Talk:Telescopic sight

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This is the talk page for discussing improvements to the Telescopic sight article.
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[edit] over and under

The over and under type of mounting, in which the ironsight are still visible (useful for lineing up with a target more easily, and following a near target) under the scope, ill try to work on it but im short on time --Norton112200 01:00, 14 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] no title

Telescopic crosshairs can be any figure, so they often are in shapes that are supposedly superior to the usual simple opaque rectangle of iron sights. The lines of telescopic crosshairs are thinner, making the target more visible "around" the crosshair. This particular advantage can only be copied with iron sights through the both eyes open shooting skill, and then without magnification. Telescopic crosshairs often have features such as angle marking scales for range estimation and "leading" moving targets. Telescopic crosshairs often have figures to help find the part of the crosshair corresponding to the aimpoint.(needs checking) FET 03:34, 20 Nov 2004 (UTC)

I edited the first and last pictures, I think they look better-- hope you agree :) If not, feel free to revert the change! Jellocube27 21:01, 24 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Other Weapons

If scopes are also used for airguns and crossbows, should the intro sound more like:

(modified from the iron sights article)

A telescopic sight, commonly referred to as a scope, is a device used to give an accurate point of aim for weapons such as firearms, airguns, and crossbows. Other sighting systems are iron sights, red dot sights, and laser sights.

This article will concentrate on firearms sights; the principles described are equally applicable to any device which needs aiming. For the sake of brevity, the term gun will be used to indicate any device aimed by a telescopic sight, the term shooter will be used for the operator of said device, and the term target will be the object at which the device is being aimed. raptor 06:56, 3 July 2006 (UTC)

I'll change it for now. raptor 09:34, 3 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Picture of (not through) a scope

In my opinion this article would benefit from the addition of a picture of a scope that isn't through the optics. I've uploaded a picture of one of my scopes at Image:Swift687M.jpg but I'm having trouble adding it to the article in a way that doesn't mess up the formatting. Any ideas? -- Captaindan 00:54, 4 October 2006 (UTC)

Done. Feel free to edit the caption with more info, like power range, objective lens size, and tube diameter, if you have them handy, or I can look them up on Swift's website (assuming it's a current model) later. scot 03:01, 4 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Type/Mil-Dot repeated content

I'm too tired at the moment, but if someone would like to tidy up the repetitions between the "Type" and "Mil-Dot" sections (e.g. definitions of a milli-radian, formula), that would be cool. --Evanturner 09:00, 8 June 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Fiber optic cable

Why is'nt it also possible to implement a fiber optic cable in the gun's barrel ? This would eliminate the need of adjusting the scope every time to the distance of the target (as the barrel is directly aimed at it, and any correction would only be necessairy only over very long distance (which most guns/gun operators cannot target at in practice anyhow). Fiber optic cables could be implemented within the barrel, behind the firing mechanism and might also be adapted to allow magnification (via electronic way, ...) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.244.194.160 (talk) 17:45, 10 September 2007 (UTC)

The assumptions on which you're basing this are invalid.
  • First, you assume bullet drop is negligable at short ranges, which is not true. A bullet starts to accelerate downwards as soon as it exits the barrel, and therefore drops immediately below the line of sight down the barrel. Look at the discussion of maximum point blank range for more information on that; rather than having the sights in line with the barrel, it's actually better in many applications to have them several inches above the barrel. The only case where it's advantageous from an accuracy perspective to have the sights close to the line of the bore is when you're firing at very close ranges at small targets that vary significantly in range. Based on the maximum point blank range calculations, for close range work you want the sights exactly 1/2 the target diameter above the bore line, which gives you a max point blank range started at range 0 and going out as far as possible given the external ballistics of the gun.
  • Second, you assume that optical fibers can transmit visual data. This is not correct; fiber optics can transmit light with very little loss over long distances, but they are not capable of transmitting a visual image. The light is refracted and reflected at random as it passes through the fiber, which would distort any image beyond hope of reconstruction. Do do what you're wanting, you'd need a rigid lens system. A reflector telescope would be what you'd want, as they operate just fine even with an object running down the middle of the main reflector. You'd want an offset secondary reflector, and that would go to the eyepiece.
And one last point; if there were a ballistics advantage to mounting the sights as close to the bore centerline as possible, then the simple solution would be to mount them to the side of the bore. That would put them on the same level, allowing you to vertically line the sight up with the bore, and give you a constant horizontal offset. However, modern applications have been shifting towards higher velocity cartridges and higher lines of sight--see, for example, the M-16 rifle and AK-74, both of which have high sight lines. There are other issues involved as well, such as controlling recoil (the M-16, for example, recoils straight into the shoulder to control muzzle rise) and ergonomics, but but in general, as long as the bullet is going to curve down, you're better off with sights above the bore line. scot 20:32, 10 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Most used scopes

Perhaps some extra examples should be given. Especially the inexepensive russian scopes are not represented. These are the 91/30 PU rifle scope and the Dragunov POSP rifle scope and PILAD rifle scope

Links:

[edit] copyright infringement on image

The S&B P4 reticle image was used without my permission. The original is here http://demigodllc.com/photo/SRM-2006.06/?small=B100_1199_img.jpg —Preceding unsigned comment added by Zak Smith (talk • contribs) 04:37, 20 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] New technology that might be used to make new types of scopes

Perhaps the techology found at This page might be used to make new (and inexpensive?) scopes.

Note that besides the company in singapore, other companies too have developed similar technology. See variable focus liquid lens (perhaps a article might be created in wiki bearing the same name, and placed under "lenses") —Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.245.175.167 (talk) 17:28, 3 October 2007 (UTC)

Cheers —Preceding unsigned comment added by 87.64.169.14 (talk) 12:25, 27 September 2007 (UTC)

Not sure how well they'd do under the shock loading they're going to get from recoil. On the other hand, if they could handle the shock, they'd make zoom lens assemblies much more compact. scot 13:42, 27 September 2007 (UTC)