I...Is what you're talking about the Bausch&Lomb 61-2268 22x60mm?
The "61-2268" number is engraved on the tiny tripod mounting block on mine.
Mine has written around it (around wider part of barrel couple inches behind the objective) Bausch & Lomb 22x60 Long Eye Relief. It is not armored. There is a an armored model, that lacks that wording, and rather has "Bausch & Lomb" on the side of the wider, objective housing part of the tube.
Fixed, eyepiece, 22x, very long, easy eye relief. The huge eyepiece end has a wide focusing ring around it. It should be "waterproof", mine is.
Got in late 1980's.
What do i think of it? Hmmm. Kind of a love/hate relationship with mine. I have up until a few years ago compared it side/by/side with the big name scopes, outside (at a vendor's setup at a hawk migration site I used to frequent). BTW: Used to see requests for these from hawk count sights. Probably because of the relative (to other scopes) ease of just grabbing the thing by hand for a quick ID. But I digress.
Maybe that is not a digression, actually. I got this scope when into my hawk watch phase, assistant counting, etc. Liked it so much, also have a stored away armoured model.
Anyway.
Comparisons.
Not as sharp or contrasty etc as the Leica/Zeiss/Swarovski/newer Kowa's/Nikon-ED's in the same 60mm-ish range.
A few days ago i was using it on a tripod (unusual) and looking at a Green Heron about 200' away, on a deadfall branch. Good feather detail & texture, good tonality, eye color and parts of eye, etc.
I think the upper end alpha scopes (above), exspecially the FL/ED models, blow it away. I doubt all the newer scopes made on the Rim would improve on it though, from what I have seen. They could though. A few week ago i was using an Astro-Tech 66mm refractor just before dusk (waiting for dark/astronomy) to look at some Sandhill Cranes. The image was the best scope view of a bird I have ever seen, even compated to the alpha scopes (but from memory). The AT 66ED's objective comes from Taiwan, if i remember correctly.
Anyway, the scope;
Chromatic aberration (CA), in full sunlight, bird against sky/cloud.
Very bright views, even compared to the above alpha scopes.
I wear eyeglasses. The ER on these is the best i have ever experienced in a spotting scope.
I now, & have for a few years, study crow behavior as an amateur. The CA sometimes bugs me re that.
I would really like to get a 50mm-65mm ED/FL scope to use, to get rid of the CA. I would also like a decent zoom on the uber scope, with good ER. The Nikon 50mm appears to not have the most generous ER in its eyepiece line. The other alpha scope 65mm's are rather costly for me. Being i use a spotter primarily for behavior & nest watching now, I may get a small Maskutov, but it would have to be weather sealed (the 22x60 being waterproof spoiled me on that.).
I have not been driven to replace it, primarily since it is so convenient for me, and i am so used to it. I eventually stripped the tripod screw hole. Permanently attached a Bogen quick release plate to it that fits my video tripod head and monopod head. Works nice if necessary by hand, or on a small bean bag drapped over a partially rolled down car window. If the day comes it dies, I also have the spare.
Suggestions:
Try it out and use it.
When you can, compare it to others.
