physics

Unertl Optical Company

Unertl Optical Company is a physics topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Unertl Optical Company rather than just read about it. In short: Unertl Optical Company, Inc. was a manufacturer of telescopic sights in the United States from 1928 until 2008. They are known for their 10× fixed-power scopes that were used on the Marine Corps' M40 rifle and made famous by Marine Corps Scout Sniper Carlos Hathcock during the Vietnam War.

Key takeaways

Unertl Optical Company belongs to physics; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Unertl Optical Company to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Unertl Optical Company from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Unertl Optical Company, Inc. was a manufacturer of telescopic sights in the United States from 1928 until 2008. They are known for their 10× fixed-power scopes that were used on the Marine Corps' M40 rifle and made famous by Marine Corps Scout Sniper Carlos Hathcock during the Vietnam War.

History John Unertl Sr. after emigrating from Germany and working for the J.W. Fecker Target Scope Company, founded the John Unertl Optical Company in 1928. J. Unertl Optical Co. produced high quality, external adjustment scopes for competitive shooters and varmint hunters. He also produced some of the finest spotting scopes of the day including a 100 mm Team scopes used by Military and well equipped civilian teams at Camp Perry for decades. During World War II, Unertl manufactured the USMC 8x sniper scope mounted on 1903 sniper rifles. In the 1980's, the company became legendary in the sniper community for its 10x USMC Sniper scope designed by John Unertl Jr and mounted on the USMC M40A1 and M40A3 in 7.62mm. A .50 caliber version was used on the USMC SASR. John Unertl Jr was adamant about selling "USMC" marked scope only to the Marine Corps. A variant of the 10x Tactical scope, similar and visually identical to one used by the USMC but with turrets calibrated in metres rather than yards, was sold to the Canadian Department of National Defence (DND) for use on the 7.62x51mm NATO Parker Hale C3A1 Sniper Rifle. These scopes were marked as 'C3 Sniper' and had a 2 to 4 digit serial number. The few scopes sold to a limited number of law enforcement agencies and even fewer civilians were marked "10x Sniper" and carried a "T" prefix on the serial numbers. Servicing of these scope was taken over by U.S. Optics, which also produced their own version, using the names MST-100 for the 7.62 scope and MST-150 for the .50 BMG Scopes. In 2002 the company was purchased by 21st Century Technology, Inc., owned by Col. Rocky Greene, and the headquarters was moved to Las Vegas, Nevada. In the early 2000s the Marine Corps began phasing out Unertl Scopes in favor of other scopes such as the Schmidt & Bender 3–12×50 Police Marksman II LP. By 2006 the company had begun marketing firearms in addition to their line of scopes, including a civilian copy of the Marine Corps MEU(SOC) pistol and the M40A3 Sniper Rifle. By 2008 the company had closed. There were actually three successive "John Unertls". Sr. started the company and ran it until his death. Jr. took over after that. And while the company was well known for its rifle scopes, its major revenue came from high end optical systems made for various branches of government including very sophisticated optical/mechanical instrumentation, optics for military jet gunsights, fire control optics, and wind tunnel instrumentation (Schlieren photography systems for the Naval Surface Weapon Center in White Oak, MD). The last John Unertl, John Robert Unertl, after leaving the company worked his way up to Division President of the optical instrument division of Leitz.

Products Fixed-power, external mount adjusted Target Scopes Hunting Scopes "Falcon", "Hawk" & "Condor", 2 3/4×, 4× & 6× respectively 10×43 Vulture Ultra-10 43 vulture Spotting Scopes 100mm Team Scope 10x Sniper for 7.62×51mm (Used by the Marine Corps, FBI & Canada) 10x Sniper for .50 caliber (Used by the Marine Corps) Very sophisticated optical/mechanical instrumentation for government

References

External links Comments from John Robert Unertl ("JBW3")

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Unertl Optical Company

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Unertl Optical Company claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In physics, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Unertl Optical Company before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Unertl Optical Company ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Unertl Optical Company

In research: Unertl Optical Company appears in physics research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Unertl Optical Company in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Unertl Optical Company is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Optics manufacturing companies, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Unertl Optical Company outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Unertl Optical Company in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Unertl Optical Company means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Unertl Optical Company out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Unertl Optical Company in simple terms?

Why does Unertl Optical Company matter?

Because it connects several physics ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Unertl Optical Company?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Unertl Optical Company.