| Original Message |
Curt
Posted Jul 17, 2012 10:26 AM
Not "one of the first" or "a design like the first", the actual very first gun to ever have a practical break-beam eye. I would say an Eye of any kind, but the fact is Sandridge had a functional version (reflective) around the same time. It was slow, clunky and fragile, but it worked.
The LED one was fast, small, effective, and tuned with beam-values that I spent weeks working out through trial/error that I still see copied on designs today. Never made a big deal of it.
I'm talking about the Angel LED I modded in... ~1999 or so right after I created the Gabriel so Angel users could "keep up with the Jones'" or in this case the All Americans.
The marker has some minor wear and tear and a few extra (cosmetic) holes in it from test-bed type stuff, but is fully functional. I don't have any pics of it handy but I'll take some if there is any interest.
It has a plug Doc installed in the first location (center of breech, turned out bottom was better, which is not as obvious as you think it might be*) and a custom drop-forward with hardline that he added. Along with custom internal milling he did to route the wires.
I ran across it in a box the other day and thought, as much as it means to me, I bet it would mean more to a real collector. I'll provide what documentation I can as evidence, and I'm pretty sure anyone from the time (Have Blue, Simon, Doc, etc) will vouch for the authenticity, but of course I can't speak for them.
Anyways I would be willing to entertain any serious offers for it. This is not a motivated sale so please, serious offers only:
curt ~at northarc. com
-Curt
*Originally I thought the mechanical lag from the beam break to the solenoid actuation could be absorbed by placing the sensor up higher. In practice I could never make it work that way and bottom-of-breech worked better. I always thought having a pair of sensors would be optimal but never tried it. |
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