Thermal or NV on a rimfire

[NWnewguy]

Sooo, I have a few thermal and night vision options sitting around waiting for a job. This got me thinking that it would be sweet to mount one up on a rimfire and start looking to some of the nighttime crowd around the house. I live in the middle of no where, so it's not a big deal to use them out in the yard, or off the second deck balcony. Plus I use cans on all the ones I normally use anyway.

The only one that I think I could get up and running quickly would be the Vudoo, but I'd rather keep her ready for day time operations. But I could be swayed to swap optics. Probably wouldn't shift zero much, I guess. I have a few 10/22s and a 77/22 as well as some Ruger American Rimfires. All of them would require some adaptation to get running. I'd thought about a AR conversion 22, which would be pretty easy, but I've not been impressed with the ones I've seen before.

Anyone already doing this? Is it worth the effort? How and what did you set up for night time ops?

Thanks for the responses.

 

[sandhiller]

I have this for walking around the place at night dispatching critters that come up in the back yard and eat the cat food or tear feed sacks apart in the barn.

Coons, skunks, porcupines, coyotes or rabbits and deer from mother's garden, still waiting to count my first bobcat.

Savage Mod 93
.17HMR
ATN Thor 4

 

[roostercogburn98]

sitting around waiting for a job

They’re being underutilized, mount one (to a gun, don’t be a pervert) and shoot away.

 

[B y r o n]

I mounted my Pard NV008S on my .22 air rifle. It is a daylight as well as night time scope so shooting in the backyard during daylight hours is great. Should I choose to use it at night it probably won't wake the neighbors.

 

[NWnewguy]

Well I found a mount for the Burris clip in that was surplus to my needs and it should be here this weekend. I’m thinking of putting a Strike Eagle 1-8 on the Vudoo and the clip I’m in front of that. That’s assuming that the Nv bridge on one of my chassis is in the correct spot to allow for that. I’ve got an XLR Element, Rock Solid and a KMW with bridges for sure. I’ll keep everyone posted once I get it set up and post pics as well.

Anyone seen replacement 77/22 barrels that are threaded? I’ve got a nice 77/22VT and don’t really want to chop and thread the original barrel if I can find an aftermarket.

 

[NWnewguy]

 

[NWnewguy]

Well, it isn’t how I’d draw it up but it works. I put an extra 1-8 scope I had laying around on a Vudoo with the Burris clip on and went to work with it. Being new to clip ons, I was surprised that the zero from the scope didn’t change when I added the clip on. Don’t know if I got lucky there or what. Zero went way off though when I zoomed to 2x on the clip on. I might end up swapping to a Bushy 3.5-21 after a while and see how I like that. With this set up, the scope has to be about 2.2x to fill the scopes view.

 

[NWnewguy]

Was wondering how I was missing these things at 70-100+ Yards. Turns out they’re the size of a golf ball. Definitely a challenging shot at that distance through a thermal. Not sure if I should post pics of them. Don’t want to offend anyone.

 

[Ezana4CE]

@NWnewguy I occasionally hunt at night with air rifles. For me the main issue is ranging moving animals at night. The solution to this problem was to purchase a Pard 008s LRF. I run it while using an AGM thermal hand scanner. Here’s a photo of the Pard 008s LRF atop my AAA Evol .30. This is similar to what @B y r o n mentioned.

 

[NWnewguy]

That’s pretty sweet. I’ve seen a few YouTube vids of bolt on LRF setups for night stuff. Looks like they’re out of stock most places right now. Would definitely be worth it. Seems like they go for around $300. I’d much rather buy the Halo XRF, but my wallet protests at that.

I have been cleaning up on these things though. I wouldn’t bother them but they eat the grass, roots and all. Which turns the area into a lunar landscape. I won’t say it’s not a bit of fun too. Last night I watched a coyote come running in, which turned out to be a Jack rabbit when it got to about 125yds or so. It was hard to believe it was a Jack and I thought it was a coyote but that goes to show how range and scale can fool you with thermal.

 

[Ezana4CE]

@NWnewguy I had a real issue with depth perception with the AGM Rattler. I saw a rabbit bedded down in some brush and couldn’t tell if it was that or a deer in the distance. This was probably 15-20 yards in front of me. Smh.

What’s really caught my attention are the difference in the image quality of Pulsar Thermion thermal scopes versus higher resolution AGM thermal scopes.

How does you clip-on thermal optic work mounted in front of an LPVO?

 

[NWnewguy]

@NWnewguy I had a real issue with depth perception with the AGM Rattler. I saw a rabbit bedded down in some brush and couldn’t tell if it was that or a deer in the distance. This was probably 15-20 yards in front of me. Smh.

View attachment 8125914

What’s really caught my attention are the difference in the image quality of Pulsar Thermion thermal scopes versus higher resolution AGM thermal scopes.

How does you clip-on thermal optic work mounted in front of an LPVO?

I’m running a Burris clip on BTC-50 in front of a Bushnell 1-8. It’s working alright. I have a Burris BtS-50 and it seems a lot better frankly. But I have it set up for coyotes on a SPR type Aero AR that shoots lights out with cheap reloads, and don’t really want to mess up that set up to shoot at rats. I wouldn’t necessarily blame the BTC-50 though. My set up isn’t exactly optimal. If you look at my pic above you can see that I have a big gap between the lpvo and the clip on. That can’t be great. But the Vudoo is getting the job done with this clip on and doing it quietly, which is important to me. I’ve considered throwing the scope I had on there (Bushnell DMR 3.5-21) and seeing how that works. I can’t imagine it would allow for zooming in much at all but it wouldn’t have that big gap. Just need more time in the day to try everything out.

 

[Stoogey]

I have the ATN NIGHT VISION 4X14. Without a bright infrared source it is not very good at night. For vermin control I would go thermal for reasons stated above. The ATN works but to me it is fumbley to zero, has too many gadgets in the instructons that muddle the job at hand. If they had a "hey dummy" setting where switching guns, importing stuff from a micro SD card, and all manner of gadgets are deleted I would like it better. It is also a pain to download firmware and load it when the scope decides to go bonkers. ATN should really talk to the software guys and tell them the K.I.S.S. principle. I am also not real happy with the clarity of the TV screen you view to see anything but that is because they have kept the cost down.

 

[Ezana4CE]

@NWnewguy The gap is precisely why I asked. I’ve seen the objective clip-on rings, but don’t recall seeing any for LPVOs. How does that gap affect your FOV? Any tunneling or diminished image quality? If it works, and works quietly, rock with it. You’ve just shown me something I hadn’t considered. Overall how do you like the image quality of the Burris unit? I came very close to purchasing one. I wonder how it compares to the Steiner that was in the same price range give or take a few hundred bucks.

 

[NWnewguy]

I can’t say how the gap is effecting it right now because it’s the first thing I’ve tried it on. You have to be in about 2.2x in order to fill the scopes fov, which seems about normal I guess. That’s about what is was when I put my PVS-14 in front of another 1-8, so seems normal to me, but I have very limited experience with either. It does seem like it’s effecting the fov somewhat because I have the 50mm scope from Burris too and it definitely seems less reduced, for lack of a better word. If I get done working on a house I’m rehabbing early enough today I may throw the 3.5-21 on it just to see the difference. I will say that the image quality on the Burris seems pretty good to me. Black hot specifically for my climate is really good. I would have to think that the Steiner would be noticeably better since it’s a 640 unit, but I missed the boat on the $2000-2200 prices in them. I found pretty crazy prices on the Burris handhelds and clip on that I bought. Got a decent deal on the scope from the BST here. Overall I just wanted to get my feet wet and see if I would actually use it and I’ve been having a blast. Either the scope or clip on would have no problems on coyotes or hogs to 300yds. If I can figure out the recording or pic taking and downloading, I’ll add some pics. All I have right now is me taking pics of the things with my cell phone. That’s not too fair to them!!

 

[Ezana4CE]

@NWnewguy Thanks for the explanation. Unless Burris released a new model, their BTS and BTC thermal scopes don’t contain internal recording capabilities. It is my understanding that they require external DVR devices to record footage. I’m relatively green to thermal, but I did read a substantial amount on the lower-end to moderately priced units before purchasing and using a couple.

 

[NWnewguy]

That could definitely be true. I have the handhelds too and they definitely record. I could certainly be confusing the different models.

 

[st1650]

I’m getting a RH25 to be used mostly as a clip on and scanner and I might put it in front on a 2-10 FFP Burris but I have a few lpvo laying around.
My current chassis is a bit heavy for that kind of work so I’m thinking about getting something different. My RimX is lightweight with a carbon wrapped 16in barrel and I’m thinking with some CCI quiets 700fps, it could make for a good pest remover around the farm. Currently leaning toward a XLR envy pro with the short bridge and a smokes carbon fiber stock.

 

[NWnewguy]

Well since I had a IR Hunter to try out I threw it in the Vudoo. Worked really well. Would have been perfect if the mount had some cantilever to it. Really need to find something different for a mount. 1 for 1 @ 74yds on the first night on rats.