Q: I know there are numerous scope reticles of various designs made of different metallic materials and that some are etched on glass, but the other day I was told that in the past some scope reticles were made out of spider web, which was the strongest of all. Is this true or is the guy having me on?
Alan Anderson
A: The guy who told you that reticles were made of spider web didn’t get the story right. Spider thread from the cocoon was used and is by far the best substance. However, this is not the web.
Cocoon thread has great strength and has the elasticity of rubber. Early experiments proved that it cannot be shot out or broken regardless of recoil.
The diameter of this thread is small and very uniform, running about .0025mm (.001”).
After being removed from the outer crust of the cocoon, the thread was steamed before use and attached to the reticle frame with a tiny drop of shellac or Duco cement.
Its only disadvantage was that it is very slender and thus favoured by target shooters with high-magnification scopes. Personally, I prefer medium-thickness crosswires in a hunting scope and find many are too fine, which makes them hard to see in poor light.
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