Colt 3x20 Carry Handle Spotter Scope

Pictured in Colt sales catalogs as early as 1965, the Colt 3x20 scope was developed by the Realist, Inc., of Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin as a "private label brand" for Colt (Senich, 1994). Marketed by Colt as both a "sporter scope" and as part of the Colt AR15 "Military Weapon System" the Colt 3x20 replaced the Delft 3x25 scopes that Colt had been offering with early model 601 AR15 rifles sold in the early 1960s.

While the scopes appear to have been widely used by the US military during the Vietnam war, the exact means of distribution and acquisition of the scopes is unclear. The USARV (US Army Vietnam) reported receiving 364 of the Colt/Realist scopes in November 1967 for use on M16 rifles in addition to over a thousand other scopes and mounts for trial purposes on M16 and M14 rifles (Blake Stevens & Ezell, 2004). Many more scopes were probably purchased by soldiers privately or by units on a small scale.