Ulster Galilean Sights: Sniping on the Cheap 

He seriously made a video on an old style magnified optic without showing the sight picture. That the sole reason most people probably clicked this video

My man is rivaling the big shots like Forgotten Weapons, C&Rsenal, and even Jonathan Ferguson of the Royal Armouries with the artifacts he's able to present. Keep up the good work!

I have to be honest, I'd love to own a rifle with Galilean sights mounted, it seems beautifully unique.

I've always been very interested in these. The forgotten weapons video on Gallilean optics was cool, but it was more of a history of that specific model and it's use. I appreciate you going a bit more in-depth on the actual engineering and principles involved with mounting &/or using these systems. They don't seem particularly good for actual combat use though. They seem very prone to damage and grit. I can see now why closed tube scopes became the dominant long range sighting system.

Everyone who has shot a scoped rifle knows what a giant difference it makes. Seeing the magnified far off target and the crosshairs sharp as can be together like they are both right in front of you. These Galilean sights are super cool and interesting to see. It's like a hybrid, to transition to normal optics. But i'm sure they needed a lot more traning to be accurate with those, especially under stress.

CANDU reactors, trompe air compressors, and now WWI emergency optics. Subscribed. Content is a great complement to that provided by the established players. Looking forward to watching, listening and learning more -

Your usage of Galilean sights and meta context allowed you to score a comedy headshot with your introduction here. Well done.

I never realized that the funky site systems in Borderlands had any historical basis. Neat, you learn something every day.

Nice to see you are using a genuine WWI model SMLE. Have seen the Galilean sights on a WWI TV show (perhaps on Australian sniper Billy Sing) but nowhere else until now. Having fired the WWII SMLE in boot camp (RAF in 1962) I was lucky to score marksman with 4MOA (open sights) which is the average accuracy for this military piece, the bull being 6" at 100 yards. Compared to today's firearms and advanced knowledge of variables on a projectile's flight path this is pretty ordinary but from a historical perspective was very interesting. First shots at 19 now still shooting at 80. Greetings from Oz.

Wow, I have never heard of Galilean sniper sights. This was very interesting. Thank you. 👍

Never heard anyone call MOA minute of arc. Its the same numbers, just never heard it. Never heard of these sights either so you got yourself a new sub.

I had always thought of these as little more than a prototype of modern sighting systems but it is interesting that they do actually seem to have a few small advantages over enclosed tubular optics.

To my knowledge, BSA is now owned in India and they make substandard products. I've owned a few and regretted it every time.

I was not nearly as informed on WW I sniping as I thought I was; that has now been partially rectified; thanks!

Great video; informative and fun to watch. I had genuinely never heard of these sights. Well done!

I initially thought Othias had edited Ian's voice onto himself....😅 This is a very welldone video, I'll have to sub.

You need to start uploading in 4k and not 1080p, RU-vid has completely destroyed the bitrate on all 1080p content, and the only way around it is to upload in higher resolutions where they don't impose a arbitrary bitrate limit.

These are really small wouldn't doubt they are in tons of archival photos and no one has looked close enough to notice

It was quite fortunate for the Devs of Battlefield 1 that optics like this really existed back in the day!

So... That weird lens sight from Battlefield 1 had a historical prototype?

Dude even sounds and speaks like Ian.

I hope this channel blows up in popularity. It certainly deserves to.

god imagine being a german sniper and your buddy is vaporized by an elephant rifle round

Info is great, presentation is very concise and smooth, and the topic is very much not covered by many in such detail.... 11/10 subbed!

It might interest you to know that Galilean sights are still in use today to a limited extent, in the discipline of Fullbore Match Rifle (MR), which only really exists in the UK. Competitors are split between "front gun" (prone position, typically with modern scopes) and "back gun" (supine) positions, all competing as one discipline. Back gunners traditionally use Galilean sights, indeed almost all back gunners used them when I started around 20 years ago, although since then maybe half of back gunners have adopted modern scopes as the cost and accessibility of affordable CNC machining has improved the availability of the rather odd rail hardware required to do so. However quite a few back gunners still use Galilean sights today. I am a target shooter only, and can't speak to combat use, but I have shot both iron sighted and scoped front gun and Galilean back gun competitively for 30 years, and whilst you identified the advantages of a modern scope well, I think you may have missed a couple of the most important advantages of the Galilean setup. Firstly, sight base - Galilean sights allow the shooter to take full advantage of long rifles to achieve a very long sight base. My back gun was over 5ft long and the sights covered the full length of the rifle right from muzzle to buttplate. Even on shorter rifles I can imagine the sight base advantage being a factor compared to scopes of the time, particularly as you point out we weren't set up to produce good scopes in volume. Secondly, situational awareness - I find when shooting scoped rifles my SA of my immediate surroundings, wind changes and so on is very limited as my attention is fully down the scope. Whereas with Galilean sights I can be on aim and still fully aware of what's going on in my immediate surroundings and across my field of view, and catch wind changes that I would miss if I was on aim with a scope. I can imagine this could be an advantage in a combat environment. You mention that the reticle and target can't be in focus simultaneously. However this is no issue if you're used to iron sights, which have the same property. Personally I found it far easier to transition from iron sights to galilean sights than to a scope, which requires a quite different and unfamiliar technique to use accurately. On the other hand, rain and debris on the objective can really hamper Galilean sights, they are somewhat fragile, the sight picture does take some getting used to, and you can't watch mirage for wind cues whilst on aim. Also nobody is manufacturing new ones, so we rely on a dwindling population of antiques! But people are still competitive with them even against the best modern scopes, which tells you something.

Would be an interesting balancing mechanic for a game. One of many sniper optics available, alternative to a full scope or limiting to iron sights, ads as fast as iron sights, but it’s got a random chance while firing to require another adjustment to fix the sight.

Brilliant video! Explained the pros and cons of the sights in a way i could understand. Keep up the good work!

Very interesting. Also very well presented and clearly explained. Many thanks

Such a beautiful bolt action rifle. Wooden rifles never go out of style.

From a sniping perspective, these early sights look and feel more like cheap red dot sights, than something you could actually snipe people with.

≈ 7:55 very frustrating, after all that amazing, in-depth, info and explanation, to not be able to look down the sights! Surely there's a way you can record that.......(it would be cool to do for next time)...

I kind of wonder if these didn’t miss their moment to shine in a role other than sniping. With some general improvements to the design I can see these easily becoming the precursor to modern reflex and holographic sights. Medium to short range optic that greatly increases individual accuracy

I have never seen a modern optic that allows the reticle and the target to be both in focus. The ACOG definitely doesn't.

So the reflex sight from cod world at war is kinda real? Wow I looked for a long time to find anything like this and everything said it’s not a thing. Absolutely amazing

Today used in archery on compound bows...

I have been looking for a channel similar to this, specifically one where technology that is over 100 years old (binoculars, lighting, etc.) and have the performance compared to modern day equivalents.

First time watching any of your videos. I have watch Gun Jesus for years....Your videos are really good and informative. Well scripted and edited. Hell yeah. Keep up the good work man. Some people just do things in a way that you retain the information better

Would've been neat to have a camera shot looking through the optic itself rather than just side shots

Same idea as peep sights with a clarifier on a modern compound bow.

- All about a weird sight - Doesn’t aim down sights with a camera to show us

See, I find it funny that Germany brought an OP thing to the field and nobody said "THAT'S ILLEGAL!" but as soon as the Americans hit the trenches with the Winchester 1887 they start crying about how it's inhumane and needs to be banned for being so OP at close quarters fighting

I have almost the exact same sights on my compound bow. 4x lens and the aperture is sized that I can only see the lens. Acquire target with both eyes open, then close one eye to aim and shoot.

That opening has my subscription😂

He reminds me of Ian over at forgotten weapons. Even sounds like him

That £1 sight for private purchase would cost £84.51 today, a fair chunk of change.

I live in Belfast so find this even cooler that it was invented by someone from here. Very cool for the SMLE but I prefer the MK4 no1 it is overall a better rifle.

That thing works, it actually magnifies. I have seen one on a recurve bow.

Didnt know about these, thanks for the great info 👍

Huh, so are these what the "Optical Sights" in Battlefield 1 were based on?

An optical sight I had not been aware of. Good presentation! I would have liked to see the image the shooter sees. A phone camera should do well enough for the purpose. The image could be cropped down so as to highlight the salient elements.

Very well done. Informative and interesting. Thank you!

Awesome that they named the sight after one of the greatest astronomers to ever exist

For future reference, The sandbag is there to rest the rifle on while shooting.

Another piece of equipment that needs to be reproduced for us to use now!

4:37 And here i thought the scopes on Battlefield 1 were a slight creative liberty taken by dice I'll be damned, they look just like the real things!

I really enjoyed this very informative and engaging great content

I could imagine some attempts were made to braze those Ulster fronts on in the trenches, I wonder how successful they were.

Great video, just found your channel and subscribed!

Great video big brain. Im here from a todayifoundout video, great channel tho, extremely informative. Your a talented guy

Interesting, thanks. I didn't know about those sights.

I think this is a super good invention its super cheap and could be mass produced. Also it doesn't obstruct iron sights so it would be nice to have such things on every single AK to make engaging targets at 500 meters actually practical. and until PSO-1 this optics would make it still possible to use an AK at close range due to unobstructed iron sights. Awesome invention.

The Monty Python skit at the beginning got an instant sub from me. 😂 Cool video too. It's interesting to see a stop gap solution like this.

I still think one of the most ingenious and industrious sights was the reticles made from black widow web because of its strength and ultra thin profile. And I believe that was used in wwii

I don't get it, how is it different than a dioptre (peep-hole) sight?

Really wish psa would make a SMLE replica (and other ww1 weapons) but chamber it in 308. I could get a SMLE now but i can never find 303 british and dont want to rechamber a real one.

This man speaks with the exact timing and inflection as Gun Jesus and it threw me off so hard lmao

that photo at 1:06 seems like it's actually from Texas, seeing as San Antonio is a city there and they actually have a Schutzhund club that's been there for quite a while.

this is very fascinating, thank you so much..... I know the front sight post on my rifle is .073" and at 400 yards, a 16 " target is 1/2 the size of the post....by the way, that is 4 minutes of angle. The rear sight is an aperture mounted on the rear of the reciever of about .093" and is adjustable in 1 MOA increments for elevation and windage.....the sights were invented and developed by Canadian John Garand for the Springfield Arsenal along with the rifle itself.....the US Model M-1 cheers, Paul in Florida

Does it actually have magnification or is it like an aperture sight? What’s the sight picture look like?

These are like the great grandparents of red dots and 4x scopes. Super interesting!

I think someone should do a video on the British Wireless Set No.19 transceiver which was the first, mass produced military radio, manufactured using civilian parts and. mass production techniques. G7VFY

I know it’s an older video, but it’s great how you are “trolling” Ian. Please do a video on something like obscure ammo, or some other kind of kit.

Great video, Gilles...👍

Very impressive improvement in grouping. Always been very interested in Galelian sights. Looking at my 1918 mfg Mk3* hanging on the living room wall, I don't think I could bring myself to modify it to fit Ulster sights. I'll just have to stick to practicing with the irons.

The “Ulster” had some connection to Sharman D Neil who was an upmarket Belfast Jeweller. He had two sons killed in action in WW1 if I remember correctly.

He wasn't even using the rifle rest to steady the rifle. Seems a bit odd to me.

Whats the point of the rest sand bags if you aren't going to use them?

During the war the British government actually bought rifle scopes from the Zeiss optical company of Germany.

Ian if he was a heftier lad. "I like a weapons specialist that knows his way around a funnel cake!"

Reticle ownership is decreased with ocular weight. Lighter optics generally equates to more expedient acquisition. Proven throughout infantry performance is critical range and response, versus immediate, reactive capacity. Slow, light, high accuracy equates to measured potency.

Instant sub, great content for content sake.

I’m subscribing right now!

That looks surprisingly fun to aim with, the gun also looks very nice.

Wow excellent video my friend, early gun technology is so interesting! Sure is a shame we lost WW1

they should give soldiers one of these on the side of their gun, would come in handy in some situations and its really cheap

A really interesting design

Great history lesson! Thank you 🙏🏽

Forgot to mention Canada who had the best Marksman.. I know that for a fact my grandfather's service record still froze in that respect.. if you were survived the war and you left and you were still designated a private you were probably a shooter..

The No. 1 "series" of SMLEs are such great rifles... Best of the WWI infantry rifles, I think; and damn fine aesthetically too. I prefer them to the No.4's, though the 4's are (supposedly) slightly more accurate due to the trigger mech. I had the chance to pick up a set of Martin sights from a collector back in the early 2010s. Still regret passing them up -- I didn't know how rare they were at the time.

Used similar devices on my bows when I shot for Hoyt.

Homie's suspenders are doing jack s**t!!😂❤

Great video!

I’ve seen somebody using the Ulster sights at Bisley hitting targets at 1000 yards

Cmon man why does nobody have the camera ADS so we can see what it looked like

Was that Othias and his light box I saw peaking out of the bushes at 7:06 ?

Makes a video about how important and innovative these new sights were. Quite literally only shows the phyiscal parts once and misses all the shots from his firing tests. But i guess if he was also trying to immulate a solider who cant hit shit, good on you!

i think it was hard to show it with his equipments. I think he tried to record the sight picture (He got that rare optic to show. nobody will just skip the sight picture shot if they have one of those rare optics) but As many cameras does... i think it couldn't.

And i thought COD World At War is kidding me by adding a black coloured "red dot" into the game... 🤯 Thank you for this historical education!

Very enjoyable... Again...

Cool gear dude. Thanks.