During the 17th century, shooting aids and aiming devices were being developed, however credit for the actual telescopic sight apparently belongs to the 18th century. The rifle scope was built in the early 18th century somewhere between 1835 and 1840. In a book entitled, "The Improved American Rifle" written in 1844 by John R. Chapman he indicates some of the earliest telescopic sights were produced by Morgan James of Utica, NY and also by William Malcom of Syracuse, NY in 1855 and these were apparently used in the civil war which took place between 1861 and 1865.
DATES of the actual FIRST telescopic sight are somewhat controversial. It is I imagine a simple case of the farther back in history you go looking for something, the less concrete information one can find and document. Here is another link to help clear this up OR perhaps add to the confusion:
http://firearmshistory.blogspot.com/2010/11/sights-telescopic-sight-i.html
EXCERPT:
Monday, November 8, 2010
Sights: Telescopic Sight - I
In the last few posts, we covered a lot of details about
different types of iron
sights. In the next series of posts, we will cover another type of sight,
the telescopic sight.
One feature in common among different types of iron sights that we studied
previously is that they do not perform any image magnification. Hence, if the
user has bad eyesight or if the target is somewhat further away, they are less
effective. The telescopic sight attempts to solve this problem.
The first telescope was invented by a German-Dutchman named Hans Lippershey
in Netherlands in 1608. Later improvements were made by other users, including
the famous Italian scientist, Galileo Galilei. Soon after this, telescopes were
quickly co-opted for use in warfare, for tasks such as observing enemy
formations, determining where artillery shells are falling, observing enemy
ships etc. It is, therefore, very surprising to discover that telescopic sights
weren't used in firearms for a very long time. In fact, the first mention of a
telescope in a firearms sight occurred around 1835-1840, which is almost 230
years after the telescope was invented!
Speaking of the civil war, Union General Sedgwick fell to a well placed shot from a Confederate sniper at an approximate 1000 meters (some historians argue over the exact distance as I have seen 800 meters quoted also)). At the battle of Adobe Walls in 1874 frontier buffalo hunter and scout Billy Dixon made confirmed hits at no less than 1400 meters with a .50 cal Sharps black powder rifle. You will remember the use of the Sharps rifle in the movie, Quigley Down Under.
FOR CIVIL WAR BUFFS HERE ARE A COUPLE OF LINKS WITH MORE DETAIL:
http://clevelandcivilwarroundtable.com/articles/means/sharpshooter.htm
Here is one from the history channel club on civil war snipers including the General Sedgwick incident:
http://www.thehistorychannelclub.com/articles/articletype/articleview/articleid/54/civil-war-snipers
Jumping way up in time, I actually have done most of my whitetail deer hunting with an Ithaca Deer slayer in 12 gauge shooting Foster slugs and wearing a Weaver K2.5 scope. Shooting various varieties of 7/8 oz to 1 oz slugs, the gun was PIE PLATE accurate out to 100 yards or so on the near side of 50-75 yards was all you needed for whitetails in those days. The Ithaca Mdl 37 and the Weaver K2.5 accounted for a bunch of whitetails over the years. I was using the Weaver K2.5 when hardly any of my friends were using a scope at all. Most simply used the gold colored bead on the end of their shotgun bbl as a sight. The Model 37/ bottom ejection Deer Slayer model as I recall was bored straight cylinder and was a dedicated deer gun and not used interchangeably for hunting pheasant or partridge etc. The gun still wears that K2.5 scope and I gave it to my son-in-law a few years ago and it has since accounted for additional whitetails. This of course was a fixed power scope with a 1 inch tube and I believe these scopes were advertised as having coated lenses as opposed to fully coated (all lenses with one coating) or FULLY Multi-coated (with all lenses having multi coating). Of course we had very little to compare it to unlike today's scope offerings. Truth be known, I NEVER felt handicapped with that gun. You do not miss what you have never had I guess.
Today of course things have changed and we have variable scopes, different style reticles, lighted reticles both battery powered and using new technology such as Trijicon uses with no need to replace batteries. You can have your choice of circle dot scopes, lighted diamond shaped reticles, ballistic plex, multiple aiming points, etc. You can have a scope with a choice of red or green colored reticles, 11 rheostat light settings, fully multi coated lenses, shock proof, water proof, Bushnell's rain guard coating (I LOVE this feature), extended eye relief, 1/8 minute clicks, 1/4 min clicks, 1/2 min clicks etc etc.
Isn't technology grand. You can buy a reasonably clear, bright variable scope for $200 or you can spend 10X that amount depending on your budget restrictions and what and where you are going to hunt.
I think most of us are well served with a variable scope such as a Bushnell Elite 3200 series with rain guard and possibly firefly reticle in either 1.5X4.5X32 variation for a .35 Rem, 30-30 Win or a 45-70 Marlin lever action or a 3X9X40 for your .270 Win, .308 Win, 30:06, 7MM etc. Another line of scopes I like is the Mueller 2X7X32 Sport Dot with 1/4 min clicks (ALSO a good choice for a lever action Marlin in .35 Rem, 30-30 or 45-70, or the 3X9X40 Red dot with 1/8 min clicks (see my post and photos on the Muller scope line). I have also grown to appreciate the Burris Fullfield II 3X9X40 scopes and I currently have one with a lighted ballistic plex reticle on my .350 Rem mag. I have used with success over the years other scopes made by Weaver, Redfield, Nikon, and Simmons among others. My favorites in the medium price range currently are the Bushnell Elite series, the Muller red dots scopes and the Burris line. IF you can afford the Zeiss, Trijicon, Swarovski, higher end Leupolds, Meopta, Sightron, Schmidt & Bender etc scopes, you have no need to read my ramblings on selecting a rifle scope.
One item of note, my understanding is that none of the ballistic plex reticles work as they should except on the scopes highest power. In other words if you are in a hunting situation and you use the 200 or 300 yard range bar and your scope is set on 4X instead of 9X on a 3X9X40 scope, your are likely to totally miss your 300 yard whitetail deer standing broadside. All of these multi-aiming reticle scopes are designed to be used on only the highest power. Even then do not just accept the manufacturer's chart for your rifle. Take your chosen load to the range, set the scope on the highest power and actually fire groups at 100, 200, 300 yards etc, to verify for yourself the point of impact before you go paying out $1200 to 3500 for an out of state hunt of a lifetime. Charts are nice as a guideline, however you better do the range work off a good rest before you accept them as gospel. Burn up a box or two of your chosen factory load or hand loads before you use it hunting. You may also want to measure out the distance to the 300 yards mark if you have a place to shoot that far, and then also check out the accuracy of your pocket range finder on a whitetail sized brown colored target.
Dan
We may be tossed upon an ocean where we can see no land -- nor, perhaps, the sun or stars. But there is a chart and a compass for us to study, to consult, and to obey. That chart is the Constitution.
- Daniel Webster
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"If you love wealth more than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, depart from us in peace. We ask not your counsel nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you. May your chains rest lightly upon you and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen."
- Samuel Adams
1 comment:
Thanks for the kind words. I am glad you enjoyed the article. Dan
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