, I guess, they were supposed to be a little lighter. Those final Weaver scopes said K4-II. ( Also, in 1973, they had introduced the Wide Field ocular....which was the same scope in a wide version... the K4-W...)
The Micro-Tracs will say Micro-Trac on them....if it is a Steel-lite II it is still a Micro-Trac....
If it doesn't say Micro-Trac it is an earlier one.
JGRaider wrote:
