Jan 23, 2016 5 min read

Writing a weekly article is kind of strange. The writer compiles what they think of as a masterpiece and it is read without a single word of praise. Another week, they struggle with nothing interesting or exciting and the letters and calls come in high numbers.

With that in mind, I don’t understand the high response I received in relation to the mention of Unertl in a recent column. There are a number of Unertl fans and there are those who have a low opinion of those large-bodied scopes with the external adjustments. In fact, it seems safe to say internal adjustments are far more accepted by most shooters and the external type have fallen aside like the Ford Model T.

Perhaps the popularity of the Unertl scope can partially be traced to the fact they were built here. John Unertl came to this country from Germany and settled in Pittsburgh. At the time, he was working for Fecker Scope Company. Breaking away from the Fecker company, Unertl went into the business of scope sight making on his own in Pittsburgh. Soon, his scope sight became famous for clarity and workmanship.

There are always a few rules of physics that never change. For every action, there is an equal reaction. Also, an object that is stationary tends to stay that way. Those rules mean the scope wants to stay still while the rifle is moving rearward in recoil.

If the scope is not held tightly in place, it will move in the rings. Actually, the rifle slides away from the scope. But when examined, it appears the scope moved forward.

While most scopes are fastened tightly so they don’t move in the mount, the target mount holds the scope in place differently. To keep the heavy scope from shearing off the screws, this system just allows the scope to move with the recoil.

The secret is to control the movement and to bring everything back where it was before the shot.

This is accomplished by the Pope Rib on top of the scope, which slides back and forth under recoil. A spring brings the scope back to the same place when a shot is fired. It’s complicated, but it does work.

Unfortunately, many young shooters don’t trust this setup since they are more familiar with the internal adjustment.

There were a number of models in the Unertl line of scopes, but it is the Ultra Varmint and 2-inch target shooters look for today. The price of a used 15-power Ultra Varmint went through the roof in the last five years, but they are the best of optics.

The Unertl plant in Pittsburgh was moved to build a highway and the company moved to Cranberry. From there, it went to Mars.

But it closed its doors for good in 2008.

The company with the strange name did exist and their optics were as good as any and maybe the best.

• Corbin Shinsky must have thought he was living in the Bronze Age as he sat there beating on a piece of copper tubing shaping it into a rough resemblance of a knife blade. After he got it to look like he wanted, he attached a stick and wrapped the wood with twine forming his first knife by Shinsky.

As adults, we would hardly call such a creation much of a knife. One one attempt at cutting even a soft wood would see not only the edge but the shape stand up to much pressure.

But today, Corbin Shinsky, 19, of Eighty Four, can still be found sitting and working a piece of metal into the shape of a knife blade. Only this time, a forge will be among his tools and the metal won’t be copper but instead a worn down farrier’s rasp.

The farrier’s rasp is a tool used in shoeing horses, and while I don’t know just what grade of steel it is made up of but I do know it is extremely hard. Even a worn rasp has teeth remaining and by only removing part of the rough working teeth Corbin has found he can create a knife with a design on each side of the blade.

The knives this young man makes mostly have handles made of deer antlers. He acquires these by finding sheds in the woods near his home or gets them from his friends.

While this young entrepreneur is trying to turn his hobby into a small business, he realizes the necessity of a real skill so he is a full-time biology major at California University. If all goes well, this young knife maker will have a table at the gun show in April. Knives big and small, Shinsky makes them all.

George H. Block writes a Sunday Outdoors column for the Observer-Reporter.