In about '78 I bought a Bushnell 4X12 scope with a BDC at a Best Products store in Arlington, VA. It went on my M1A and it's still there today.
Over the years I'd noticed that it worked very well at night if there was even a little bit of moon or other light source. It there is a full moon it's almost like daylight.
Three years ago I went to an RWVA RBC at Ramseur, NC. One of the things we did part way through the week was a little night firing exercise. The instructors set up some targets 100 yds. away and we went off to eat supper and then came back after dark. After some instruction on types of flash suppressors, barrel lengths, brands of ammo, etc. we got ready to shoot. We could not see the targets over across the creek with our naked eyes. However, when I put my rifle to my shoulder and looked through the scope I could see the target, the silhouette on the target and even the patch of writing down on the bottom right corner with the manufacturer's name, address, etc. (couldn't read that, but could see the dark patch).
When I said I could see the targets folks didn't believe me so I let them look through my scope (set on 4X) and everyone seemed amazed at what they could see through it. They'd look through it, drop the muzzle and look with their eyes, then raise the rifle and look through it again and talk about how light and how clear the targets were through that scope.
The next year I took the rifle down there again and we went over to the known distance range one night after dark. We had no problem seeing the "volunteer" out to 300 yards as he moved from spot to spot and then stopped and stood still to see if he was still visible when not moving.
I've bought a couple scopes in the last couple of years with even larger objective lenses (hoping to get a comparable low light vision performance) but so far nothing comes close. I've not bought any $500 to $1000 scopes (don't know if I can convince myself to pay that kind of money for a scope
).
Has anyone here gone out at night with a rifle scope and "tested" it's performance under low light conditions and if so what are good brands/models?
Thanks.
Over the years I'd noticed that it worked very well at night if there was even a little bit of moon or other light source. It there is a full moon it's almost like daylight.
Three years ago I went to an RWVA RBC at Ramseur, NC. One of the things we did part way through the week was a little night firing exercise. The instructors set up some targets 100 yds. away and we went off to eat supper and then came back after dark. After some instruction on types of flash suppressors, barrel lengths, brands of ammo, etc. we got ready to shoot. We could not see the targets over across the creek with our naked eyes. However, when I put my rifle to my shoulder and looked through the scope I could see the target, the silhouette on the target and even the patch of writing down on the bottom right corner with the manufacturer's name, address, etc. (couldn't read that, but could see the dark patch).
When I said I could see the targets folks didn't believe me so I let them look through my scope (set on 4X) and everyone seemed amazed at what they could see through it. They'd look through it, drop the muzzle and look with their eyes, then raise the rifle and look through it again and talk about how light and how clear the targets were through that scope.
The next year I took the rifle down there again and we went over to the known distance range one night after dark. We had no problem seeing the "volunteer" out to 300 yards as he moved from spot to spot and then stopped and stood still to see if he was still visible when not moving.
I've bought a couple scopes in the last couple of years with even larger objective lenses (hoping to get a comparable low light vision performance) but so far nothing comes close. I've not bought any $500 to $1000 scopes (don't know if I can convince myself to pay that kind of money for a scope
Has anyone here gone out at night with a rifle scope and "tested" it's performance under low light conditions and if so what are good brands/models?
Thanks.
