Mini-30 with NVRS 3X42

[Ranch Dog]

Decided to up my game on my hogs. Been studying "night vision" hard and talking to guys that do a lot of the night control work on farm fields. Thier work has taken from Gen1 through G3 and into high-end digital. Given how I've been hunting them at night under ambient light and the distances I shoot on my place, they suggested that I just go with a Gen1 scope and they made a recommendation. It arrived today and is on the rifle.



The eye relief seems correct, I might need to move it back one more notch on the scout rail. This rifle and the 7.62x39 is going to be my springtime project. Will move all the reloading for the Mini-30 to a dedicated Load-Master.

Tonight, I will test the optics but probably not shoot. By dark, it will be below freezing and we will probably see 22º. This morning at sunrise it was 20º, that's damn cold for this end of Texas. Heck, I know people that don't have heaters in their houses, just sleep under an electric blanket.

[Ohio3Wheels]

Can you sight those in in day light?

Make smoke,

[Macd]

Have been watching the records tumble all over with the cold. We are a balmy 28-36F this week. My friend near Ottawa had minus 23 to minus 25F over the holidays. A bit too crisp for shooting I would think. You may need to dig out the red long johns lol.

[GasGuzzler]

LIKE .... waiting on report.

(it was 12 degrees in my part of Texas 1-3-18)

[Ranch Dog]

Can you sight those in in day light?

Make smoke,

No, but with a quarter turn of the lock it is off and a complete turn of two locks the Weaver K4 Classic Scout is back on.

Daylight use will damage a Gen1 scope.

[RBHarter]

I settled on a green light , being red/ blue deficient the difference is ......... huge . I suspect that once relocated my mind may change about spending on the NV gear .

I really feel for the people getting slammed with the cold . Our temps this time of the year are usually high teens to mid 30s , 19/35 is the normal reach . I left the house this morning at 5:45 at 38° it was about 35° when I got in my work truck . 42 with an expected (optimistic) high of 59 as of 9:15 am . 52-54 wouldn't surprise me as it stands .

[Ranch Dog]

Yesterday I sighted the rifle in with my new load with the Speer #2213 bullet and H4198.



Sighted in both the Weaver K4 Classic Scout for day use and the NVRS 3x42 for night use. I will still need to adjust the ghost ring for non-optic use.





At 50 yards, the 6" gong was very easy to see with a crosshair of 1" yellow masking tape across it. No so at 100-yards. At 100-yards, the same was not visible with the 3X. My berms have a brushy/grassy background, and I could easily see the post frame and bull panel wiring as well as the chain that the 6" gong hangs from. The rusty gong eluded me. I painted it white, and the IR illuminator gave me a white pinhead to shoot at. I don't think I will have any issue with hogs at that distance given their size, just like I could see all the features of the berm, just the plate was hard to pick out.

It was a very cloudy night. The first shots were at 25-yards, and with my eye, I could not see that berm. No problem with the unilluminated scope though, it didn't need the IR.

My night time experience with a traditional scope in ambient light conditions is going to pay off. Typically I care a flashlight and never turn it on, serving only for emergency use. You cannot go back and forth between the NV and any white light; it is going to remain important to use total discipline not to use artificial light.

[Macd]

RD, are you using an IR Illuminator too? I have no experience with them but they were aquired for our armed boarding parties to ease moving around dark spaces on ships without ruining night vision or pinpointing their location like a normal weapon light or laser would.

[Ranch Dog]

RD, are you using an IR Illuminator too? I have no experience with them but they were aquired for our armed boarding parties to ease moving around dark spaces on ships without ruining night vision or pinpointing their location like a normal weapon light or laser would.

An IR Illuminator is part of the NVRS. it is the lensed tube on the right side of the scope. Its function is controlled by the large single lever on the side. The first detent is NV only, the second detent turns it on. I've already learned to scan from right to left as the illumination field is better on that side of the scope.



My NVRS monocular arrived today, looking forward to trying it tonight.



In the mid-'90s a game warden buddy of mine let me use his issued riflescope and monocular as he did not want to mess with them. These were the same first generation devices. All I can say is that the night vision technology is the same, G1 is G1, but the devices sure have gotten compact and lighter. They were also extremely hard on batteries. It is nice to use only AA or AAA batteries.

[Macd]

Gotcha. Looks like a nice setup. Night hunting is verboten here. I used to raccoon hunt in Ontario at night but after one too many mud filled boot and whack in the face with a branch I gave it up. Miss the sound of the hounds though.