Night vision

So here we are in the last days of October early November the evenings are getting darker earlier and the temperature is dropping rapidly as the sun goes down.

Monday on the range was a quiet day, a blessing in some ways as it allows us to catch up with cleaning duties, repair work and other such tasks that get put on hold when its busy.
As the day drew to a close the boss decided to close shop early and head off home, following a quick call to my better half I was given the all clear to stay out and play, another text to Bryan to see if he was free was sent and his reply was a yes but he had to wait for his wife to come home from work before he could leave as he was looking after the kids, he should be with me around 9pm.
Once the shutters were down and the alarms set it was still only about 7:15pm, with that in mind I took a slow drive, stopping off for fuel,supplies and a quick bite to eat I rocked up to the permission about 8pm.
Tonight would be a chance to try out the Photon night vision scope that had come in to the shop to be sold, I had already mounted it to my FX Wildcat and had a play zeroing it in while at the range (remember it had been quiet)

Time to get my kit on wrap up warm as tonight was gonna be a cold one, I just hope the bunnies will come out to play. A bit of pre-planning meant that I had thought to take a marker stick with me, pacing out 30yards I planted the stick in the ground, returning to my start position I spent the next few minutes making sure the scope was zeroed to my liking, If you haven't shot with a night sight before either a Photon type or a Screen type it can be difficult to judge distances through a screen.
Happy that the gun and scope are on point i make my way back to the car where I wait for Bryan to arrive, I don't have to wait to long before he turns up. The usual greetings are exchanged, Bryan sets his gun up (BSA R10se with Photon night sight) and with a light step we head out into the fields.
Now as you may have read in my last blog last week I had already reconnoitred the new field, so with that in mind I pointed out the best places for Bryan to settle in and a divide and conquer approach was applied. Leaving Bryan to it I took a wander up the far side of the field away from him with the intention that once I got to the top of the fields I would then herd the rabbits towards Bryan.
Once at the top of the field a quick scan of the fields reveals some eye shines here and there a quick count up totals about twenty rabbits, some are in the next field (I don't have permission for that field) so they get to see another day but it does remind me that i need to drop by the owners house and see if I can get his field on my permission list too.
Back to work though, so with a couple of long shots I try to herd the rabbits towards Bryan, yes well it kind of worked but I have to say its like trying to juggle a handful of frogs. Walking back down the field still juggling, I arrive at my appointed place to settle down and wait. While I was herding, Bryan had moved into position and set himself up ready for the bunnies. Bryan in the shadow of a barn on one side of the field and myself on the other under a small copse of trees. Soon enough with a brief scan with the night vision eye shine was detected three to four of them but as yet all still hiding in the bushes, now with the photon you can use it without the IR torch however these rabbits wouldn't have been seen as the IR is the magic that makes the eyes shine, effectively the rabbit is hidden by the bushes but the IR beam reflects off the eyes giving them away. Patience is a virtue and it pays off when you apply it, a few minutes later two rabbits come to the hedge line and in full view, now again patience will pay off as given time the rabbits feel safer and will eventually venture further out thus bringing them closer to you making the shot a lot easier. Lining up my shot i wait for the rabbit to turn its head side-on, as it does i breath out and squeeze the trigger. I hear the pellet hit home but the rabbit shoots back into the hedgerow the other one darts off across the field but towards Bryan. After a brief search with the night sight I cant see the one in the hedge so I pan across to find the other one, there it was sitting on the hedge line another ten foot further away from me but closer to Bryan. The one thing about shooting with an IR torch is if the other person is also using an IR torch you can see their IR beam, this was the case with this rabbit, I can see Bryan's torch beam on the rabbit and I presume he can see mine. I wait for Bryan to take his shot ............ nothing yet so I wait a little longer. Although Bryan is a little closer its still a good 60yard shot for him and as I said in my last blog Brayn is still quite fresh to the shooting scene, I need to get the rabbit closer for him, the rabbit has settled and is eating the grass again, okay time for action ill take a shot knowing I'm not going to hit it but hopefully scare it closer to Bryan, I let off a shot and sure enough the rabbit flees and it flees toward Bryan, a couple of seconds pass and I can see Bryan's torch beam pointing at the rabbit. He takes his shot but falls short, its obviously further than he thought. The rabbit runs for the hedge but sits just on the edge, another shot and this one hits home but once more the rabbit jumps deeper into the hedge where we cant retrieve it, oh well Mr Fox will eat well tonight. A few more hours pass with little or no sign of further rabbits.

All in all I was happy with the Photon night sight it performed well and gave a clear picture, you can change the reticule design and swap between red,green or white illumination, the vertical and windage adjustment is straight forward to do and adjusting the brightness is just the turn of a button, my one criticism of the scope if I was being very fussy is that the field of view is narrow compared to the Nite Site that I normally use, having said that you get used to it fairly quickly, the advantage over the Nite Site that I use is that you don't get flare back from the screen lighting your face up as you do with the Nite Site. It does eat batteries if you use the IR torch built in so take plenty with you, you get about two to three hours out of two good quality batteries. I'm told that a good rechargeable battery lasts a little longer. My score would be 9 out of 10 only dropping one for the narrow field of view and battery consumption. A good scope and worth spending out on for ease of use and compactness.
Bryan has work the next day so we decide to call I a night as its now about 11o'clock.
All done for another night, time to head home. Hope this blog has kept you entertained and I hope to wright another soon.
Rev.