old bushnell featherlights that look like rangemasters? (1 Viewer)

[semlin]

can anyone provide info on my heavy featherlights?

i bought these if binoculars recently at a small online auction from a photo of a dirty binocular. i thought they were normal small featherlights. some quite large heavy binoculars in due course arrived. i have tried researching early featherlight 10 degree binoculars and all i come up with are rangemasters. these do look a lot like early rangemasters with the same markings but lack the word "rangemaster". after some clean up they do perform extremely well with a very strong 3d "planar" effect.

 

[Steve C]

These may well be a forerunner to the Bushnell Rangemaster. The only difference I see between my FPO Rangemaster and your Featherlight is that the right side plate on the Rangemaster says Rangemaster at the top of the plate. In the Rangemaster the FPO logo is replaced with a Bushnell Triple Tested logo. The Rangemaster also uses the featherlight label in the same place as yours does. Aside from that they look identical. The term featherlight bears no relationship to reality.

The Rangemaster is a handful. It has the same size prisms as used in the larger 7x50 models. I agree that they perform very well.

 

[semlin]

These may well be a forerunner to the Bushnell Rangemaster. The only difference I see between my FPO Rangemaster and your Featherlight is that the right side plate on the Rangemaster says Rangemaster at the top of the plate. In the Rangemaster the FPO logo is replaced with a Bushnell Triple Tested logo. The Rangemaster also uses the featherlight label in the same place as yours does. Aside from that they look identical. The term featherlight bears no relationship to reality.

The Rangemaster is a handful. It has the same size prisms as used in the larger 7x50 models. I agree that they perform very well.

it definitely is not a featherlight so maybe that's why they decided to add another top brand name for their best wide angle.

if you don't mind me asking, what is the first three digit of your serial number? that one is 305xxx. i can't find a lower number on a rangemaster online, but i do see very similar 30xxxxx numbers on rangemasters as low as 306xxx

 

[Steve C]

The Rangemaster came about when Dave Bushnell told FPO to build their best binocular and he'd buy them. The Featherlights I have seen have not been anywhere near the size of the Rangemaster.

There is no serial number on my FPO Rangemaster. The Later Tamron model I have has it on the hinge endcap. Might mean the original was lost at some point, although the endcap has the FPO logo.

 

[semlin]

thanks again. i have done some reading.

i have looked at old bushnell ad and catalogs online, and the rangemaster was for sale by 1952. there was no equivalent wide angle featherlight. i cannot find any 1951 catalog or ads but in 1950 ads there was no rangemaster or featherlight 7x35 wide angle.

another detail is that 1951 is the last full year of "made in occupied japan" (april 1952 is when it ended). this binocular says "japan". the 1952 bushnell catalog describes the 8x30 featherlight as "new". i have one that says "made in occupied japan".

from all this and the low but sequential serial number i will make an educated guess this is an early production 1952 rangemaster and maybe even a sample before they settled on new branding.

i think bushnell had established the featherlight brand name as their best quality binocular so they used it on the early rangemasters. i will even go far as to speculate that once they picked up an early sample they realized it was not something they could sell as a featherlight and came up with a new name.

one other detail is i bought this in an auction in canada. sometimes we get the oddball production leftover stuff.