Early Reflex Sights

The Bullet:In

This story starts with a question, as some stories do. Today’s question is simple: If you saw a photo of someone using a reflex sight in the year 1900, would you think they were a time traveler? Before looking into the history of red dots, I certainly would have.

The story starts with Howard Grubb, a son born into an already-prominent telescope family. Under the name of the Grubb Telescope Company, Howard went on to build refractor telescopes for a number of observatories across Europe, powered by his family’s electrically driven clock drives. In 1900, Howard premiered his latest invention - a reflective sight for small arms.

Before too long - and not long before World War II - French forces began adopting the reflex sights for their bombers and fighters. In the 1930s, this technology became a little more widespread, and other airforces began adopting the same.

The Nydar Shotgun Sight gained fame in 1945 for its use on… well, shotguns. This was a remarkably simple contraption, converting Howard’s closed design into a more modern open reflex configuration.

1947 saw the creation of the Giese electric gunsight. The Giese sight had a battery-powered illuminated reticle.

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