Gew 98 sighting attachment? Aim Corrector for instruction?

[4thGordons]

Can anyone identify this (being demonstrated here I assume)?

Is it a mirrored "aim corrector" to allow the instructor to view the student's sight picture from the side?

I have seen British versions of these but not a German one - is that what this is or something else?

Chris

[Steve1871]

Very interesting photo, never seen that before

[awjdthumper]

Presumably, the device is basically an optical beam splitter such that the light entering it from the sights is split with 50% or so going to the soldier operating the rifle and the other 50% emerging at right angles to be viewed by the instructor. Two 45 deg prisms mounted together into a square block made with glass of different refractive indices would achieve this or it could simply be a half-silvered mirror set at 45 deg.

At a time when soldiers were taught to fire accurately out to ranges of 600 yds, precise use of the sights was very important. The initial trading did not involve firing rounds at a target. The British Army used a somewhat laborious way of determining how accurately a soldier aligned the sights involving the marking on a sheet of white paper 10 yds away where the soldier considered the point of aim. Three attempts were made and when joined up, the dots formed the 'triangle of error'.

The German optical device looks to be a much more sophisticated way of doing teh initial training. Obviously, the real test was when the soldier fired the rifle at a proper target!

 

[genegwf]

I was looking thru a box of various pieces and parts for military rifles given to me by a friend who built rifles for the Marine Corps at Quantico Virginia.

Included was a device which allowed an instructor to see how a student was aligning the sights. The device was designed for use on the M-1 Garand or the M-14. 

Same idea as shown in this picture just a hundred years later.

Gene

[exXIX]

On 31/07/2021 at 06:31, awjdthumper said:

Presumably, the device is basically an optical beam splitter such that the light entering it from the sights is split with 50% or so going to the soldier operating the rifle and the other 50% emerging at right angles to be viewed by the instructor. Two 45 deg prisms mounted together into a square block made with glass of different refractive indices would achieve this or it could simply be a half-silvered mirror set at 45 deg.

At a time when soldiers were taught to fire accurately out to ranges of 600 yds, precise use of the sights was very important. The initial trading did not involve firing rounds at a target. The British Army used a somewhat laborious way of determining how accurately a soldier aligned the sights involving the marking on a sheet of white paper 10 yds away where the soldier considered the point of aim. Three attempts were made and when joined up, the dots formed the 'triangle of error'.

The German optical device looks to be a much more sophisticated way of doing teh initial training. Obviously, the real test was when the soldier fired the rifle at a proper target!

 

Here is a modern version for the L1A1 SLR that I was familiar with, it sits on the rear sight leaf and by means of a prism a SAA coach can correct aiming problems of the 'student'...Also found this interesting article for the SMLE of about WW1 era...

https://www.rifleman.org.uk/Aim_teaching_devices.html

[awjdthumper]

Given that the SMLE sights consisted of a front blade and rear rectangular notch, I do find it a little difficult to understand how a recruit could line up the sights wrongly in a systematic way! I'll have to look at the 1909 Musketry Regulations again but I think there was only one sight picture taught and, surely, that was not that difficult to grasp? That said, there must have been a need to check that the recruit was sighting the rifle properly otherwise they would not have resorted to the somewhat awkward and non-optical approach used?

[exXIX]

Just now, awjdthumper said:

Given that the SMLE sights consisted of a front blade and rear rectangular notch, I do find it a little difficult to understand how a recruit could line up the sights wrongly in a systematic way! I'll have to look at the 1909 Musketry Regulations again but I think there was only one sight picture taught and, surely, that was not that difficult to grasp? That said, there must have been a need to check that the recruit was sighting the rifle properly otherwise they would not have resorted to the somewhat awkward and non-optical approach used?

As taught 'the rifle should point naturally at the target' 'without undue strain, the sight picture will be correct with the correct 'eye relief'...SAA pamphlet as I remember it...sort of it was  a long time ago when we shot 'that rifle'..... there was also the 'Eye Disk' which was used during basic SAA training, literally a white disc through which the Instructor looked directly at the soldier whilst he aimed the weapon. If the instructor could see only the pupil of the eye then everything would be correct, if however any of the white of the eye could be seen, then the soldier isn't maintaining a correct firing position and/or is putting undue pressure on the stock of the weapon, causing him to 'aim off'. I do remember that some soldiers had difficulty with aiming due to the body position being awkward or uncomfortable. At 300m a 1mm of 'aim off' would miss the fig 11 target, never mind shooting accurately out to 800m