zeiss duralyt

338weatherby

I was wondering if anyone could tell me how the Zeiss Duralyt dark gray finish looks on a gloss blued gun. I am building a custom 700 that will be blued and would like opinions or possible picks?

nononsense

338weatherby,

Very interesting question which rarely gets asked or considered.

When I was building big game rifles, great pains were taken to match the scope to the barreled action finish. We even took it so far as to refinish the scope to match the metal of the rifle. This was because the owners wanted this expensive rifle to look the best, not just throw a scope on it and hope for the best.

So the answer to your question is another question. What level of sensitivity do you have to match something or are you willing to accept a mismatch as long as the rifle/scope combination performs? The Zeiss dark grey finish will not match the gloss blue of your rifle, obviously.

The pragmatic approach leads us to believe that we can just place any scope of our choosing on the rifle and go hunt, and we can. However, the person who is concerned with every detail regarding the construction of a custom rifle will often agonize over the question of matching or at least getting it real close.

To me, it's a fairly simple answer since the Remington 700 is not considered to be a piece of fine art for the shooting community. If you want the Zeiss, get it but then change your idea of the metal finish on the M700. A classic rust blue finish will wear better and be a much nicer looking and higher grade of finish than the gloss 'blue' ever could be. There will then be a richness in the overall appearance of the both the rifle and the scope.

But this is your rifle not mine so maybe a trip to the local (or further) gun shop where you might find such a scope and a gloss blue rifle will certainly answer your question the fastest.

Good Luck with your search!

Best.

338weatherby

Thanks for the good point you made about rust bluing in lieu of glossy. That would indeed look better. The rifle will be both functional and easy on the eyes. I'm having a stock made by Accurate Innovations. Not sure if you have heard of them but they do nice work. I had another Remy 338-06 stocked by them in a nice piece of Myrtle. This time I went with a dark piece of exhibition grade Claro and it will be 7x57AI. I don't mind the finish mismatches per say. Just haven't seen a Duralyt mounted on a wood stocked American rifle. Not sure if the classic lines of a Leupold would look better.

338weatherby

Nononsense,

Looking at my last build, it is rust blued and the current project will be too. The reference to gloss was meant to be "not matte". Again thanks for the clarification.