While Unertl scopes have been discussed here generally, no one has gone beyond a cursory mention.

I've always been amazed that Unertls were used in severe, military combat situations. While these are excellent scopes even today (they've been out of production for twenty-five years), Unertls are quite fragile in comparison with more modern internally adjustable scopes.

There are several exposed surfaces on Unertl scopes subject to being contaminated by grit, dirt, dust, rainwater, etc. The entire tube, parallax adjustment and locking ring, and threaded lens caps are all blued steel and would likely rust very easily. Overtightening anything on a Unertl is risking breakage.

However, optics are excellent. Parallax adjustment works as well as anything we have today, but the actual adjustment is not an exercise in convenience. Some condemn the small field of view, but this is more of an academic "easy-chair expert" criticism than something real.

I haven't fiddled with this in a long time, but as I recall, scope adjustments are very repeatable and one will likely find the "feel" of Unertl "clicks" more positive than on any other scope. I've tried removing and re-attaching a Unertl (very quick and simple process that can be done without tools). Seems like the zero is retained or is very close after re-attaching, but I can't recall for sure; haven't done it in a while.

I suppose the military users of Unertls were well-versed regarding the previously mentioned shortcomings of these scopes and took great care in handling them.