Night shooting setup

[Jeremy Winters]

Hi all. I’m looking to get a night shooting setup for foxing out to 300m+ on my .223, and occasional rabbiting. I’ve looked into both thermal scopes and nv, but I’m not sure which to go with - I don’t mind spending the money, but I’ve seen people say that a thermal spotter coupled with an nv scope is far better than a thermal scope? Any advice and model suggestions (I’ve looked at Pulsar so far) would be much appreciated. Cheers 

[oowee]

Hi Jeremy. Thermal is very good if you spend a decent sum on the kit. Looking and shooting with thermal would not be my preference as when conditions are not so good it would be easy to make a mistake. I am spotting with an xq38 which is superb and with practice its possible to id quarry early on and I use nv to confirm and shoot. The bigger the objective the better the picture and I would try to look through kit in the field if you can.

I am using a variety of nv;

a Pard 008 which works well with decent IR is good for 200m + it sits a little awkward on the scope rail as its set well back but you get used to it, buttons and controls are fiddly. I have this for sale.

an older Pulsar digisight which is IR sensitive but the built in IR is good for 150m great on the hmr, the controls are simple and robust the unit is well made. 

A Drone x10 which is simply awesome range9Dependent on conditions) is easily 4/500m with my led ir. With laser I am sure it will go to 1000m. The large objective means it will work when everything else gives up. Picture is great. 10c fixed can make pick up more challenging but you soon get used to it. No longer made.

I have also used and owned a ward add on with a sidewinder scope. A great combination, not expensive and good for pretty much anything but the back up is not what it might be. I also owned a atn 4k which is good when they hold zero.

Not sure why you would want to shoot more than 200m at night? You will probably want a range finder too. 

[Dougy]

You are going to get opinions from both sides, and 300m at night without range finding is going to be a long shot whatever the calibre. 

Im pretty old school and use tubed gen2+, its an Archer add on and thermal spotter, Pulsar Axion LRF. 

 

I have looked through all sorts of Digital NV scopes from  £300 to £4k, and Thermal the top of the range Pulsar thermal scopes, there good, very good but i wont change from what i currently have. I can id out to well beyond 500 yards with this set up, longest ID was 670yds over the neighbouring estate and range find to enable a dialled in shot, but i wouldn't. 

Opinions from those who have the Thermal rifle scopes may differ from mine, if you can you should try and compare as many as you can before you spend. 

Add your location to your profile, you may be close to someone who can help near to you. 

[Walker570]

I'm with Dougy. There are so many variations available these days.  I use a simple relatively cheap  £125 IR assisted spotter and then add on for the shooting with a screen made by one of our members a few years ago now, still works and a lot of foxes out to 200 have died as a result although most of my shooting is around 150.  My spotter will tell me if their is an animal out at 300 no problem and probably the scope set up would also manage to do the job but I prefer to get them in closer, probably with a squeak on the Buttalo. Very few of my fields stretch to that distance anyway.   If your on big fields or open moorland totally different.

[oldypigeonpopper]

Hello, from what I have read thermal scopes and thermal in general suffer more from inclement weather than digital night vision and most shooting at night with the up coming winter , any night vision device is only as good as the on board infra red or a  led or laser torch, if you have a low magnification side focus or AO scope a Pard 007 add on with a good infra red torch, there are good digital night vision scopes that will do 250 yard plus with on board I/R , far more with a good I/R torch, if I was looking to upgrade I would still use a digital night vision scope or add on coupled with a thermal spotter that would be my thoughts, I started night shooting with a tubed NV scope many many years ago, how times have changed, 

[Dave-G]

Been there and done it with night vision - most of which give me eye sting or poked eye sensations.

My two pennyworth now is, spend good money on a thermal spotter ( I shoot from a car and use a roof spotter) perhaps one with a rangefinder and save cash using a decent adjustable intensity red lamp for the few seconds it subsequently takes to use the rifle.

The spotter lets you get to an optimum location for the shot without emitting any light source so get set up ready to turn on the red light only when set up ready for the shot. Don't make the mistake of turning on the torch then shouldering and swinging round before its aimed in about the right direction. 

Edited December 1, 2022 by Dave-G

[davewh100]

i use both thermal and nv everyone as there own opinion. definitely recommend thermal spotter think most will agree on this, 

scope wise they both have different advantages the thermal you dont need ir and is definitely easier to pick up what your shooting at, but not the best in poor conditions this is wen the nv comes into play and so many options and matching it up with a good ir torch