Old Picture of a "different" pistol scope mounting (1963)

[Picher]

In 1963, I was 19 yrs old, not much money, but had a Ruger Standard Auto 4 1/2" and a Weaver 2.5X rifle scope and had read about mounting scopes on handguns. Soooo, in a fit of ingenuity, I decided that the handgun could be used with either or both sights, if mounted on an angle with conventional mounts.

The Scope only had about 3" eye relief, so the gun had to be shot from the crook in my left arm. To make matters weirder, I set the scope so the crosshairs were an X, instead of a cross.

The rig worked really well and with the detachable mounts, could be shot without the scope mounted and bases didn't interfere with the low-mounted sights.

It was very effective for plinking at cans, etc, once it got sighted-in...a bit of a problem with the crosshairs at a 45 degree angle from vertical. It was an interesting experiment, but not very practical. (Sorry for the blurry picture.)

 

[Picher]

I took the scope-mounted pistol to a dump during the winter. It was a windy day and there was a crust on the snow. A tin can was rolling along, about 20 yards, and with the gun in the crook of my left arm, I proceed to pump a bunch of rounds into it. It was sooo cool! The problem with the rig is that it didn't fit into holsters, so wasn't great for hunting. It was a lot of fun for plinking though.

 

[bannockburn]

Picher

Very interesting! I admire your ingenuity and inventiveness at making it work.

 

[WestKentucky]

You could do that now with 45degree AR sights and be golden...but there are much better options now.

 

[kBob]

In the late 1950's there was an outfit offering ZF41 LER scopes and mounts for revolvers. They did ads in magazines.

-kBob

 

[sean m]

Did that with my Contender

 

[Picher]

This project reminds me of a Teddy Roosevelt quote at San Juan Hill, "Do what you can with what you have, where you are." I didn't have much money and barely enough knowledge/equipment to do that project, but got 'er done.

Several years later, sans scope, I sold the gun to a guy at work who took it to camp, and after several beers, he and his buddies shot it. Unfortunately, he used a two-handed grip that placed is left thumb's knuckle a bit too high behind the bolt when he fired. BIG MISTAKE!

 

[wally]

Unfortunately, he used a two-handed grip that placed is left thumb's knuckle a bit too high behind the bolt when he fired. BIG MISTAKE!

Near universal mistake when a revolver guy shoots a semi auto for the first time, they usually only make it once!

When my wife hasn't shot a handgun in a while she will sometimes make this mistake since her first gun was a revolver, so far I've always stopped her from firing a shot with that grip.