Schmidt & Bender (often abbreviated as S&B) is a German company specialized in producing high end

telescopic sight A telescopic sight, commonly called a scope informally, is an optical sighting device based on a refracting telescope. It is equipped with some form of a referencing pattern – known as a '' reticle'' – mounted in a focally appropriate ...

s for hunting, sports, law enforcement and military arms. The company was founded in 1957 by instrument maker Helmut Schmidt and master instrument maker Helmut Bender. The company started with producing telescopic sights for large German (mail order) hunting equipment sales chains under various brand names and gradually started to produce telescopic sights under their own brand name. Currently (2008) the company is still a family enterprise. Much of the assembly process is done by hand, which is why the company can only turn out a limited number of scopes annually. Schmidt & Bender is an

ISO 9001 The ISO 9000 family is a set of five quality management systems (QMS) standards that help organizations ensure they meet customer and other stakeholder needs within statutory and regulatory requirements related to a product or service. ISO ...

certified company.

Schmidt & Bender Hungaria Optik

In 1992 Schmidt & Bender Hungaria Optik GmbH in

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the ...

was founded as an independent company by Schmidt & Bender GmbH & Co. KG, Biebertal, Germany. The process of privatisation in Hungary made it possible for Schmidt & Bender to buy the production of precision optics and fibre optics from the government-owned enterprise of the Hungarian Opticai Works (MOM). Schmidt & Bender bought Hungarian Opticai Works since this company produced and still produces the optical components Schmidt & Bender uses in their rifle scopes. In 2008 Schmidt & Bender Hungaria Optik employed 80 people. The fixed magnification models of the Schmidt & Bender Classic product line can be either "

Made in Germany Made in Germany is a merchandise mark indicating that a product has been manufactured in Germany. History The label was introduced in Britain by the '' Merchandise Marks Act 1887'', to mark foreign produce more obviously, as foreign manufactur ...

" or "Made in Hungary". The Hungarian made scopes are normally not offered to US and Western European customers and tend to be somewhat less expensive. The outsourcing of component production or external purchasing of specialized components to or from countries like

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

, etc. is quite normal for high end telescopic sights producers. Stating a

country of origin Country of origin (CO) represents the sovereign state, country or countries of manufacture, production, design, or brand origin where an merchandise, article or product comes from. For multinational brands, CO may include multiple countries wit ...

often does not guarantee that a product was completely made and assembled in that country. Some competitors of Schmidt & Bender however refuse to provide information to consumers regarding relevant (optical) components sources.

Products

Schmidt & Bender offers telescopic sights in three major groups and that are those meant for hunters, for sport and others meant for professional use (Military, Police, Security). As of 2019 the following series are available:Schmidt & Bender product listing
/ref> ;

Hunting Hunting is the human activity, human practice of seeking, pursuing, capturing, or killing wildlife or feral animals. The most common reasons for humans to hunt are to harvest food (i.e. meat) and useful animal products (fur/hide (skin), hide, ...

rifle telescopic sights: * Classic product line designed for

hunting Hunting is the human activity, human practice of seeking, pursuing, capturing, or killing wildlife or feral animals. The most common reasons for humans to hunt are to harvest food (i.e. meat) and useful animal products (fur/hide (skin), hide, ...

. * Precision Hunter line. These scopes are produced on special order and based on Classic line scopes, each equipped with a top-mounted bullet drop compensator and reticles designed for accurate shooting at longer ranges. * Zenith product line designed for

. * Summit scope with 1 inch tube Schmidt & Bender summit scope
/ref> * Stratos product line Schmidt & Bender Stratos 1.5-8x42 review
/ref> * Polar T96 product line (brightest scopes on the market) Video about Schmidt & Bender Polar t96
/ref> * Exos product line Schmidt & Bender Exos 1-8x24 review
/ref>Schmidt & Bender Exos 3-21x50 presentation
/ref> ;Sport rifle telescopic sights * Sport line designed for field target sports shooters. ;Professional rifle telescopic sights * Police Marksman (PM) product line designed for the

military A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. It is typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with its members identifiable by their distinct ...

and law enforcement. * Police Marksman II (PM II) product line designed for the

and law enforcement. * PM II ShortDot, product line with wide angle telescopic sightsSchmidt & Bender 1-8x24 PM II ShortDot Dual CC article
/ref> * PM II High Power, product line with high zoom factors Schmidt & Bender 3-27x56 PM II High Power scope review
/ref> * PM II Ultra Short, product line with short overall length Schmidt & Bender 5-20x50 PM II Ultra Short scope review
/ref> * PM II Ultra Bright, product line with high light transmission rate (similar in design to Polar T96 scopes)
/ref> * PM II High Power Digital BT with integrated display * MILITARY MK II product line designed for the military. These telescopic sights are essentially PM II models with an additional laser filtration lens coating to protect operators against being wounded/blinded by laser light sources. The MILITARY MK II telescopic sights are marketed by sniper rifle manufacturer

Accuracy International Accuracy International is a British firearms manufacturer based in Portsmouth, Hampshire, England. The company produces the Accuracy International Arctic Warfare series of precision sniper rifles. The company was established in 1978 by Britis ...

and have the Accuracy International company logo depicted on a turret. For some models the option exists to have mounting rails underneath the riflescope to provide for mounting solutions that do not use scope rings. These rails are an integral part of the scope body and can not be removed. The most recent rail mounting system of Schmidt & Bender is their proprietary " Convex rail". The Convex rail uses matching slide-in mount fasteners to connect the riflescope to the gun and offers the possibility to tilt the scope up to 1° to the left or right. Since 2017 Schmidt & Bender also offer the

Zeiss rail Zeiss inner rail,ZEISS ...

system on some of their hunting telescopic sights in the following series: Exos, Polar T96 and Stratos. The telescopic sights equipped with the Zeiss mounting rail are marked LMZ (Light Metal with Z-rail) in the Schmidt & Bender catalogs.Zeiss ZM/VM mounting rail and its history explained
/ref>

Sniper rifle manufacturers promoting the PM II / MILITARY MK II product line

The British high end factory sniper rifle manufacturer

actively promotes fitting the Schmidt & Bender PM II / MILITARY MK II product line as sighting components on their Arctic Warfare family of sniper rifles and sells these products as accessories, which is rare for a rifle manufacturer. The Swiss fire arms manufacturer

Brügger & Thomet B&T AG (formerly Brügger & Thomet AG; sometimes rendered B+T) is a Swiss defence supplier specializing in the design and manufacturing of firearms and tactical components such as sound suppressors and rail systems. The company is based in Thun, ...

(B&T) uses specially made Schmidt & Bender 3-12x50 PM II LP product line scopes with a B&T designed TRS reticle pattern for their APR bolt-action sniper rifles. The German fire arms manufacturer

Heckler & Koch Heckler & Koch GmbH (HK; ) is a German defense manufacturing company that manufactures handguns, rifles, submachine guns, and grenade launchers. The company is located in Oberndorf am Neckar in the German state of Baden-Württemberg, and also ...

(H&K) uses Schmidt & Bender 3-12x50 PM II telescopic sights as standard aiming optics for their PSG1A1 semi-automatic sniper rifles.Product Description for H&K PSG1A1 semi-automatic 7.62mm sniper rifle
/ref>

Gallery

Image:Mini Hecate 338.jpg, Schmidt & Bender 3-12x50 PM II P telescopic sight fitted with scope rings on a PGM .338 LM

sniper rifle A sniper rifle is a high-precision, long-range rifle. Requirements include accuracy, reliability, mobility, concealment and optics for anti-personnel, anti-materiel and surveillance uses of the military sniper. The modern sniper rifle is a por ...

. Image:Schmidt & Bender 5-25x56 PM II LP controls.jpg, Schmidt & Bender 5-25x56 PM II LP telescopic sight and its adjustment controls. Image:S&B P4 reticle at 5x zoom.png, The P4

stadiametric rangefinding Stadiametric rangefinding, or the stadia method, is a technique of measuring distances with a telescopic instrument. The term stadia comes from a Greek unit of length '' Stadion'' (equal to 600 Greek feet, ''pous'') which was the typical length ...

reticle as used in the Schmidt & Bender 5-25x56 PM II LP at 5x zoom. Image:S&B P4 reticle at 25x zoom.png, The P4

reticle as used in the Schmidt & Bender 5-25x56 PM II LP at 25x zoom.

References

External links

Schmidt & Bender company website English

Schmidt & Bender company website German

Schmidt & Bender Hungaria Optik company website English
{{DEFAULTSORT:Schmidt and Bender Manufacturing companies of Germany Optics manufacturing companies Companies based in Hesse