Product Code Database
A sight or sighting device is any gadget used to assist in precise visual alignment (i.e. aiming) of weapons, surveying instruments, aircraft equipment, optical illumination equipment or larger optical instruments with the intended target. Sights can be a simple set or system of physical markers that serve as visual references for directly aligning the user's line of sight with the target (such as on firearms), or optical instruments that provide an optically enhanced—often magnification—target image aligned in the same focus with an aiming point (e.g. telescopic sight, reflector sight and holographic sights). There are also sights that actively project an illuminated point of aim (a.k.a. "hot spot") onto the target itself so it can be observed by anyone with a direct view, such as laser sights and infrared illuminators on some night vision devices, as well as augmented or even virtual reality-enabled ("smart scopes") with software that produce digital imaging target images.
On weapons, these sights are usually formed by rugged metal parts, giving them the name "iron sights", as distinct from optical or computing sights. merriam-webster.com - iron sight - a metallic sight for a gun as distinguished from a sight depending on an optical or computing system On many types of weapons they are built-in and may be fixed, adjustable, or marked for elevation, windage, target speed, etc. They are also classified in forms of notch (open sight) or aperture (closed sight). These types of sights can require considerable experience and skill, as the user has to hold proper eye position and simultaneously focus on the rear sight, the front sight, and a target, all at different distances, and align all three planes of focus.
Reflector sights were first used as a weapon sight in German aircraft towards the end of World War I. Over the years they became more sophisticated, adding lead computing gyroscopes and electronics (the World War II Gyro gunsight) radar range finding and other flight information in the 1950s and 1960s, eventually becoming the modern head-up display.
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