Weaver 330 (M37B1)

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Weaver 330 (M37B1)
commercial - 2.75x - United States - commercial

Designed and built by William R. Weaver for the American commercial market the Weaver M330 owed much of its success to its simplicty, low price and the ease with which the Weaver company was able to scale up the scopes production. Called the Model 330 (early material sometimes shows it as the 3-30) since it was a 3x scope (actually closer to 2.75x) designed in 1930. Initially sold for $19 (scope and mount) it was signficiallty cheaper than an imported German scope from the likes of Zeiss or even most of Weaver's American competition. The Weaver M330 would be produced in two versions the M330S (screw type adjustment knobs) and the 330C (1/4 minute click adjustment knobs)(Stroebel 2000).

The Weaver M330 would remain in production from 1930 till 1947 during which time William and the Weaver company would move from Newport, Ky to El Paso, TX in 1933. The company would move in 1936 and 1939 to larger facilites within El Paso as it grew its production ability. In 1940 Weaver would open a new factory on 1800 First St (Stroebel 2000). This growth in production ability would be vital to the scopes adoption by the US military during WWII. Although the military had found the newer Lyman Alaskan scope to be superior and adopted it as the M73, Lyman was unable to meet production needs resulting in the Weaver M330C being adopted as the M73B1.

A variant of the M330 was the M440, essentially a lengthend M330 scope giving it 4x magnification. It started being sold in either 1933 or 1934. It also came in a S or C version like the M330 (Stroebel 200).

Images

On hunting rifle.

On M1903A4 with US soldiers during WWII.

Weaver M330 ads: 1933, 1937, 1938, 1939, 1939, 1943, 1946.

References

Stroebel, N. (2000). Old Rifle Scopes. Krause Publications.