{"id":4918,"date":"2025-04-19T06:09:56","date_gmt":"2025-04-19T06:09:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gunsandpride.com\/?p=4918"},"modified":"2025-04-19T06:09:56","modified_gmt":"2025-04-19T06:09:56","slug":"retro-optics-the-weaver-qwik-point","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gunsandpride.com\/?p=4918","title":{"rendered":"Retro Optics: The Weaver Qwik Point"},"content":{"rendered":"


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I\u2019ve been on a bit of a retro kick lately. I\u2019ve been doing retro AR builds for a couple of years now. <\/p>\n

In the course of looking at older parts and builds, I\u2019ve also gotten interested in retro sights. <\/p>\n

One that intrigued me was the Weaver Qwik Point, one of the earliest dot sights.<\/p>\n

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The Qwik Point: A Quick Rundown <\/h2>\n

The Weaver Qwik Point sight was kind of ahead of its time. It was released in 1971, not long after the Singlepoint OEG sight, made famous by the Son Tay prison camp raid during the Vietnam War, and a few years before Aimpoint introduced its first electronic red dot sight. I\u2019m not sure how long they were in production. I couldn\u2019t find anything listing a full production timeline. All of the ads that I found online were from the early 70\u2019s though.<\/p>\n

The Qwik Point is what I considered a fiber optic sight, but old Weaver ads just call it a \u201clight gathering filament.\u201d Is that the same thing? I\u2019m honestly not sure, but it works on the same premise. It uses an orange filament that projects a orangish red dot. <\/p>\n

The Qwik Point was made in three models for shotguns, centerfire rifles and rimfires. There were actually two shotgun variations the S-1, which apparently worked with most pump and semi automatic shotguns, and the S-1100, which was specifically for Remington 1100 and 870 shotguns. <\/p>\n

The S-1 models used a side mount that fit the the left side of the shotgun receiver. You had to drill and tap the receiver for the mounting screws on these models. The S-1100 replaced the two trigger assembly pins on the Remington 100 or 870 for mounting. The R-1 had a Weaver mount and came with a Weaver rail. It was designed for centerfire rifles. The R-22 was made for .22 rifles with a tip off style rimfire rails.<\/p>\n

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\"Retro<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

The Qwik Point has a peculiar retro mod look to it. It has a longer tube on top with a domed light gathering receptor at the front, and it sits over a shorter sighting tube. <\/p>\n

Construction is of blued steel, aside from the polymer for the domed emitter, the orange light gathering rod, and the glass lenses. It\u2019s a simple, solid design with minimal moving parts. Weaver claimed they were shock and recoil proof.<\/p>\n

No batteries are required, although that does mean that you need at least some ambient light for the optic to work. Being that these sights were designed for hunting and target applications, not tactical ones, that wasn\u2019t really an issue. <\/p>\n

Although there is an old Soldier of Fortune picture of one mounted on an AM-180 SMG<\/a> in Rhodesia, so some of them must have worked their way into combat here and there.<\/p>\n

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\"Retro<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Price and Availability<\/h2>\n

Despite not being in production for a few decades, there seem to be a fair amount of Qwik Points floating around on the secondary market. Sometimes still in the original packaging. <\/p>\n

Shotgun models seem the most common, but rifle and rimfire models pop up on online auction sites pretty regularly. Prices seem to run between $50 and $150 depending on model, condition, and accessories. If you want an original box, you\u2019ll likely pay a little more.<\/p>\n

After looking around online a bit, I tracked down two of them. I got an R-1 rifle model with the Weaver base and an R-22 rimfire model with the tip off base. The R-22 rimfire model ran a little over $100.00. The R-1 rifle model was a bit under $75.00. <\/p>\n

The rimfire model was in excellent condition and the rifle model probably very good to excellent. I suspect a lot of these sights didn\u2019t see brutal use.<\/p>\n

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\"Retro<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Mounting<\/h2>\n

I decided to put the rimfire model on my old early 70\u2019s 10\/22. It was my dad\u2019s rifle and one I grew up shooting. Lord knows how many rounds have been through that gun over the decades,. It was rebuilt by Ruger once in the early 90\u2019s. <\/p>\n

It has the walnut deluxe sporter stock on it, that has some scratches and dings from a half century of use. The finish is pretty much worn off of the barrel. My dad had an old Weaver 4x scope on it but the adjustment caps went missing somewhere over the years and that drove my OCD nuts, so I wanted to replace it anyway.<\/p>\n

I recently bought a set of new Wolff springs for it. I thought about doing one of the Ruger BX trigger groups but the new trigger housings are plastic. My old one is aluminum so I decided to just update the springs. I\u2019ve been considering replacing the barrel too, but as ugly as it is, it still shoots well so I\u2019m on the fence with that one. <\/p>\n

My dad had one of the ugliest shiny tan leather slings I\u2019ve even seen on it so I finally replaced that too while I was updating things. I picked up a new manufacture M1 carbine style sling from a vendor<\/a> on Ebay. It\u2019s quite well made from nylon, like the later Vietnam era M1 slings, but with the WWII style button dot fastener. They\u2019ve available in black, tan and OD green too. I opted for tan just for variety.<\/p>\n

With the new springs and new sling, I just had to add the optic. I popped off the old scope and dropped the Qwik Point on. It was an easy swap, nothing unusual or hard about it. The rimfire mount is scaled correctly for the Ruger\u2019s factory tip off rail. I had initially swapped the rail for a Weaver rail and tried the rifle Qwik Point on the 10\/22 but the mounting rail on it was a good bit longer than the 10\/22 receiver. It would have worked, but it bothered my OCD too. So I ended up finding and buying a rimfire Qwik Point instead.<\/p>\n

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\"Retro<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Since I still had the rifle model I considered what to do with it. I\u2019m trying it out on my \u201capocalypse build\u201d .50 Beowulf AR SBR. It fits the Fallout-esque vibe of the gun with its retro-mod styling. Being that Weaver claims they\u2019re recoil and shock proof, and they were designed to stand up to shotgun recoil, it should be fine on the .50 Beowulf. The Weaver mount locked down fine on the Picatinny rail of the AR.<\/p>\n

The sight does sit a bit low on the AR being that you look and aim through the lower tube, not the top one. It doesn\u2019t seem too bad though. I need to get some range time in and see how it does. I\u2019m doing a barrel swap right now though so I\u2019ll wait until that\u2019s done. I do like the aesthetic though. That\u2019s mostly a fun gun for shooting \u201cstuff\u201d so I\u2019m not worried about the daylight only optic for it. I\u2019d love to try it hog hunting someday but even then, the Qwik Point should be fine.<\/p>\n

\"Retro<\/figure>\n

Range Time<\/h2>\n

I took the 10\/22 out this past Sunday with a buddy of mine. The weather was not great. We\u2019d had a weekend of storms and it was overcast and threatening more storms and temps were in the mid 30\u2019s. Since it was cruddy I opted for my club\u2019s rimfire steel range. It\u2019s covered and has a nice selection of steel plates, gongs and silhouettes out to 25 yards. Nothing crazy, but a lot of fun for .22\u2019s.<\/p>\n

We shot some .22 pistols first, including a new Beretta 20X and an old Beretta Model 71, then I pulled out the 10\/22. I have an ammo can full of old random .22 that my dad collected over the years. Some of this stuff is probably as old as the gun and it\u2019s been added to with loose rounds from other partial boxes over the years. I probably started with three or four .30 cal cans full, but I\u2019ve been going through it over the years. The 10\/22 loves it. It doesn\u2019t care what you feed it, so this junk stuff is my go to for plinking.<\/p>\n

I loaded up a few 10 round mags and gave the Qwik Point a try on one of the full sized silhouettes at 25 yards since I didn\u2019t know where it would be hitting. 10 out 10 rings on steel and as best I could tell they seemed to be hitting to point of aim. Despite the dim overcast day the orange dot was easily visible. Not as bright as some newer fiber optic sights I\u2019ve worked with, but quite usable.<\/p>\n

I switched to a 6 inch gong with my next mag. 10 out of 10 hits again, and it was easier to see on the small gong they were hitting well centered. I was calling that close enough for plinking purposes. Any time I don\u2019t actually have to do sight in I\u2019m stoked.<\/p>\n

I started running the line of hanging plates next that vary in size from 4 inches up to maybe 10 inches or so. The Qwik Point was, well, quick on target. It was easy to pick up and move rapidly between plates. In fact it seemed perfect for this type of shooting. It would actually work really well for a rimfire match and might be fun to run my 50 year old 10\/22 with a sight nearly as old against all of the newer guns with electronic dots.<\/p>\n

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\"Retro<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Retro for the Win<\/h2>\n

I started out grabbing a Qwik Point just out of curiosity, but I have to say I really like the sight. It has a funky aesthetic to it that\u2019s different from anything you see on the market these days. But it still works great, I love the solid construction and fact that you never need batteries as well. <\/p>\n

I didn\u2019t think the prices I found on them were unreasonable. I feel like this might be one of those optics that you could find even cheaper in a gun show or gun shop cast off box as one of those \u201cold sights no one wants\u201d kind of thing too.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m not planning on replacing all of my modern optics with Qwik Points but the rimfire model has found a permanent home on my 10\/22, and I\u2019m anxious to see how the rifle model does on my Beowulf build. If you happen to see one at a show or shop, or in an online auction at a good price, give it some thought. Just because something is old, doesn\u2019t mean that it\u2019s obsolete.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n


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I\u2019ve been on a bit of a retro kick lately. I\u2019ve been doing retro AR builds for a couple of years now. In the course of looking at older parts and builds, I\u2019ve also gotten interested in retro sights. One that intrigued me was the Weaver Qwik Point, one of the earliest dot sights. The […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4919,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-4918","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-reviews"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gunsandpride.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4918","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gunsandpride.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gunsandpride.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gunsandpride.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gunsandpride.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4918"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/gunsandpride.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4918\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gunsandpride.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4919"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gunsandpride.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4918"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gunsandpride.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4918"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gunsandpride.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4918"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}