The Great History of Rifle Scopes

Rifle scopes were first invented back in the 17th century and were meant to give shooters optical aiming aids. After that for centuries people experimented with various optics to enhance shooting abilities. The very first documented rifle scope was invented between 1835 and 1840. It was made by Morgan James out of Utica, NY. An engineer by the name of John R. Chapman wrote a book about Morgan James producing and experimenting with the rifle scope. Working together they produced the "Chapman-James Sight".

Many other brands that were being produced by different people began to pop up around the same time some with greater lenses and powers between 3X and 20X. They were also able to improve the windage and elevation adjustments. They were becoming so good in fact that scopes that were produced by Mr. L.M. Amidon from Vermont were the standard scopes used during the Civil War.

Even after 1880 scopes were being made for handguns. It's kind of hard for us to possibly imagine soldiers and hunters back then having scopes on their rifles and handguns. This was back in the day when most soldiers and hunters were still using powder horns, balls and muskets. It would definitely be interesting to see a man with a scope mounted to an old musket back then.

I'm an avid rifle hunter so great quality scopes and optics are very important for me when I'm out hunting. If it weren't for these fine men long ago experimenting with scopes and optics we'd still be using lead sites. Don't get me wrong I love muzzle-loading and bow hunting too. But when I'm rifle hunting I want the very best possible scope mounted to my rifle. I just won't settle for less than the best.

As the awesome musician and sportsman Ted Nugent would say, "When we're out hunting The Beast" we want every advantage we can have to make sure we successfully and ethically slay the beast.

If you're using poor or cheap equipment it can and will most definitely affect your hunting experience. I'm sure we've all had experiences with this at one time or another.

Next time you're out hunting and you're sitting around the campfire with your friends. Tell them about this article and how the scopes that they're using came to be and when they were invented. It will make for some good campfire talk.

Be safe and good hunting my friends.