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Night Vision decent IR laser that won't break the bank

rockwind1

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Minuteman
Feb 16, 2017
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just looking to go out to 300 yds with some subsonic 223 ammo, at night. like to keep it around 2-3 moa at that distance,,, doable? if so, any good reports on any amazon type stuff?
 
You can run pretty much any low power laser. Holosuns work, as do others like the NiViSYS Vital-2. I ran a PEQ-2 to 300 meters consistently on low power and I was running crappy PVS-7's. I held a range density on a NG installation away from the flagpole and the range master came out of the tower and said he'd never seen anyone do that before (drop the 300 meter targets consistently), some people struggle with night vision systems, I just was lucky or unlucky enough to have a lot of experience with them for work.
 
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It's been a while but I think the OTAL will do what you want. I know for sure it'll go out to 200 with ease. They were a steal at $380 but now I think they are up to $600+.
 
How you plan on compensating for drop with the ir beamz?
I was going to zero at 200. Then memorize drop curve at 25 yd increments. Then just hold laser high or low. I am only shooting in 2 directions and have yardage marks.

Maybe I am making this 2 complicated. Maybe just use my clip on
 
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The battery caps like to come off, just FYI.

I was going to zero at 200. Then memorize drop curve at 25 yd increments. Then just hold laser high or low. I am only shooting in 2 directions and have yardage marks.

Maybe I am making this 2 complicated. Maybe just use my clip on
Lasers use a parallel zero, refer to your literature for how to zero your device but generally you zero at 10m per offset guidelines using a grid.

Lastly, don’t waste any money on an ATPIAL C (not sure if you’re contemplating one or not) just putting it out there. Steiner CQBL is a great laser if you want vis and IR or OTAL for less money.
 
The battery caps like to come off, just FYI.


Lasers use a parallel zero, refer to your literature for how to zero your device but generally you zero at 10m per offset guidelines using a grid.

Lastly, don’t waste any money on an ATPIAL C (not sure if you’re contemplating one or not) just putting it out there. Steiner CQBL is a great laser if you want vis and IR or OTAL for less money.
Thanks M. Which atpial do you prefer
 
Thanks M. Which atpial do you prefer
PEQ15 for carbines and LA5 for precision rifles using I2 clip ons. Note these are full power and lack L3 support if they go bad.

The BE Meyers MAWL C1 will work for both carbine and precision work while maintaining manufacture support for civie end users if the unit needs service. Best functional civie laser available IMO.
 
Lasers suck. Passive aiming with elevated RDS is better. Get an illuminator, like the Kiji 3° for $800.

Subsonic .223? Really?

I think a spitball hurts more.
Can’t argue with this, caveat being one’s DTs are white phosphor as GP sucks.
 
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Lasers suck. Passive aiming with elevated RDS is better. Get an illuminator, like the Kiji 3° for $800.

Subsonic .223? Really?

I think a spitball hurts more.
Ok. I thought about trying something different with laser Let me explain
Will be shooting in between 150-300 yds
I can use either my m2124lr or a pvs27 or a trij mk3 60mm
Using a hefty tripod with hefty ball head/arca mount
Either be using my 3/4moa AR or 1.5ish moa tavor
85% sure I will be using 75gr subs with can
Target is a couple of pesky coyotes making the horses nervous
I do have a elir 3 for the clip ons if I use them
The trij seems like a no brainer but i’m not as accurate with it as I had hoped

I don’t want to spook the coyotes with some misses. Want good shot first time.
 
Ok. I thought about trying something different with laser Let me explain
Will be shooting in between 150-300 yds
I can use either my m2124lr or a pvs27 or a trij mk3 60mm
Using a hefty tripod with hefty ball head/arca mount
Either be using my 3/4moa AR or 1.5ish moa tavor
85% sure I will be using 75gr subs with can
Target is a couple of pesky coyotes making the horses nervous
I do have a elir 3 for the clip ons if I use them
The trij seems like a no brainer but i’m not as accurate with it as I had hoped

I don’t want to spook the coyotes with some misses. Want good shot first time.
Honestly I would run the 2124 or the 27 with the Luna. If you aren't comfortable with the MK3 (I'm guessing ranging is your issue?). Run the 2124 or 27 on the gun and stick the MK3 on another tripod to scan with. That would save you money. I've smoked coyotes with my green PVS, one day I'll get Jay to hotrod it. But most of my coyote kills are coming from my little R35 from Bering optics. Range estimation with thermal is a challenge. Knowing the terrain and markers helps.
 
don’t want to spook the coyotes with some misses.
Just shoot them with a 53 Vmax super performance


Subs will miss. And will most def spook them

E69C5D54-A160-4DA7-A1FD-3DD482FF6150.png


1.4” high at 100.



A couple supers won’t spook the horses enough to cause issues.

If neighbors are the issue. 1-3 shot while they’re REM sleeping they won’t remember. Wouldn’t push it more than that though
 
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Just shoot them with a 53 Vmax super performance


Subs will miss. And will most def spook them

View attachment 8092149

1.4” high at 100.



A couple supers won’t spook the horses enough to cause issues.

If neighbors are the issue. 1-3 shot while they’re REM sleeping they won’t remember. Wouldn’t push it more than that though
I ran super's with my horses nearby on my .308 with a nasty muzzle break (does great for recoil but makes an incredible fireball and is stupid loud). Worked great for the last coyote I killed.

It is not my primary tool because my neighbors would get tired of my shooting at midnight all the time. I mostly work up to around 100 yards and run the .22lr with subs and either the Holosun IR laser 321 or the Bering R35. Neighbors never know till they see the buzzards overhead.
 
Just shoot them with a 53 Vmax super performance


Subs will miss. And will most def spook them

View attachment 8092149

1.4” high at 100.



A couple supers won’t spook the horses enough to cause issues.

If neighbors are the issue. 1-3 shot while they’re REM sleeping they won’t remember. Wouldn’t push it more than that though
When Experimenting with different types of ammo,,,,,I’m not positive, but I think I actually tried that lower grain v max stuff. And I was getting pretty bad groups like 2-4 moa if I remember. Maybe I will revisit vmax It’s been a few years ago,,,,,I found a couple of different brands of 77 grain match ammo that shot the best so I stocked up. Just in the interest of time, I will probably stick with those if I don’t shoot the subs.
 
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I feel your pain, been there myself. Silver lining, you’re better equipped for nighttime than prob 99% of the human population so there’s that.
I bought them about six years ago, and WP was only just becoming a thing, my nicer set is at least filmless They do the job
 
Why not 300BLK for subs? Way more effective if you require subsonic.
He could go with a .22LR if he can work to within 100 yards. If he was near me down here in LA I could come over and help wreck the yote population.
 
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Target is a couple of pesky coyotes making the horses nervous
Yotes and mean dogs don't make mine nervous at all. My Stallions and Mares will chase and kill yotes and dogs if they dare to fool with them.

I watched one of my top Stallions pick up a small less threatening dog by the scruff of the neck and gently place him over the fence where he belonged. Poor innocent pooch just wandered into the pasture and this particular Stallion is extremely smart and very well mannered so he was easy on that dog. But I have seen him grab a threatening dog by the neck and sling him more than 20 feet in the air sideways and the dog summersalted another 10 to 15 feet in clouds of dust as he tumbled. That was funny as all get out.

But you can also stick a mule or donkey in with your horses and if the horses wont take care of them, the mule or donkey sure will.
 
Honestly I would run the 2124 or the 27 with the Luna. If you aren't comfortable with the MK3 (I'm guessing ranging is your issue?). Run the 2124 or 27 on the gun and stick the MK3 on another tripod to scan with. That would save you money. I've smoked coyotes with my green PVS, one day I'll get Jay to hotrod it. But most of my coyote kills are coming from my little R35 from Bering optics. Range estimation with thermal is a challenge. Knowing the terrain and markers helps.
I do know the terrain quite well. I probably need more practice with mk3 but Hard to find the time these days
 
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He could go with a .22LR if he can work to within 100 yards. If he was near me down here in LA I could come over and help wreck the yote population.
In central Az You are welcome anytime! I do have a nice 22lr but these Coyotes are generally well over 150 yards away

I don’t have a 300black out. I do have a bunch of subsonic, 308 ammo. Maybe that would work just as good out of my bolt gun
 
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Yotes and mean dogs don't make mine nervous at all. My Stallions and Mares will chase and kill yotes and dogs if they dare to fool with them.

I watched one of my top Stallions pick up a small less threatening dog by the scruff of the neck and gently place him over the fence where he belonged. Poor innocent pooch just wandered into the pasture and this particular Stallion is extremely smart and very well mannered so he was easy on that dog. But I have seen him grab a threatening dog by the neck and sling him more than 20 feet in the air sideways and the dog summersalted another 10 to 15 feet in clouds of dust as he tumbled. That was funny as all get out.

But you can also stick a mule or donkey in with your horses and if the horses wont take care of them, the mule or donkey sure will.
You are right about the donkeys and mules, that’s for sure. I’m not super worried about the coyotes actually attacking the horses But I’ve been meaning to get these coyotes for a couple years now but I wasn’t overly motivated . the horses are new on the property so the coyotes have jumped up on my priority list a bit
 
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Hard for me to see how a Triji thermal and supersonic 556 won’t get the job done with room to spare. That’s not a large ask. Perhaps you need to invest laser money on a suppressor instead so the horses won’t be so disrupted.
 
Hard for me to see how a Triji thermal and supersonic 556 won’t get the job done with room to spare. That’s not a large ask. Perhaps you need to invest laser money on a suppressor instead so the horses won’t be so disrupted.
He probably doesn’t want to wait a year on a Form-4. 😋
 
Hard for me to see how a Triji thermal and supersonic 556 won’t get the job done with room to spare. That’s not a large ask. Perhaps you need to invest laser money on a suppressor instead so the horses won’t be so disrupted.
I’ve got plenty of supps. Supersonic Still a bit of a bang for the area. Trying not to disturb horses too much. Might go that route. I am probably out of practice shooting wise. Haven’t been into it for a couple years now
 
.223 subs on a coyote beyond 50-75yd is a pretty bad idea. i have enough experience in this world killing dogs and shooting subs enough to give you a educated opinion. this doesnt account for you attempting to lob a 75gr sub into a coyote at 250yd with laser.....lol. not gonna happen.
 
But on pests like yotes you can just put some lead in them and let lead poisoning and infection kill em.

Setting aside clean "ethical" kills, when it comes to pest control it really don't matter if they die instantaniously or a few days or weeks later.

In a previous life doing serious pest control, that is the position we took. Just put a round in them and go on to the next one. That is how you take out 200 to 350 crop eating pests a night.
 
I’ve got plenty of supps. Supersonic Still a bit of a bang for the area. Trying not to disturb horses too much. Might go that route. I am probably out of practice shooting wise. Haven’t been into it for a couple years now
Maybe you should take up trapping 🤣
 
But on pests like yotes you can just put some lead in them and let lead poisoning and infection kill em.

Setting aside clean "ethical" kills, when it comes to pest control it really don't matter if they die instantaniously or a few days or weeks later.

In a previous life doing serious pest control, that is the position we took. Just put a round in them and go on to the next one. That is how you take out 200 to 350 crop eating pests a night.

subsonic rounds love to zing and skip around because they dont have the velocity to expand/explode. i guess if your comfortable slinging unpredictable slugs in the vicinity of horses, buildings or anything else i guess that works.
 
In central Az You are welcome anytime! I do have a nice 22lr but these Coyotes are generally well over 150 yards away

I don’t have a 300black out. I do have a bunch of subsonic, 308 ammo. Maybe that would work just as good out of my bolt gun
Subsonic .308 is awesome out to about 200 yards for me. Dependent on loads used about 10 or 11 mills at 200 yards if I remember correctly in elevation.
.308 subs with a good suppressor is very quiet and a lot of fun. I will run both 190grn SMK or Hornady 208's.
 
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subsonic rounds love to zing and skip around because they dont have the velocity to expand/explode. i guess if your comfortable slinging unpredictable slugs in the vicinity of horses, buildings or anything else i guess that works.
Depends on the range/distance, target and round. I have rounds that impacted from my subs at 100 and 200 yards using 190grn SMK and 208 amax that look like copper flowers.
 
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Maybe you should take up trapping 🤣
Depends on the area and pets. I used to trap a bit. Coyotes get trap savvy/educated very quickly. A number of snares with breakaways and foot holds would be another good option providing you don't have people with outdoor pets around you.
 
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subsonic rounds love to zing and skip around because they dont have the velocity to expand/explode. i guess if your comfortable slinging unpredictable slugs in the vicinity of horses, buildings or anything else i guess that works.
I don't run subsonic rounds except CB caps in a lever 22. I was assuming the rounds would hit the animal and depending on the grain and particular density of the animal a lot of those rounds would bounce around inside the animal and stay in the animal. Hecque, if you shooting subsonic 556 pills, you just as well shoot regular 22 subsonics. Pretty much the same thing when you cut the 556 powah.

However, I like full powah on all my cartridges and my horses are all used to gunfire and you can actually shoot off most of them. I like bomb proof do anything horses. Makes life a lot easier with them.

Rabbit hunting with a shotgun off of a horse with dogs running the rabbits puts you at a distinct advantage to all the other hunters because you are higher and see the rabbits first so usually get to shoot first.
 
.223 subs on a coyote beyond 50-75yd is a pretty bad idea. i have enough experience in this world killing dogs and shooting subs enough to give you a educated opinion. this doesnt account for you attempting to lob a 75gr sub into a coyote at 250yd with laser.....lol. not gonna happen.
Ok. Thanks. Will re-strategize. What about 308 subs? I thought laser might make for faster acquisition is only reason for trying. And just to be clear, it’s not like I want to use subs, just in this particular case, it would be very preferable, so I’m willing to give up a more flat shooting round for less noise. But if subs Just won’t do the job then I will not use them
 
Ok. Thanks. Will re-strategize. What about 308 subs? I thought laser might make for faster acquisition is only reason for trying. And just to be clear, it’s not like I want to use subs, just in this particular case, it would be very preferable, so I’m willing to give up a more flat shooting round for less noise. But if subs Just won’t do the job then I will not use them
I would say that .308 subs with the PVS-27 or 2124 will work, especially with a good can. You just need to account for the elevation required. Supersonic will work better imo if you don't have a suppressor.

@Killswitch Engage thoughts? You do more yote hunting than me.
 
I will give you my personal experience on subsonic coyote kills. I’ve used 69smk in 223 subsonic on coyotes a handful of times. All were inside 100yd. If you can land a head shot you’ll be golden. If you have to take a body shot try to make it front on into the chest cavity. As surprising as this will sound I’ve had a couple coyotes with traditional side profile shots and smk went straight through pencil style with zero expansion and run off. I know it’s not a killing bullet but subs need some mass to be effective and at the time it’s what I had vs a true subsonic projectile. 308 I would think would be effective but likely suffer from the lack of expansion with boiler room hits unless it’s a modern bullet designed for subsonic expansion. I don’t have much experience with the newer sub bullet profiles.
 
We’ve shot hogs at close range — inside 20 yards — using 220gr .300BO and the round would go straight through them into another hog. Small hogs. 60-100 lbs.
 
subsonic rounds love to zing and skip around because they dont have the velocity to expand/explode. i guess if your comfortable slinging unpredictable slugs in the vicinity of horses, buildings or anything else i guess that works.

This is definitely something to consider. I like 300 BLK and shooting subsonics for fun. They sure can ricochet though and accurate range estimation is important.

For putting down coyotes, the 53 Vmax supersonic out of a 223 sure does work well. They rarely take a step! The bullet construction seems like it would be unlikely to lead to a ricochet. Very flat shooting out to 250 yards as well.
 
We’ve shot hogs at close range — inside 20 yards — using 220gr .300BO and the round would go straight through them into another hog. Small hogs. 60-100 lbs.
I like that. A man could save significant ammo costs. 2 for the price of 1. :)
 
I will give you my personal experience on subsonic coyote kills. I’ve used 69smk in 223 subsonic on coyotes a handful of times. All were inside 100yd. If you can land a head shot you’ll be golden. If you have to take a body shot try to make it front on into the chest cavity. As surprising as this will sound I’ve had a couple coyotes with traditional side profile shots and smk went straight through pencil style with zero expansion and run off. I know it’s not a killing bullet but subs need some mass to be effective and at the time it’s what I had vs a true subsonic projectile. 308 I would think would be effective but likely suffer from the lack of expansion with boiler room hits unless it’s a modern bullet designed for subsonic expansion. I don’t have much experience with the newer sub bullet profiles.
I've had different experiences with subsonic .22LR shots to around 120 yards for coyote kills. Biggest Yote I killed was with subsonic .22lr. I think two or three were body shots and 2 were head shots (one was right between the eyes). this was a body shot and the little 10/22 I used. He was roughly 100 yards when I shot him. He walked about 20 yards and dropped, I took his mate the next night. We get some big yotes down here, well fed.

Lehigh makes cool expanding subs that might be worth looking at?
Coyote2 - Copy.jpg
 
I've had different experiences with subsonic .22LR shots to around 120 yards for coyote kills. Biggest Yote I killed was with subsonic .22lr. I think two or three were body shots and 2 were head shots (one was right between the eyes).

Lehigh makes cool expanding subs that might be worth looking at?
I’d agree on the Lehigh and .22 lead subs are a way different animal. They actually do work well. There just isn’t enough structure and umpf for lack of better term in most jacketed projectiles subsonic. At least on shit like coyotes
 
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I’d agree on the Lehigh and .22 lead subs are a way different animal. They actually do work well. There just isn’t enough structure and umpf for lack of better term in most jacketed projectiles subsonic. At least on shit like coyotes
100% agree, I was thinking about that when I was writing my response and I completely agree they are different beasts.
 
I’m poor so I don’t have thermal yet. I2 and lasers only.

It does seem though that if you are strictly wanting to hunt and not navigate or drive blacked out thermal is 100% the way to go over i2

I’d say one of those Steiner units for $3kish would be the ticket here if you aren’t trying to spend 10k
 
I’m poor so I don’t have thermal yet. I2 and lasers only.

It does seem though that if you are strictly wanting to hunt and not navigate or drive blacked out thermal is 100% the way to go over i2

I’d say one of those Steiner units for $3kish would be the ticket here if you aren’t trying to spend 10k
Yes and no, for driving I have a lot more faith in NVG's but a lot of that is because the old VVS-2's had a LONG delay of the image to the driver which might have caused more than a couple of accidents and injuries once the issue was identified. It's bee over 20 years so I'm sure they fixed that.

I have no problem driving around at night with my PVS-14 and I have done it a lot.

The only issue I have with the Steiner (I have one) is they are big and heavy. I love the wifi, I stick it on the tripod, connect to my phone and wait for something to show up in my pasture.
 
Yes and no, for driving I have a lot more faith in NVG's but a lot of that is because the old VVS-2's had a LONG delay of the image to the driver which might have caused more than a couple of accidents and injuries once the issue was identified. It's bee over 20 years so I'm sure they fixed that.

I have no problem driving around at night with my PVS-14 and I have done it a lot.

The only issue I have with the Steiner (I have one) is they are big and heavy. I love the wifi, I stick it on the tripod, connect to my phone and wait for something to show up in my pasture.
Which Steiner are you referring to