Sfl.ZF 1 and other German Optics

[Brady]

Its been my understanding that convergence was not an issue on the user end for These optics, that the sight compensated for that as the range was adjusted, that the aim point remained the Center point of the sight, and that the marks to the left and right of the sight aided in leading moving targets and determining range,


is This correct ?

Sfl.ZF 1

[Mobius]

Here is an explanation of the mili-radian aspect of the tank sight.
http://www.75thguards.com/ww2online/dow ... _Guide.pdf

[Brady]

Thanks, that is a very good Wright up, again presumably the question of convergence, the sight and the gun being some distance from one another, is addressed internally, that’s us within the sight ?

[Yoozername]

That is not called convergence. The German method actually calibrated, or boresighted/zeroed, by using a target that aimed the sight and gun at different points.

[Brady]

That is not called convergence. The German method actually calibrated, or boresighted/zeroed, by using a target that aimed the sight and gun at different points.

Do you by chance have a reference for this ?

Something showing how it was accomplished


My assumption has been that once set the sight would adjust as the range was dialed up or down?

Thanks btw

[Yoozername]

Here is a page from the 'Hetzer' (Pak 39 L/48) manual....instandhaltung waffenmeister can be translated as 'Maintenance Weapons Master'. Note that in the application, the sight is offset and also higher than the gun.

[Brady]

TY, my German is not even as good as poor, in a nut shell just what does that say?

[Yoozername]

I am not a German speaker either. But from my understanding, the instructions say make a target according to the dimensions that correspond to the gun and optics on the AFV. The usual procedure is to take string and make a cross at the end of the barrel. There are typically engraved marks there. One then sets up the target 50 meters or so and aligns the bore of the weapon on one mark, and the optics on the other. This gives the initial 'rough' calibration. Zeroing is done at 1000 meters. Typically 3 rounds are fired. The adjustment is made by firing at a 2.5 meter by 2 meter target. The Germans had non-hardened Ub practice rounds for this purpose. They weighed the same, etc. as service rounds. My understanding is that the abbe error (look it up) is not an issue since the aiming is done with the offset maintained.

I do have my doubts about this. Even with a 5X optic, at 1000 meters you are aiming at something that would look like it is 200 meters away. Presumably, it is an iterative process, and someone would have to do this so that a 3 shot group is centered in the target, and the optics correspond to the offset. My readings say this was done by the technicians but other sources say that the troops did it them selves. Some sources say that even a Pak 43 would lose it's zero after a move. If there is a misalignment, it would show at longer ranges. Basically, you want parallelism.

This is a Pak 40, note the 4 dots on the muzzle brake, this is where you would put the strings across.

[Brady]

Ok, thanks, so that’s how they calibrated it, but the sight figured it all out, given it was set with inputs at 50m and 1000 ?

Presumably something similar was done with all there sights, likely it was simpler with a coax tank sight

[Yoozername]

OK, I think you have it all sussed. I have other information but won't concern you with it.

[Brady]

Concern me with it, seriously if it’s Relevent I would like to read it