Monocular rangefinder company "K.Zeiss" machine-gun model with a 70 cm base for the Russian army

The rarest rangefinder in very good collector's condition. It was adopted to supply machine-gun teams in 1911, along with a range finder from the K.P.Hertz company with a base of 80 cm after completing a special competition with the participation of several foreign companies and conducting many tests organized by the Weapons Department. The Artillery Committee of the State Agrarian University. The tests were conducted mainly on The weapons range at the Officer's Rifle School in Oranienbaum, including with the participation of machine-gun teams. In June 1911, the St. Petersburg District Artillery Department named K.Zeiss ordered 500 rangefinders, and later 54 more. Thus, the total number of rangefinders received from Zeiss before the start of the World War II was 554 units. The rangefinder package included: the rangefinder itself, a holder, a tripod (for working in a prone position), a tripod, a measuring ruler, a rangefinder case and a cover made of soaked cloth for the tripod. There was also a special breastplate for measuring range with hands (standing or sitting). The range finder magnification was 11X, the field of view was 4.1 degrees. The device made it possible to determine the range from 400 to 10,000 steps. The rangefinder was serviced by a two-person rangefinder team. One Zeiss or Hertz optical rangefinder relied on one machine-gun team armed with 8 machine guns. An extremely rare sample of the regular property of RIA machine-gun teams in private collections. Two similar, but much worse preserved rangefinders are available in the collection of VIMAIV and VS in St. Petersburg.