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VERY Interesting Sniper Photo !!!!!

Dave Roberts

Is that a scope you have in your pocket?
Staff member
VZ-24 rifle with which appears to have Czech Srb-Stys Scope and the Commercial version of the SSDC mounts .

In background is German Artillery Gun Crew . Can anyone make determine from pic which Army he serves in .



The photo caption reads ( German Wehrmacht in combat as a sniper sitting at front in 1942) Berliner Verlag/Archive .

I would ask does anyone have or ever seen such a Sniper Rifle ? . Best Regards
 

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Very interesting. Thanks for posting Dave. If I saw that for sale I would think Bubba fantasy rifle, but you never know until you see an actual combat photo of one.
 
Very interesting. Thanks for posting Dave. If I saw that for sale I would think Bubba fantasy rifle, but you never know until you see an actual combat photo of one.

Now don't get me wrong I am not saying this is definitely a WW2 Period photo , I only mentioned what was written for description , that said it sure appears to be WW2 period .

The other thing that crossed my mind was , did someone photoshop the Scope & Rings to an original photo . Thats been done before . I say this because if you look at Scope & Rings they appear to be back a bit to far or is that an optical illusion ????? .
 
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Now don't get me wrong I am not saying this is definitely a WW2 Period photo , I only mentioned what was written for description , that said it sure appears to be WW2 period .

The other thing that crossed my mind was , did someone photoshop the Scope & Rings to an original photo . Thats been done before .

It looks like he is looking through the scope and not iron sights to me. You bring up a good point though.
 
I don't think it is Photo-shopped. But I can't saw for sure if it is WWII. Doesn't look like a re-actor picture to me either. Very interesting.
 
Thanks for posting it. Something about the pic doesn't look right re the scope and bolt. He could have a Vz.24 and simply be looking over his sights. That could be added.
 
Thanks for posting it. Something about the pic doesn't look right re the scope and bolt. He could have a Vz.24 and simply be looking over his sights. That could be added.

I took a straight edge to connect front and rear sight. Extending the line out, it ends up on the shooter's cheek bone. If you do the same to the scope centerline, it ends up in the center of the shooter's eye. First I though it was a turret mount setup but then I noticed the mounts were not smack in the middle of the receiver rings, more like behind the rifle, mounted away from viewer, maybe a side rail mount? Or offset claw mounts?
 
Very interesting photo!!
The gun in the background looks like a 75mm Pak 40. Developed from 1939, introduced in late 1941. Uniform of the sniper sure seems to be German (field cap, shoulder boards, map pouch).
That photo reminds me of my SRB A STYS scope with Yugo inscription. Have to dig it out.
Thanks
Wolfgang
PS: to me, it does not look like the commercial SS DC.
 
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Attached photo shows the inscription on my Yugo/Serb. scope, made by SRB A STYS, PRAHA.

In the 1930s, the SRB A STYS company produced sniper scopes for the Yugo/Serbian Army.
Some scopes with Yugo/Serbian inscription are known. The Yugo/Serbian cyrillic differs only in one letter from other cyrillic scripts. That letter is found on the SRB A STYS made scopes.
All known scopes (only a handful) have no rings, no range markings, no nothing that could identify them as military scopes. They look like straight hunting scopes.
Thanks
Wolfgang
 

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I think the mount is offset to the left. Note that desite the bolt handle being bent the Vz.24 needs a very high scope mount, and it would not work with a mount as low as in this pic. The shadows visible in this picture would confirm this.
 
Attached photo shows the inscription on my Yugo/Serb. scope, made by SRB A STYS, PRAHA.

In the 1930s, the SRB A STYS company produced sniper scopes for the Yugo/Serbian Army.
Some scopes with Yugo/Serbian inscription are known. The Yugo/Serbian cyrillic differs only in one letter from other cyrillic scripts. That letter is found on the SRB A STYS made scopes.
All known scopes (only a handful) have no rings, no range markings, no nothing that could identify them as military scopes. They look like straight hunting scopes.
Thanks
Wolfgang

Wolfgang , Thank You for posting Your scope . Your Scope looks to show were the rear ring was and it looks to be same as scope in photo . When I showed Bruce the photo he also said that it appeared as if Mount was off set like Georg mentions . That does make sense given that the rings do not appear to line up with center of receiver .

Has anyone else ever shown or seen a similar photo or maybe same Pic but from left side . I would be curious to see if the Archive may have photo from different position . Best Regards
 
Hey Dave, possibly it's the ancestor of the Steyr Single Claw mount ............. :googlie

No, to get serious again: did someone else note the sling swivel at the front on the RIGHT side (possibly wrong way installed)? Plus it appears that it doesn't have a sling swivel at the rear bottom. To which rifle does this fit? The Vz.24 should have a sling swivel at the bottom rear.

Edit: anyone an idea on who is the original author of the pic and if there are more of this set? http://www.alamy.de/mediacomp/imagedetails.aspx?ref=E1EMFT
 
Hey Dave, possibly it's the ancestor of the Steyr Single Claw mount ............. :googlie

No, to get serious again: did someone else note the sling swivel at the front on the RIGHT side (possibly wrong way installed)? Plus it appears that it doesn't have a sling swivel at the rear bottom. To which rifle does this fit? The Vz.24 should have a sling swivel at the bottom rear.

Edit: anyone an idea on who is the original author of the pic and if there are more of this set? http://www.alamy.de/mediacomp/imagedetails.aspx?ref=E1EMFT


Georg , I did make mention of Berliner Verlag/Archiv in my original post . I wonder if they may have other similar photos maybe there was a series of photos taken . Best Regards .
 
Very interesting photo!!
The gun in the background looks like a 75mm Pak 40. Developed from 1939, introduced in late 1941. Uniform of the sniper sure seems to be German (field cap, shoulder boards, map pouch).

After a close look at the picture, I don't believe that the man is German, or at the very least that he's not wearing a standard German uniform. Most German tunics I've owned are not pleated the way the one in the photo is. Also, if you look carefully at the stitching you'll notice that the cuffs appear to be different than your standard German tunics. I've snapped a couple photos of one of my tunic's cuffs so that you guys can see what I mean (the German ones open up vertically).

Beyond that, the cap he's wearing appears to be similar to a German M34 over seas cap, but something is hanging off the front (perhaps a button/clasp) which is not typical of the German design, so I believe it to be something else.

The field piece could be a PAK gun, and the other soldiers certainly seem to be wearing Germanic style stahlhelms but it's tough to say whether or not the picture is wartime or post war, because a lot of German materiel was used by a number of countries after the fact.

One thing that I'm almost sure of is that the picture was not snapped in an active combat setting. Look at how relaxed the artillery crew is. They're certainly not worried about an enemy returning fire. Maybe it's a staged photo or a training exercise?
 

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After a close look at the picture, I don't believe that the man is German, or at the very least that he's not wearing a standard German uniform. Most German tunics I've owned are not pleated the way the one in the photo is. Also, if you look carefully at the stitching you'll notice that the cuffs appear to be different than your standard German tunics. I've snapped a couple photos of one of my tunic's cuffs so that you guys can see what I mean (the German ones open up vertically).

Beyond that, the cap he's wearing appears to be similar to a German M34 over seas cap, but something is hanging off the front (perhaps a button/clasp) which is not typical of the German design, so I believe it to be something else.

The field piece could be a PAK gun, and the other soldiers certainly seem to be wearing Germanic style stahlhelms but it's tough to say whether or not the picture is wartime or post war, because a lot of German materiel was used by a number of countries after the fact.

One thing that I'm almost sure of is that the picture was not snapped in an active combat setting. Look at how relaxed the artillery crew is. They're certainly not worried about an enemy returning fire. Maybe it's a staged photo or a training exercise?

I think you are right that the cap is not an overseas cap, but I think you are wrong to suggest that it isn't German. I'd bet its an M42 feldmütze.

From the road wheel and the size of the gun, I'd also say that is definitely a Pak40 in the background.

So Eastern Front circa 1942 makes sense.
 

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I think you are right that the cap is not an overseas cap, but I think you are wrong to suggest that it isn't German. I'd bet its an M42 feldmütze.

From the road wheel and the size of the gun, I'd also say that is definitely a Pak40 in the background.

So Eastern Front circa 1942 makes sense.

Ryan,

That's a great observation RE: the cap! However, I'm going to have to return to the point I was trying to raise in regards to the tunic. The following picture (taken from pg 101 of Feldbluse: The German soldier's field tunic 1933-1945) gives a good illustration of the cuffs of standard German pattern tunics throughout the entirety of the war. As you can see, the vertical slit in the cuff is a constant so, IMHO the soldier in the photo is either wearing an atypical tunic (perhaps he's a foreign volunteer) or it's a post war photo.

Cheers,
Chris
 

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The image is obviously a photoshop. The shotgun is very low on the rifle. She would not open a handle. The assembly of the riflescope is nonsensical. The snapshots of Srb & Štýs Praha, the Hunter brand, were fitted into claw mount. There is no claw mount on the picture.
 

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