How to use MG34-42 Ranging Bar?

[bjrmg]

Any info on using this item would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks.
Jim R.

[dogman5]

What ranging bar are you talking about?

[JBaum]

Give a better description or picture of what you're calling a "ranging bar".

[bjrmg]

IMA-USA has some Swiss made by WILDE. Pics are on their site. Post war maybe for Swiss MG51. Did Germans use something like this?
Thanks for your response.
Jim R

[JBaum]

Do you know how to post a link to the website page?

IMA is one of the worst sites for truthfulness with descriptions. Sometimes they just make up things. Things are often called prototypes or experimental, when they're actually mismatched parts that someone bolted together, or totally misidentifed as for a particular gun that wasn't even from the same country. I remember when they called a modern MG3 lafette (ground tripod) a wonderful WWII "barn find". The tripod wasn't even made until decades later.

[42rocker]

Here is the link

https://www.ima-usa.com/products/origin ... arked-wild

Later 42rocker

[JBaum]

OK, I just went looking. The "ranging bar" is used to calibrate the optical range finder shown on the same page. Each end of the tube on the range finder has a lens. When you look through the eyepiece, the images from opposite ends of the tube are shown one on top of the other. Align the images, and look at the gauge on the tube to determine distance to target. The distance (alignment of the lenses) is calibrated by using the lined cards. This Swiss model is a very similar item to what the Germans used in WWII. They had this style range finder for everything from machine guns to AA artillery. I've seen pictures of these with 10' long tubes for aiming at high-flying aircraft (B17 bombers), most were under 1 meter long. The Germans called it an EM34 or EM whatever model number it happened to be. Entfernungs Messer (Distance Measurer).
They have a few for sale on ebay now. Operating instructions are on page 333 of the German Reibert training manual I've translated.

https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R ... acat=13956

or do a google search for "German range finder"