Post reticles
.
I had a Weaver with one back in the 50s. Great for dark woods or low light on big game animals for closer ranges.
The post tends to block out the target because of the larger size of the post. O.K. for one range, but aiming over for longer ranges was difficult. It blanked out the target. I actually had one modified so that the post came DOWN from the top. That way, I could aim over a bit, and still see the target.
For longer range shooting, I bought four Weaver k4 scopes, had them shipped to T.K. (Tackhole) Lee in Alabama, and they put Two minute dots in three of them and a Four minute dot in one. These worked much better.
The single post is an early system. I have seen scopes from WWI era with a single post in them. It seemed to be more popular in Europe, particularly Germany, but a lot of game there is shot from closer ranges and dim light conditions.
The German Number four reticle is a modification of this single post concept, with one vertical post at the bottom, and two horizontal posts, one left and one right. Modern duplex crosshairs with thick outer and thin inner cross hairs evolved from them.
.
