27-01-2014, 05:21 PM
This thread was begun on another forum and I am transferring the posts to here.
You bring up a very good point about scopes designed for air guns and low velocity .22 calibre rifles.
The rifle scope mounted on LHO's alleged M91/38 6.5mm Carcano short rifle was an Ordnance Optics 4x18 scope. It was a very inexpensive scope made in Japan and was designed to be mounted on a .22 calibre rifle. Due to the low velocity of a .22 rifle, it is not a rifle typically used to make 100 metre shots, and target shooting at 25 metres is more in line with its capabilities.
To better understand this scope, it is necessary to define the numbers assigned to it, 4x18. The number 4 tells us that this scope will magnify the size of anything viewed through it four times. The number 18 defines what is known as the "objective lens diameter" and is the diameter of the forward end of the scope that allows light in. The larger the diameter, the more light is allowed to enter the scope and the better defined the target is to the viewer. As stated, this scope was 18 mm in diameter. Scopes designed to shoot 100+ metres usually start at around 32 mm and go as high as 50 mm.
A very important feature of a scope, and the cause of your problems in re-acquiring your target, is a thing known as "field of view". This is usually defined in hunting scopes as the width of the area visible through a scope at 100 metres. Quite simply, some "wide angle" scopes, such as the original Redfield Widefield scopes, made it much simpler to find what you were shooting at by giving you a wider view of where it was. I bought a wide angle Bushnell scope for a rifle years ago simply because I could not track a moving deer when viewing it in such a tiny field of view as was seen in the scope I replaced. Now, when you design a scope to shoot .22 calibre rifles at 25 metre targets, field of view no longer becomes a concern for the manufacturer. I remember shooting .22 rifles equipped with similar cheap scopes as a kid, and the field of view was ridiculously small, comparable to trying to find someone in a crowd by looking through a 1/2" tube.
For those who believed Oswald used the open sights on 22/11/63, here is a good question. If Oswald practiced shooting this rifle as much as some claim he did, he would have noticed the inadequacies of the scope re: field of view immediately. Wouldn't it be likely that he would have removed the scope prior to bringing the rifle to the TSBD, if he knew he was going to be using the open sights?
More to come......
ianlloyd wrote
id its offset mounting make using the open sights a possibility?
Looking at the scope, it looks to be mounted quite high above the weapon, presumably in order to allow operation of the bolt but also to allow the shells to eject without hitting the scope? Does this provide sufficient space beneath the scope to have used the iron sights instead? I've only shot air guns as a kid and used scopes on those sometimes and recall finding it difficult to re-acquire a target (obviously just to look at it after firing to see if I'd hit it). I usually removed the scope as I found it easier with just the iron sights, even more so if tracking a target.
Hello Ianid its offset mounting make using the open sights a possibility?Looking at the scope, it looks to be mounted quite high above the weapon, presumably in order to allow operation of the bolt but also to allow the shells to eject without hitting the scope? Does this provide sufficient space beneath the scope to have used the iron sights instead? I've only shot air guns as a kid and used scopes on those sometimes and recall finding it difficult to re-acquire a target (obviously just to look at it after firing to see if I'd hit it). I usually removed the scope as I found it easier with just the iron sights, even more so if tracking a target.
You bring up a very good point about scopes designed for air guns and low velocity .22 calibre rifles.
The rifle scope mounted on LHO's alleged M91/38 6.5mm Carcano short rifle was an Ordnance Optics 4x18 scope. It was a very inexpensive scope made in Japan and was designed to be mounted on a .22 calibre rifle. Due to the low velocity of a .22 rifle, it is not a rifle typically used to make 100 metre shots, and target shooting at 25 metres is more in line with its capabilities.
To better understand this scope, it is necessary to define the numbers assigned to it, 4x18. The number 4 tells us that this scope will magnify the size of anything viewed through it four times. The number 18 defines what is known as the "objective lens diameter" and is the diameter of the forward end of the scope that allows light in. The larger the diameter, the more light is allowed to enter the scope and the better defined the target is to the viewer. As stated, this scope was 18 mm in diameter. Scopes designed to shoot 100+ metres usually start at around 32 mm and go as high as 50 mm.
A very important feature of a scope, and the cause of your problems in re-acquiring your target, is a thing known as "field of view". This is usually defined in hunting scopes as the width of the area visible through a scope at 100 metres. Quite simply, some "wide angle" scopes, such as the original Redfield Widefield scopes, made it much simpler to find what you were shooting at by giving you a wider view of where it was. I bought a wide angle Bushnell scope for a rifle years ago simply because I could not track a moving deer when viewing it in such a tiny field of view as was seen in the scope I replaced. Now, when you design a scope to shoot .22 calibre rifles at 25 metre targets, field of view no longer becomes a concern for the manufacturer. I remember shooting .22 rifles equipped with similar cheap scopes as a kid, and the field of view was ridiculously small, comparable to trying to find someone in a crowd by looking through a 1/2" tube.
For those who believed Oswald used the open sights on 22/11/63, here is a good question. If Oswald practiced shooting this rifle as much as some claim he did, he would have noticed the inadequacies of the scope re: field of view immediately. Wouldn't it be likely that he would have removed the scope prior to bringing the rifle to the TSBD, if he knew he was going to be using the open sights?
More to come......
Mr. HILL. The right rear portion of his head was missing. It was lying in the rear seat of the car. His brain was exposed. There was blood and bits of brain all over the entire rear portion of the car. Mrs. Kennedy was completely covered with blood. There was so much blood you could not tell if there had been any other wound or not, except for the one large gaping wound in the right rear portion of the head.
Warren Commission testimony of Secret Service Agent Clinton J. Hill, 1964
Warren Commission testimony of Secret Service Agent Clinton J. Hill, 1964