We walk you through scoping a hunting rifle from start to finish.

by Chick Blood

Krypton is a rare chemical element with an atomic number of 36. It is Superman’s worst enemy. Since you are not Superman, Krypton can help you make a name for yourself as a wizard at zeroing rifle scopes and electronic handgun sights. Krypton is one of the light amplifiers that make a laser a laser. It emits a green beam. Other amplifiers produce a blue or red light. There are gas lasers, chemical lasers, solid state lasers, infra-red lasers, UV lasers, X-ray lasers, pulsed lasers and constant wave lasers. Great. But what is a laser and who dreamed it up?
Suffice it to say the invention of the laser was definitely not a one-man operation. Do you remember Bell Laboratories? At one time it was the primary think tank of AT&T and operated like the legendary Skunk Works at Lockheed. That was before the Federal Government, who hasn’t managed to do anything right since the Manhattan Project, broke up AT&T. The Nobel prize-winning brains that had developed and patented so much were derailed at least temporarily. Among their contributions up to that time were the transistor and later, at General Electric research centers, the laser diode. Try operating a laser printer, listening to a CD or watching a DVD without one.

Read more in our September 2012 issue. Back issues are available.

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