Bushnell extolls the virtues of its Bullet Drop Compensator in this 1979 advertisement. While improved optics are always welcomed, the cost – both in terms of price and weight – can push them out of consideration by many hunters.

This is not always a good thing for deer hunting rifles. Scopes have since grown bigger, heavier, more powerful and more complex. The most popular scope of that day was Weaver’s K4, a 9-ounce, $45 optic that had appeared in 1947. In 1962, a year after Leupold announced its Vari-X 3-9x, Lyman began fitting All American scopes with Perma-Center reticles. To keep it centered, engineers placed the erector pivot at the tube’s rear, where the reticle was. Until the 1950s, adjusting W/E dials sent the reticle out of the field’s middle. The above image is from a 1966 Lyman advertisement for the All-American scope with the Perma-Center reticle. Scope prices had moved little since the ’20s. Fog-free scopes arrived shortly after WW II, at Leupold & Stevens. Soon thereafter a Zeiss engineer found coating lenses with magnesium fluoride made images brighter. That’s still a good price for a quality optic.īy the time Weaver rolled out the Model 330, Zeiss acquired Hensoldt and offered variable power scopes. While that sounds like an extraordinary deal, in today’s dollars that would be a little more than $300. The 10-ounce 3x sight had a 3/4-inch steel tube and internal W/E (windage/elevation) adjustments. In this 1968 advertisement, Redfield demonstrated how its Accu-Range scopes helped shooters estimate distance using the reticle.īill Weaver invented his Model 330 in 1930. More people taking to the field to feed their families with deer meat might have played a role in this.

scope-makers proliferated during the Great Depression. Zeiss listed a short “prism” scope around 1904, soon after the J. While they don’t have the same quality of modern optics, they were an improvement over standard sights. The first scopes were barrel-length tubes with small, dim fields and fragile innards.

A hunting scope should be as fast and easy to use as iron sights. Want to adjust and zero any scope for faster, more accurate shots - or update yourself on reticles, mils and range-compensating scopes? These tips from 50 years of deer hunting will help you make that crucial shot when a buck appears opening day! Most deer are shot inside 200 yards and shots are made quickly. Looking for a new rifle scope for the upcoming deer season? Here are the most important features to keep in mind.

Dating lyman scopes