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Thread: Night Vision Scopes

  1. #1
    Banned



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    Night Vision Scopes

    Not something I've ever been particularly interested in, but Kansas just legalized coyote hunting at night under lights or with night vision scopes (I need to look into it in more detail about exactly what is allowed). I'm generally of the opinion that killing coyotes is a good thing and it would seem to be a lot easier at night. Getting serious about hunting them has been something I've been meaning to do for a while.

    Again, I have effectively zero knowlege about such things. Has technology driven the prices down on these nowadays? Will it wash out under the muzzle flash of a rifle firing? How do you zero one? Does it require a shooting range at night?

  2. #2
    Boolit Grand Master popper's Avatar
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    I do not have one. I've talked to several that do. ATN appears to be the usual. Flir went out of the business (but good stuff). There are two types, one requires an IR light source the other doesn't. Check out the hunting thread on 300blk.com, several vids of IR hunts. ATN that I've seen can be zero'd and shot in daylight but just a little harder to use. 1k$ so many here just use hand held light that is dimmable and bright enough for 100yds. Yotes are different than hogs so the light is more difficult to use. 223 or 6.5 AR appears to be the platform and many use sticks unless from stand due to extra weight.
    Whatever!

  3. #3
    Boolit Master
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    I suggest a visit to the Predator Masters forum is in order!

    There is night vision, tube intensifier type vs. digital.

    And there is Thermal.

    Think of thermal as your prey being turned into glow sticks moving and with NV being sorting fly poop out of black pepper ..... at least to some extent.

    If you are out in wide open no cover then NV works better and an IR light will glow eyes.

    I would try a good light like the Wicked series (gun mounted) and a scanning light and sort out what you want in the long run. Watch the videos because they are very accurate in portraying what you will see.

    I have a big heavy expensive ATN Thor thermal scope that has a 100 mm objective lens and I have detected elk as far away as 3.5 miles.

    No misprint!

    I have detected coyotes as far away as 2500 yds.

    At 1400 yds I can tell you which way an elk is looking. (They are ravaging my hay stacks)

    But my Thermal weapon sight gets used more as a scanner more than a rifle scope because it weights 2.75 pounds.

    The thermal game is the only way but it is expensive. That’s why you can use lights and sort out where you want to go from here. Does the coyote/night hunting bug really bite you or not?

    Three44s
    Quote Originally Posted by Bret4207

    “There is more to this than dumping lead in a hole.”

  4. #4
    Boolit Master
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    I have an ATN IR scope and I'm fairly happy with it. I will say there are a few points that are not the best. It takes several seconds to turn it on or off. The IR light needs to be replaced with a good one. There is quite q learning curve to operate it. It is heavy and in the dark you have to remember where all the buttons are and what they do. I use mine mostly for shooting skunks from my bedroom window at night. I set up a bait station with a string attached that goes to a cow bell attached to the wall just outside of my bedroom window. The bait station is 45yds from the house as any closer is to close.
    The ATN with my replacement IR flashlite works well to over 100 yds maxing out at about 150yds. It has a day and a night setting so it can be used at any time. Zeroing, switching from day to night, zoom in and out and all of the many features are all adjusted by an on screen menu that takes time to go through unless you are very familiar with the menu. When I get out of bed at 3am grab the rifle and turn it on and find the skunk in the scope it can take up to 30 seconds which sometimes is longer than the skunk will stick around. If one was hunting hogs or coyotes and the scope was turned on and ready it works very well within the range of your IR light.

    The last price I saw was $550 and if you are going to be out hunting for any length of time you would do well to get the add on battery pack.

  5. #5
    Boolit Man
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    How much your willing to spend will dictate where we can take this conversation.

    Since others are bringing up ATN I figured I’d share a little about my experience with ATN..

    3 of us had purchased the digital ATN 4K day/night night vision when they first came out for a Texas hog hunt we were going to partake in.

    -The IR light it comes with works very well to about 75 yards. Bought a coyote reaper IR and went 300 or so? Plan on getting a stronger IR

    -Battery life is fantastic

    -comes with scope mounts. The QD Mount they offer works well but seems a little cheap but no issues.

    -resolution is quite decent until you zoom in all the way and then it’s rather grainy. But we are talking about hunting not target shooting.

    -I thoroughly enjoyed the recoil activated video/audio. As long as you remembered to turn it on it worked great.

    -the micro sd card slot its complete ********. There is/was another hole below it and the card could accidentally fall in there. It happened to me. It may have been changed now.

    -the obsidian app sucks. It likes to lock up or not work.

    -with night vision you are looking for glowing eyes. If a critter is next to a tree line you will not see it until it gets away from a background.

    -beware of ATN reviews. They buy them. They offer products in trade for good reviews. Got a shirt, hat and QD Mount. I reviewed how good the shop was that I dealt with as the scope wasn’t tested yet.


    -It was extremely buggy due to the firmware. Seems ATN likes to put products out and let the consumer be the beta testers. The screen would freeze a lot and require a hard reset. Called them to see what was going on and they told me I had to wait for a firmware update. A firmware was released within a few months after? The issues did slowly go away after each update over the 1-1/2 years I owned it.

    -It went on a ar15’s in 6.5 grendel and later a 450 bushmaster since ATN said it would handle it. The recoil of the 450 broke it after a few shots. It was bad enough they had replaced it under warranty and I sold it the day I got it to a friend. He broke that one with a 7.62x39 and it got replaced again.

    -I’d guess for the money it’s a deal to get into the night vision game but be prepared you may need to spend more to get it where it’s usable for what you want to do. I do wish I would of kept it for a small caliber for my kids.


    To answer your questions..

    -Prices have gone down and the digital view makes things a lot nicer. It’s just like looking thru a camera.

    -you will have washout at night. To where you prolly won’t get a follow up shot.

    -zeroing it easy once you do it and see the process. You can search for ATN 1 shot zero. It’s a little more involved than they show you but it does work.

    -You can Sight it in day or night


    I sold mine as I was done with ATN’s issues and adding more heavy equipment. I chose to go thermal and it’s the cats meow. Out of 3 of us Im the only one that has thermal and I’m the one finding hogs and directing where to go. You will not believe what you miss with night vision But the costs are way apart.

  6. #6
    Boolit Buddy ofitg's Avatar
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    I found this video to be very helpful - the guy provides side-by-side views through a variety of different devices -

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zyr6BxfJfEQ
    "Commerce with all nations, alliance with none, should be our motto."

    - Thomas Jefferson


  7. #7
    Boolit Buddy wolfwing's Avatar
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    ATN= A Tactical Nightmare

    Look for an older PV military unit. Buy once cry once

  8. #8
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    I got a ATN probably 30 years old it still works not the best in optical quality but it has survivrd being dropped out of a tree stand and rained on a couple times when it finally quits I will get something to replace it this thing weighs almost as much as the rifle its on

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