The way guns look and work in modern times has significantly changed over the last century, with major improvements made to make them more powerful and accurate. Along with the advancements in the capabilities of the weapons themselves comes the same for attachments used on firearms.
In this blog piece, we're taking a look into the history of gun optics, more specifically, the telescopic rifle sight.
Commonly known as a ‘scope’, one of the first documented attempts of mounting a telescope onto a rifle was during the 17th-century, but due to limitations, these attempts were not practical enough, leading to a halt in progression.
Between 1835-1845 we saw a considerable amount of progression for rifle scopes in the States, with the first documented scope created by a gun maker named Morgan James. Civil engineer, John R. Chapman, documented these developments and later the two men worked together and eventually made the Chapman-James sight, which Morgan James produced and sold. These scopes featured simple lenses and were built very well, making them the best scopes available for quite some time.
It wasn’t until 1855 where a new, more advanced scope was created by William Malcolm. Malcolm had an extensive background working with telescopes, and this evidently showed in his work. This new scope was between 3 and 20 magnification and incorporated achromatic lenses, allowing for the better definition of targets, as well as a flatter field of view. William Malcolm’s scope also improved windage and elevation adjustments.
After William Malcolm's scope in 1855 came developments from Austria, which saw the most practical, refractor rifle scope of its time, made by a man named August Fielder in 1880. Refractor telescopes can gather more light than the naked eye, increasing visibility in low-light conditions by allowing light to pass through directly to the user's eye. Austria soon after was the founding ground of one of the world’s major factories that manufactured telescopic rifles sights; the Kahles Company, who are still producing scopes today!
One of the unintended side effects of the World Wars was a major push for all military based technologies, and telescopic rifle sights were no exception. With the development of scopes with extra-long eye relief that further enhanced capabilities in low-light conditions. The next progression for the telescopic rifle sights was during World War II which saw the introduction of variable power rifle scopes in 1940, enabling the user to change their magnification levels with a control. This was a significant development, as all previous scopes were fixed power scopes. However, these scopes weren't practical enough at the time, with numerous issues such fog appearing inside the scope when in wet conditions – rendering them utterly useless! It wasn’t until 1960 when a waterproof variable power rifle scope was introduced, eliminating the issue. In addition, fixed scopes were not replaced by variable power versions; they simply added another option to the mix.
The second World War also saw an early example of a night vision device. Developed by the Germans during the later stages of the war for assault rifles, the ZG 1229 Vampir was an active infrared device, for use during the night. However, due to its late introduction on the battlefield in 1944, its use was limited. Many developments followed on from this early example of night vision technology, but that's a whole other topic in itself!
Developments to scopes after this came in the form of increasing magnification capabilities, more variety in the reticules options such as illuminated reticules and so on. This brings us to the modern era of scopes, which is a product similar to the 1960/70s but with the addition of more electronic technology being incorporated in its design, such as the introduction of lasers to identify ranges of targets.
Talking about rifles, here at Surplus Store, we have great variety of high powered air rifes along with a selection of scopes to match. Be sure to get in touch today via our email, socials or telephone if you have any enquiries related to our products.
Now you're all clued up on the history of the telescopic rifle sight, why not learn more about gun moderators/suppressors/silencers?
A Brief History of the Telescopic Rifle Sight
Search
Recent Comments
- Ben Austin on Problem with your air gun or airsoft gear? We can help!
- Dan K on Problem with your air gun or airsoft gear? We can help!
- Dan K on Brand Profile: AGM
- David Robinson on Problem with your air gun or airsoft gear? We can help!
- Steve on Brand Profile: AGM
Archives
- March 2024
- February 2024
- January 2024
- November 2023
- October 2023
- September 2023
- August 2023
- July 2023
- June 2023
- May 2023
- April 2023
- March 2023
- February 2023
- January 2023
- December 2022
- November 2022
- October 2022
- September 2022
- August 2022
- July 2022
- June 2022
- May 2022
- April 2022
- March 2022
- February 2022
- December 2021
- November 2021
- October 2021
- July 2021
- June 2021
- May 2021
- April 2021
- March 2021
- February 2021
- January 2021
- December 2020
- November 2020
- October 2020
- September 2020
- August 2020
- July 2020
- June 2020
- May 2020
- April 2020
- March 2020
- February 2020
- January 2020
- December 2019
- November 2019
- October 2019
- September 2019
- August 2019
- July 2019
- June 2019
- May 2019
- April 2019
- March 2019
- February 2019
- January 2019
- December 2018
- November 2018
- October 2018
- September 2018
- August 2018
- July 2018
- June 2018
- May 2018
- April 2018
- March 2018
- February 2018
- January 2018
- December 2017
- November 2017
- October 2017
- September 2017
- August 2017
- July 2017
- June 2017
- May 2017
- April 2017
- March 2017
- February 2017
- January 2017
- December 2016
- November 2016
- October 2016
- September 2016
- August 2016
- July 2016
- June 2016
- May 2016
- April 2016
- March 2016
- February 2016
- January 2016
- December 2015
- November 2015
- October 2015
- September 2015
- August 2015
- July 2015
- June 2015
- May 2015
- April 2015
- March 2015
- February 2015
- January 2015
- December 2014
- November 2014
- October 2014
- September 2014
Categories
- Air Guns (105)
- Air Pistol (58)
- Air Rifle (96)
- Airsoft (253)
- Ammunition (13)
- Archery (10)
- BB Guns (40)
- Blank Firing Guns (1)
- Body Armour (13)
- Charlize Theron
- Clothing (17)
- CO2 Air Pistol (9)
- Deactivated Guns (7)
- Equipment & Accessories (15)
- Events (20)
- Film (41)
- Gaming (18)
- Grenades (3)
- Help Guide (68)
- History (88)
- James Bond (12)
- Knives (31)
- Mad Max: Fury Road
- Military (108)
- New Arrivals (15)
- News (182)
- Paintball (4)
- Pellet Gun (4)
- Quiz (1)
- Replica Guns (17)
- Spy Guns (8)
- Surplus Store (105)
- Survival (31)
- Target Shooting (17)
- Throwing Knives (3)
- Tom Hardy
- TV (9)
- Uncategorized (24)
- Video (23)
- Video Games (2)
- Zombies (9)