Hog/varmint rifles dodads

[RBHarter]

After my most recent hog trip I have found an absolute need for night hunting gear. Now it's not that I'm a tightwad cheapskate but they seem to want a lot of money for red/green gun mounted lights . I recognize that there is a certain amount of R&D and technical design that goes into making a recoil resistant light and that LEDs are handy because of their low power consumption but are the lights really worth the $100 to 200 asking prices ? Then there's laser dot sights , I get it ,they have to be more rigid that the "pet excersiser" from the cheapo depot but 250 to start ?
I have spent a lot of money on things that are good investments like boots and I have a couple of rifles that should have been a lot more than I spent on them and I would have gladly spent more on them .

Armed with the above can you guys offer any advice or suggestions for above average servicable lights or point of hold light sights that won't break the bank ? As of now I would fit 3 rifles a 222 of about 8# and a 8.5 # Mauser in 358 Win. The last would be the 92' but I'm thinking not aside from just looking silly ,it's not really a varmint rifle either . Now maybe if I had that super duper tacky cool 30-30......... no probably not even then....

[Ranch Dog]

About half my hog hunting is at night and I only started to use a light. My favored method is to use a light to locate hogs only if needed then move in very close and shoot them under ambient light conditions. I realize that you are hunting hogs in a bit different of a setup so all I've said is not going to do you any good.

Two years ago I added a small tactical light to my Ruger Mini-30 and have used it to kill a couple of dozen hogs. I bought it on eBay and it mounts on a picatinny rail.





I bought my light on eBay but could only find it now on Amazon.

Typically for night hunting, I'm on a food plot or sendero. I do bait the edges prior to night fall. Whether I'm going to shoot them with amibent light or with the F22B, I locate them by sound and then at about 100 yards identify them with a 1M candle power spotlight as I don't want to kill a javelina by mistake. At any distance, a light is not going to bugger them for a few seconds as they are typically head down eating. I move up close for the shot. I'm shooting the F22B on my Ruger Mini-30 and have killed hogs out to 75 yards, I have a Weaver K4 Classic Scout on the rifle. I use a short burst of light from the pressure switch on the forend to see how the setup has changed and then light my target hog up and shoot. I never had them spook before the shot, actually, they never have looked up. This is a boar that I lit up at 75 yards on the upper food plot.



…and the light on the rifle. Oh, I use the clear lense.

[RBHarter]

I think I found something very similar to that . That is also at a price I'm almost willing to pay . It has the same light numbers and the case is similar also rail mounted . On our hunt we were successful with both red and green filters neither seemed to bother them just a blink of white light would scatter them .

[Ranch Dog]

On our hunt we were successful with both red and green filters neither seemed to bother them just a blink of white light would scatter them .

Yeah, they are probably a bit gun shy on that place.

[RBHarter]

Threadsurection ( new word for digging up long lost threads ) !

I found a light marked as a Wind Fire brand . There are about 15 different but identical lights varying in price from $10-35 for just the light ,then you need to add a mount ,maybe a pressure switch ,charger for the batteries or battery pack.
After much grousing around I found a complete kit @ $34 .
The mount has a scope or bbl V block type base with a Weaver style top and a separate scope ring mount the fits the 1" light tube . This let's you have lots of options for hooking it on your rifle. The rechargeable battery pack is said to run 6 hr . The light is a green LED with a clear lens. In theory better than lens filtered light . In practice the 5 Cree (no clue what that means) LED will light a sand bank and sage brush past 250 yd . I don't know if I could select and sight a target at that range but naked eye the grass line ,sand and sage was distinguishable. It should be good to go for 50-75 yds . It is available in red,green,blue or white. The kit comes in a tab locked box about 5x5x1.5 inches and includes the mounts,push button on off switch cap and a pressure switch cap, allen wrench ,battery, charger and the light.
These are probably cheap junk but if it holds up 5-6 shots on full power rifles or 10 plus on an AR it's a buy and learn why the other lights are worth over $100 and the hunt is over.
If it is in fact the same light as the $80-160 lights I'm warm and fuzzy all over.