Tape in front of scopes? Why?
 

I am currently following the "Generation Kill" serie on Historia and realized that almost everyone has some kind of rectangle "slit" made with tape in front of their scopes and binoculars (it turn the scope from a round view to a rectangle view, also dramatically reducing the field of view).

Why is that done? Is it to cut the glare of the sun? Is it to reduce the reflection that the enemy might see?

Thanks!

Cheap killflash. Reduces the glare in the scope, as well as what the enemy might see for reflection.

It confirms what I tought. I guess in Irak the sun can be a problem ;)

I did this to my scope too (I actually just cut a rectangular shape out of the front scope cap) and it does not reduce your field of vision at all.

I Did the same too.

At night, at max zoom, I noticed a little decrease in luminosity. But that's it. It help prevent reflections pretty well and break the shape of that big round front element that is easy to see.

On a side-note. Generation Kill has been my fave HBO series since it came out. Rogers on Demand kicks ass!

Come to think of it, I might go pick it up on DVD today.

Is the series just starting or are there only the 7-8 episodes ?

7 episodes and the last one played on History last night. I'm sure they'll run the series a few times this winter.

too bad. They always do that with a good series. Only a few shows then gone.

It's based on a book. The series is basically the book from cover to cover. I don't think it was intended to go past the number of episodes they made.

As was mentioned, Field of View (FOV) reduction is negligible as is resolution loss. The reduction in light-gathering is the greatest drawback, in my opinion. Before KillFlash and other commercial Anti-Reflection Devices (ARDs), a variety of items were used to include nylon hosiery. Here is an image of a US Army sniper team from circa 1987-1988; note the covering on the binos:

click to enlarge
http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/e.../th_USARSS.jpg