RangerDave

Had one for a few months now, great bit of kit, check out my findings here; http://forums.pigeonwatch.co.uk/forums/index.php?/topic/224330-first-month-with-the-nitesite-ns200/

I have had the NS200 for a couple of months now, and it does take a little tweaking to get it working right with your scope, but once you do it's a great piece of kit. http://forums.pigeonwatch.co.uk/forums/index.php?/topic/224330-first-month-with-the-nitesite-ns200/ If your still waiting for your variation to come through, I'm guessing your still looking at rifles and scopes, so if you go down the NS200 route, pick your scope carefully, side parallax is a must in my opinion, as is a close focus (down to 10 yards) something in the MTC scope range should fit the bill, and I am in the process of changing all 3 of my present scopes to MTC's. Another handy bit of kit is an Olight M20 Crimson torch, as using the NiteSite to scan for targets is not easy, you can of course look for them with a standard lamp, but we all know how lamp shy critters can get these days? I have also added some other bits of kit which work well for me, a smaller and lighter battery with integrated switch and a stock pouch for it to go in. The NS200 has a knob on the top for switching the screen on and turning the IR lamp up to it's 4 intensity levels, this is a little tedious when foxing as you always need the highest setting, so I set it at the high mark and just turn it on and off on the battery, which is almost silent and much quicker! So far it has accounted for 48 rats at between 5-80 yards (on a .22 and air rifle) and 17 foxes all the way up to 180 yards (on a Sako .223) I have no experience with the Archer or any other night sight for that matter, but can say that the NS200 has opened up a whole new shooting dimension for me now, and I'm having a ball!

Nice looking gun, I've always thought that pistols would make a good base for a compact semi-auto rifle, and a lot nicer than the bulky offerings we have today! ( not a big fan of the 10/22, and a bit like the Buckmark but even smaller!) I used to own a Ruger MkII 6" Government, a real reliable tackdriver, I'm guessing the MkIII is even better and if fitted with a slightly longer barrel, scope rail, moderator and stock, it would make a dandy little small game getter especially night shooting rabbits from inside a vehicle, even looked into having one custom built.........unfortunately in the UK, once a pistol, always a pistol! :( Now if Volquartsen Custom would take one of their VC3L MkIII Lightweights or Custom LBP, add a threaded 16.5" THM Tension Barrel (or use the 12" LBP one) scope rail (not Picatinny) and a classy stock to compliment their grips......I would be a happy man! (yes it would cost an arm and a leg, maybe 2, but it would be worth it!!)

Only "Woodland Tan", so still a little conservative I guess compared to some colours they do! Hoping there is enough for 2 rifle action and barrels (and moderators) The colour should work well with the custom stocks I have, will post pics when done!

I do like that grip/stock, and a nice paint job too! Still waiting for my Duracoat to arrive, although I've gone slightly less conservatively on the colour!!

Thanks for that, just wanted to check as this is expensive paint to get wrong!

I came across a cheap alternative from, wait for it.................B&Q!! It is a plastic soil pipe 40mm straight coupler plus a 35/36mm reducer, it is actually a perfect fit on my NSX scope (with a bit of modding) and gives you slightly more eye relief for the camera, as the NSX has a longer one than normal (due to being use quite a bit on 50 bmg sniper rifles) It wont work on all scopes of course, as the variations are infinite, but it did the trick for me........and for just a couple of quid!

I agree, a lot of the better fixed mag scopes are primarily built for deer rifles and have parallax set for 100 y/m, for air rifles and rimfires an adjustable parallax model is preferred as the shooting rangers are much less, sometimes down to a few yards! I am seriously considering a complete scope change on all my rifles since buying a NiteSite NS200 a couple of months ago, I have a lovely Nightforce NSX 5.5-22x50 and a couple of Hawke HD's, none work as I would like with the NS200. Am looking at the MTC Genesis to replace the NSX on my .223, a Viper Connect for my rimfire and maybe a Mamba light for my air rifle, all have side focus down to 10 yards, a must in my opinion for use with the NiteSite, especially for rats!

I use an Olight M20 Crimson to spot with my NS200, it throws a dull red beam out to about 100 yards but can pick up eye shine 400 plus! Not only is it less obtrusive, very small and lightweight, rabbit, dear, badger, owls and foxes are not bothered by it, and with a little practice you can even tell the difference between species (fox has by far the brightest eye shine, unluckily for them!) Recently on a friends farm I spotted 2 fox in the middle of a large herd of sheep at around 350 yards, that's 2 sets of eyes out of over 100, and after moving into a better position, took both at 180 and 170. My tally for the 2 months of using this set up is 14 fox and 48 rats, using 4 different rifles, .223, .22lr x2 and an air rifle, and it has added a completely new dimension to my shooting!

Mines not arrived yet, and didn't go for the kit as already have a small airbrush and compressor that I used to custom paint my 1416D stock. My only concern is the degreaser (as £19 + p&p seemed a little steep for there's) can you tell me what there's consists of, does it say on the bottle?

Thanks for the link Silverhawk (just ordered some) been looking for this stuff for ages now, and want to give my 24 year old Sako a makeover, as the barrel bluing is wearing quite a bit where my moderator fits (an over barrel PES) Do you think the paint layer would effect the fit in a glass bedded action? this is also 24 years old and a DIY job I did in a Brown Precision fiberglass stock (one of the first in the country) and one I was quite proud of at the time, would hate for it to be too tight a fit and have to do it all over again! Dave PS. What degreaser do you use pre paint?

Sorry Dave, not yet, been a little busy, will post some when I get the chance though!

I don't have it and I've looked at document apps, and there is the possibility of mapping out a standard format page with a lot of the requirements on it like date, quarry, distance etc., but I might as well just carry on writing that in my physical log book, which I don't carry with me on hunts. The whole idea of having an app on a smartphone is the fact that you always have it there with you, with most of the data collected automatically like date/time/weather/location, plus you can add photos and a map to your log, even get GPS to track your hunt! Admittedly, some tracking apps still have niggles, mostly due to weather conditions and getting a good satellite fix, the other week while out on my friends farm I tried one app called AndAndo, on my return back to the farm I ended the tracking and took a look at my route. Apparently I took a detour to Mali in central Africa, a 5026 mile round trip, not bad seeing I was on foot and was only gone for a few hours! lol!!

You can find an app for just about anything these days, and a quick and simple one for logging your shooting trips and kills seems like a logical next step to update your shooting kit! I have looked at many on the Google play site, as I have a Galaxy SIII which is great, and thought I'd found a suitable app that was easy to use, but then came the bombshell!! The ActInNature Hunting app is listed as free and worked fairly well....for 10 log entries! To use it further you need to buy an annual subscription for 9.99 euros!! I'm sorry, but that's a bit steep for a diary, especially as it is not quite there yet to make it worth the money. Disappointed, I continued my search, and came accross iHunt Journal and eventually bought it for the one off price of £3.99 It's not quite as good, you can only have one photo attached to each entry, and navigating the menu is not so intuitive, buy I guess you get what you pay for! My ideal Shooters Journal would consist of a simple layout that can be customized by the user, that way certain things can be omitted to keep the interface clean. Here is a my wish list; Time/date stamp. Auto if you remember to start the app, manual if you forget (and lets face it, most of us will!) Title of hunt. Weather conditions, temperature, wind direction etc. either auto list or manual. Most smartphones monitor this already. Place, your permissions, selected from drop down user created menu. Quarry type, selected from drop down user created menu. Can also be selected multiple times on same hunt entry (lets face it, we often shoot a mixed bag!) Weapons, selected from drop down user created menu. Ammo used, selected from drop down user created menu. Map, saved tile from Google maps or other with your exact shooting position marked, either automatically with GPS enabled (GPS only enabled when map/camera activated) or manually with an icon/pin. Many apps already have this feature. Photo, up to 3 pics per shot using the phones camera of your quarry (if you hit it that is!) Would also be a really cool feature if when taking a photo of say a fox you had shot, it automatically measured the distance via GPS from your marked shooting position! Journal, the story behind the shot or days shooting. (no limit) For me, that would be great, but others may wish to add certain extras like sex, age, head score if your a deer stalker, fellow hunters/shooters if it's a days pheasant shooting etc. Another feature I would like to see is a total tally page, where you can define how many foxes/rabbits/squirrels etc. you've shot in say 2012, just the month of july, or at a certain permission! Accessing your entries would also have to be a simple task, by date, week, month, year, quarry, permission, as well as a long scroll-able list stating date and title. Not too much to ask, is it? If anyone has any other good ideas to include in this ideal shooters app or finds an app (on Android or iOS) that comes close to these specs, please let me know, I would gladly pay a one off payment for listing my shots in such a journal/format. (and just in case your wondering, yes, I have and do hand write my journal at the moment) Maybe there are some developers watching, and can design one for us..........now that would be nice!! Regards, Dave

Very funny......and you may be right, will have to give it a go!