98 SHOOTING SPORTS MAGAZINE
FIREARMS | SECOND HAND FOCUS
“I have also seen them on
individual rifl es in Northern
Ireland in the mid 1970s”
Secondhand
T
his little slice of optical history
came about when I was looking for
some scope mounts in my
gunroom. Funny thinks I, what is that
compact scope?... digging it out all was
revealed as it was a SINGLE POINT,
probably the fi rst post-war red dot
system. I cannot even remember where I
got it. Made in Britain, I believe the
design fi rst appeared in the mid 1960s
and is best described as a non-powered,
occluded eye gunsight (OEG). Technically
it’s a collimator as opposed to a refl ector
system and a far cry from the powered,
variable brightness red dots we know
today.BETTER THAN IRONS?
Its appearance caused a deal of
controversy in the government and with
the military as it effectively dispensed
with the traditional iron sights then used
on rifl es. Non-powered it had a rounded,
clear, polycarbonate objective cover that
housed a day glow orange prism that was
illuminated by ambient light. Looking
through it with one eye shut showed ablack circle with the red
dot on it, but opening the
other eye gave the optical illusion of the
dot on target. Apparently at the time the
Marines and Paras were very interested
as a replacement for irons and questions
were asked in the House.
It was used by US forces in the 1970
Son Tay raid in North Vietnam where they
went in to get US POWs from a prison
camp near Hanoi. I have also seen them
on individual rifl es in Northern Ireland inthe mid 1970s, doubtless put
there by the user unoffi cially.
Back in the late 1970s when I
left the army and got into
shooting they seemed quite the
wonder kit and I always wanted
one for my practical shotgun but
could never afford it.OPTICAL CONFUSION
The layout is like a mini scope with
a non focusing eyepiece and
separate adjuster turrets with rubber
covers. The body tube is 1” diameter
and crackle-fi nished aluminium, the
unit is about 6” long. Funny thing is
though having seen them I had never
used one so I thought I’d see if what I
lusted after back then offered any real
advantage?
I fi tted it up to my trusty S&W
M&P 15-22 semi-auto rifl e and tried it
out. Unlike a modern refl ector-type red
dot that you can see through the
SINGLE POINT really does create an
optical illusion and it’s very easy to lose
the dot if you do not get your head
position right. Worse still is the size of
the dot, which subtends 16 MOA @ 100m
that’s over 16” wide! It near obscures the
top half of a Fig 11 target at 100m, if
your target was kneeling or prone I doubt
if you would see it at all!
It was however interesting to try it
out, but and like many ideas throughout
history, it was never that good to start
with and soon superseded by better
designs as the generic red dots of today
attest to. But in its day it was doubtless a
radical concept!EVOLUTIONARY
BACKWATER
SINGLE POINT RED DOT SIGHT
Pete Moore takes a time machine
to look at one of the first modern
red dot sighting systems
Meet the ancestors – the
SINGLE POINT sight a good idea but maybe not that goodDetail of the
polycarbonate
nose piece
note the day
glow orange
prism that used
ambient lightTurret detail,
pretty basic, but
with a dot size
of 16 MOA who
cares?