Purpose of early Reflector sight

Ad: This forum contains affiliate links to products on Amazon and eBay. More information in Terms and rules

looney

Airman 1st Class
186
1
May 6, 2010
I got a question about early Reflector Sights.

What makes them better than a simple ring a bead sight? Early versions didn't have a gyro, so what is their advantage?
 
I got a question about early Reflector Sights.

What makes them better than a simple ring a bead sight? Early versions didn't have a gyro, so what is their advantage?


Easier position of head for one thing. Head (eyeball) position has greater latitude of position without introducing errors.

Some of them acted as primitive range finders. Set ring for desired target or wing span and when the target filled the ring you were at the desired range.
 
Remember
it wasn't just the ring and bead that the reflector sight was supplanting, another standard that was still around at the beginning of the war was the Aldis sight and here the advantages were obvious, you weren't sacrificing your everywhere-else vision while you were using it.

The Germans were using their own systems, the VE compensating series which was admittedly similar to the Aldis version for flexible guns, before they went the way of the reflector with a series of different models of the Revi sight.

The primitive ranging theory is the closest, though not all early reflectors had the ability to adjust the ring.
 
In addition, with the ring and bead sight, the eye tends to change focus on the ring, the bead and the target. With the reflector sight, both eyes focus on the target. Much easier!
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Back