GTA
Support Equipment For PCP/HPA/CO2 and springers ,rams => Scopes And Optics Gate => Topic started by: Johnny Quest on May 30, 2011, 01:05:06 PM
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As some of you know I love hunting vermin at night.. My story starts years ago sittin on the back deck havin a beer and a smoke.. It was a nice evening and right before dark.. Thats when I saw the rat running the power lines behind my house.
That night propelled me into this great airgun hobby. I bought my first springer and it was on.
The rats jumped into my big elm tree and raided the bird feeder, ate the bird poo on the branches. Tree rats i guess. As I commenced to wackin em with my new Gamo Whisper, they started comming out later and later till my fun was over.. The went nocturnal completely.
Game over.
The GTA has a great section in the mall and I found Optics Planet in hopes of a scope that picked up more light to keep me in the shootin..
I saw the 2 words, NIGHT VISION...... That was it, I needed night vision to keep me in the rat killin fun.
I will say that the sticker price knocked me back a bit and at almost the cost of a good PCP I back peddled a few weeks.
A few weeks went by and the rat killin addiction was working on me. I went back to the site and stared at em again. http://www.opticsplanet.net/nightvision-riflescopes.html (http://www.opticsplanet.net/nightvision-riflescopes.html)
I decided that if I wanted to keep playing I had to invest in one. I chose the ATN MK 390 PALADIN... http://www.opticsplanet.net/atnarmkpalni.html (http://www.opticsplanet.net/atnarmkpalni.html)
I had already lost to the pull of the dark side. In both sences of the term. I had aquired PCP's and Night vision.. I am Double Dark Sided now..
At first inspection of my new scope I said WOW thats huge. It loomed over the gun like an eagle on a perch.
(http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p5/GULFCOASTRODS/kills/cranialsurgery003.jpg)
It seemed akward at first and made the gun heavy, so I set up a bench and rest on the back porch Looking out across the yard to the big tree..
I wondered how I was going to sight it in in the dark but the instruction fixed all that for me..
If ya leave the front lense cover on in the day time it has a pin hole in it.. Just turn on the scope(covered of coarse) and you can see.. I dialed her in at 25 yards.. Dime size groups wow..
I think it took an eternity to finally get dark outside. I sat my new ultra stealth weapon on the rest and waited. Here in Texas it don't get dark till 9.00 +.
Finally I was able to pull the front lense cover off and turn it on... Whir!!! she loomed into the darkness, but something was missing, it just wasn't clear enough and it didn't light up the world like I had expected.. Ahhh the instruction book came back out..
This is a 4 x scope and is adjusted from the front like an AO scope. I fixed the focus with no problems. Now for the little gizmo on top. Its a Infrared Illuminator, 450 megawatts. That did the trick.. I could see every spider eye, every frog, lizards, The night became alive, I had never seen so many critters before..
Heaven had arrived in a small package via a UPS truck..
It didn't take long for the scope to earn its keep.. the rats were in trouble, thier eyes were lit up like car headlights on the freeway. The gun started killin again and in a huge way.
They didn't stand a chance anymore. I killed em all, thier cover of darkness was removed and they couldn't eat unless the came out.. Sittin ducks...
Then things changed. They could now see the ir illuminator and avoided the beam.
Thats where ATN kicked it up a knotch again.. Its adjustable. I had it on full power and they get savy of it.. I dialed it down and the killin started again...
BLISS!!!
I had Gene make me an adapter that fit the scope and allowed the video cam to hook up to it.. Suddenly I was a youtube star.
here is what I see thru the scope.. they are defenseless to it... Its midnight totally dark outside, the darker the better..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7LtCfPx30Ew# (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7LtCfPx30Ew#)
So in my opinion, if you were ever wondering what its like hunting with NV.
Its the REAL DARK SIDE
Double dark.. ;)
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Maybe someday. I just dont have enough guns yet to dedicate/sacrafice one completely to the night. For now I'll just stick with the old fashioned way of using a headlight or scope mounted light.
Richard
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Richard, thats the way I grew up. Head lamps and flashlights. Gene asked me to do this review for a few folks that are on the edge of the button..
I have no regrets about spending the funds for one tho.. Its a whole new world out there at night, and thats just in my backyard.. The ranch over the 4th of july weekend is gunna get fun......
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I bet the ranch trip will be a blast. Like you, I have plenty of stuff to shoot at right here at home, but its always fun to go bust stuff up on foreign soil.
Richard
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The video reminds me of the roof rats in Pasadena, TX. Keep the videos coming.
Ed
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The video reminds me of the roof rats in Pasadena, TX. Keep the videos coming.
Ed
Ed I live in Pasadena.. where are you.....
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I may build a PCP gun and dedicate it to night hunting as my springers are too loud lol!