Okay, finally got the Kahles through customs (stalled in NY for 3 weeks). Good news: the optics are much, much better than those on the original Oigee.

And for the bad: there's no way this scope will work on my rifle by trying to mate its existing mounts up to the existing bases. The trouble is eye-relief--the Kahles is a dainty little scope, and it's got to be positioned just-so--the front pincer was clearly mounted originally to the receiver ring, which would put the ocular far enough back to work. Move it ahead of the receiver, and no dice.
Now I understand those offset mounts like Kuduae has on the scope for his M1900...

So back to square one. The amazing clarity of this 1930-vintage Kahles makes me wonder if the Oigee doesn't simply have a problem that might be fixed by refurbishing--my experience with scopes of this era is limited is to the two I have in hand. Dons, if you read this, what's your Oigee like for clarity? Mine is really fish-eyed, with this crazy distortion around the perimeter. Is this typical, or indicative of a problem? If anyone has any insight, please help! Also, recommendations for a scope doctor (Parsons already bowed out) would be greatly appreciated...

Best,
Malcolm