Who could think of such a thing?
We had no idea what it was. This little ring of steel and glass staring at us from some no-name ebay seller’s ad.
“McRoy Lens Adapter”.
Nobody had ever heard of such a thing. What did it do? Who made it? Why’d they make it? Why was it only $4?
These questions and more stumped us. It was simply an alien device to us all.
So, duh, we bought it. We engaged in a minor bid war with some villain who obviously did not deserve it, because after paying $25 for some thing it was on its way to us courtesy of the United States Postal Service.
It arrived in a nondescript brown box, promptly discarded in a mad tear to get to…
this thing:
Ohhhh my god what is this? A little sunglasses lens you put over a peepsight? We’ve been had! We should have let the other jerk buy it! How boring.
Those thoughts might have drifted through the mind of another writer, dear reader, but not through mine.
The questions I asked were the same as before, but now that I had the device in hand I could begin to search for answers.
Firstly being: what is this little gizmo? And what does it do?
The best answer I can give is that it is a threaded peep sight attachment, made from glass coated by Bausch & Laumb under contract with the McRoy Gunsight Attachment Company.
Its function is similar to sports sunglasses used for fishing, hunting, and motorsports – it uses a yellow tinted coating that both reduces glare in direct sunlight and purportedly enhances viewing in the evening hours.
Here is a demonstration of it being used at dusk:
In my opinion there is a bit more definition in the center of the second image, where in practice the front sight and target would be visible.
Aside from its functions, the device is obviously well made.