Rimfire Night Shooting

[Puncha]

G'day Fellas,

For the purposes of pest control after dark, can you guys recommend a good night vision rimfire scope for the ruger 10/22? Cost is a consideration so Generation 1+ is the best I can afford.

 

[esldude]

1st Gen night vision is not that good.

I think a good red dot would be a better choice. Maybe supplemented with a good rifle mounted light like those used on shotguns.

If you use a light, even a good 4x scope wouldn't be a bad choice.

 

[joab]

I just set up a 10/22 for my mother for this same thing.

I got the idea from one of those kids spy toys that was advertised as night vision binoculars.
All they are is binocs with green coated lens and a flashlight and laser

I put a tac light and BSA red dot n the Ruger.
She can nail the bottom of a soda can at 50 yards at 10 pm ,so I called it good

 

[444]

Varmint Hunting with a night vision scope is not real easy. Trying to do it with a Gen 1 scope would be frustrating if not impossible. Shooting a soda can and seeing an animal in the brush are two entirely different things.
You would be MUCH better off using a conventional scope and a light.

 

[Buckskinner]

Wierd:

I just replaced the 20" stainless barrel on my 10/22 with the tried and true carbon fiber barrel from Cabela's tonight especially for low light varminting.

I'll put the illuminated reticle 4x Barska on it, along with a barrel clamped mini mag light, all of which I have in the kitchen drawer, and call it good.

The whole north side of my property is woods, and I saw a coyote a few days ago run down there. If he comes back to harrass my kids, chickens, ducks, or just to stick his pointy nose in the wrong place, I'll zap him!

.

 

[30-06 lover]

I would just buy a spotlight for 20 bux.

 

[rangerruck]

i think either gamo or simmons makes a tri unit dovetail scope for about 70 bucks, it is a scope, dotsite, white light, and laser, all in pkge.

 

[joab]

Shooting a soda can and seeing an animal in the brush are two entirely different things.

At the distances that we are talking about and the numbers in the herds of coons down here a red dot is the better choice.
It maintains the field of vision while being more instinctive aiming


Having shot both I realize that coons and cans are diferent but the soda can was all there was that night to shoot at and I chose not to lie and say that we hit a coon.

 

[444]

Very briefly, the point is that something out in the open and something in the brush are very big differences with a night vision scope. With a night vision scope you get shadows just like you would using a visible light. An animal that is colored to blend in, standing partially in a shadow, is real tough to see with a night vision scope. An animal (or a soda can) sitting out in the open, like on a road (where there are no shadows or concealment) is easy to see. Trying a night vision set up in town, or out in your yard doesn't give a good picture of what it would look like in the wild.

 

[joab]

The soda can in my comment was shot using a tac-light(flashlight) so I am not sure why you chose that as your anti night vision example.
I also never stated where the can was, whether covered or out in the open.

I just don't see how a

"conventional scope and a light"

produces different light than a

tac light and BSA red dot

Your post seems to assume that neither the OP or I have ever been varmint shooting before

 

[444]

Ok

You are 110% right in everything you said.



Feel better now ?

How about if we let the guy that actually requested the information try to glean something from the thread ?

 

[borrowedtime69]

night hunting...

my recomendation is as follows:

get a scope with an objective lens size between 40 mm's and 50 mm's that has been polished well and is advertised to have very good light gathering ability.

next, i would get one of the following; these you can order from Cabbellas:

here is a link to that item: http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templates/pod/horizontal-pod.jsp?rid=&indexId=cat20758&navAction=push&navCount=2&cmCat=MainCatcat20712&parentType=index&parentId=cat20758&id=0006362

these lights clamp on to the tops of the scopes via a supplied mounting bracket. they have RED lens filters, most animals cant not see red light so it doesnt spook them. the light should give you ample lighting to see your target if you buy a quality scope. and it will be much cheaper to buy than a night vision scope.

the one problem ive heard about night vision stuff is that they have a finite amount of operating time and when the time is used up it must be sent back to the factory and rebuilt and recharge whatever it needs to gather light out of the dark, ie, lots of $$$$. good luck! -Eric