A whole lot of people have used red dot sights, but how many actually understand how they work? Let’s see if we can fix that today…
© 2026 Forgotten Weapons.
Site developed by Cardinal Acres Web Development.
A whole lot of people have used red dot sights, but how many actually understand how they work? Let’s see if we can fix that today…
© 2026 Forgotten Weapons.
Site developed by Cardinal Acres Web Development.
That clouded plastic optic could be fixed by a Cerakote Headlight Restoration kit. $16 at Walmart, and work great.
“(…)World War I, both the British
and the Germans started working on
rudimentary but real and functional
cullamating optical sights for fighter
aircraft for the machine guns on early
fighters. At this point, this sort of
site was fairly large and clunky. It was
something that could be used on say
artillery perhaps as well as built into
aircraft, but it wasn’t small enough to
put on individual small arms. That would
come several decades later.(…)”
Actually reflex sight suited for hand-held fire-arm was developed more than decade earlier. This was A New Collimating-telescope Gun-Sight For Large And Small Ordnance developed by Sir Howard Grubb https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Howard_Grubb_Reflexvisier_2.jpg around 1901 and patented, U.S. patent is US734060A and can be seen at https://patents.google.com/patent/US734060A
I have mistakenly linked wrong patent by same inventor, it should be US683203A Sighting device for guns. https://patents.google.com/patent/US683203 filed in 1900, which mean said invention is from 19th century. British patent Improvements in Sighting Devices for Guns. https://patents.google.com/patent/GB190022127A can also be seen and also was filed in year 1900.
Bloke on the Range did a great video on the Occluded Eye Gunsight. Will put a link here so you can watch it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PNqLfYB5N34
Used on 40mm grenade launchers
Years ago, I had a Marlin 1895 .45-70 with a Bushnell 1.5X-5X variable on top.
With the magnification dialed down to 1.5X, All i had to do was keep both eyes open, bring the rifle up, and the scope looked exactly like a “dot” sight in my field of view, except with a crosshair.
Out to 100 meters, it put the 300-grain JHP right where the crosshair was, every time.
The effectiveness of low-or-zero-magnification “dot” sights has more to do with how your eye reacts to something in your field of view than the exact mechanics of each individual type of sight. This is as true of the modern ACOG as it is of the old Nydar shotgun sight.
Or “field expedients” like mine.
clear ether
eon
It’s interesting to think about the brain combining the target picture and. the red dot into one picture. How precise can my brain do that? Will it fool me by imagining the dot to be where I want it to be?
Fantastic video. Well explained and great history! Is the British Trilux SUIT a similar sight!
I only had heard of the term “Collimator” prior, as the Sa80 “British gun, aye that.” Had a gadget, that you inserted into the bore at the muzzle & you adjusted the susat sight (Via turning some screws to make it go up/down, left/right) to zero it… On a recticule of… A horizontal/vertical cross hatch, and that, er… Well, I assume given it was stuck in the bore, aligned the sight, to the basic; area of… Well, to be inline with the bore. Point being, a basic zero thing without firing and doing the adjustments that way. Or… It meant less firing was meant to sort of do it – You know the alignment of the bore to something inline with scopes recticule. Interesting stuff. Can’t claim I understood it really at the time, but this video helped’ish – Inconjuction with then thinking about modern red dot sights. Interesting stuff. I once thought could you put a laser pointer, on a Susat “The Sa80 sight” mount, the pointer attached to the mount; then build a sight around that (Was 20 yr or so ago) then, what happens is the pointer, hits a mirror thing – It zaps out towards the target, and you see the beam end either magnified by looking into the sight, or if you look above the sight… You just see the beam. Now, thinking now about red dots and magnifiers… Not sure if that would work, as such or not. In regards “What lense & what mirror” but on the face of it, is was sort of along the right lines.
I had, had pellet guns prior, which you adjusted the scopes “Reticule” thing for, but I seem to remember thinking, oh, you adjust the mount on the susat (I assumed a design that enabled the sight to be heavy armoured) which it was I dropped one, and the Sa80 is a heavy gun, right on the sight (Northern Ireland, fannying around with riot shields etc) and it landed right on the sight – I thought feck… Bomb proof, didn’t damage the sight or mount… Incidentally.
So there is a bit of credit, from me, going to the Sa80; bounce, no issue – Wasn’t I remember trying to track said gun, thinking “Have I fecked it” hadn’t same basic zero, etc, etc. Interesting point, in away, in of itself.
The Sa80 “Collimator” had a sort of wee scope, with said reticule, that you could see via looking through the Susat; with the Collimator device being stuck in the bore by, an appropriate sized pipe thing, eh. Interesting stuff.
Actually… Given the time; N.I the designers knew. Hmmm… Fair play to them, the Sa80. Was always sort of accurate.
“Know what I mean; your beast of of highlander has shot my daughter because he needs glasses. No he doesn’t, it was more or less spot on.” Unexplained fires are a matter for the courts; Canyonero.
Trevice delay scope stg45 mk1. Idea; issue, massed com bloc; hey fair play to them; not like we don’t desereve it – But feck them, more fecked. Bang them out, kill with impetus/localised drone. Cheap like, said imptus – Give everone 5, Russians – Aye they’ll find there way to 16 yr olds, next question.
“Trevice delay scope stg45 mk1.(…)”
How is Trevice Layne https://trevice.net/ connected to 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th entity?
https://youtu.be/oc2EK3rQPjw?si=NTBVoiqmRJ2AG0HU My poor old pop loved this. Ende.
Looking forward to more content like this Ian!
The second sight that you introduced is actually a Singlepoint, not the later Armson which was essentially the same concept in a smaller form factor. Specifically, its most likely the SP241 model and would date from the early 1970s. The dome was supposed to be cloudy, unlike some of their earlier models. Nice early B-Square AR mount too.