Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Africa electronic sights for DG

I know alot of people are against electronic sights for dangeorus game... africa's big 5 and dangerous 7, or the great bears (grizzly,kodiak,polar) and even other north american dangerous game like bull moose, bison, black bear and cougar.

But... what do you skeptics think about the aimpoint sights, they look pretty tough and reliable.. for 500 or 800 bucks... they better be. All kidding aside, the U.S. Army used aimpoint sights in Afghanistan and Iraq. OBVIOUSLY I would have back up iron sights... but what do you guys think... still a bad idea for bears or africa?

My knee jerk reaction is yes..bad idea...Murphy is alive and well in Africa...

Gadgets get you killed.

I have become a big fan of the Trijicon series of sights. I use a 3x9 with the illuminated dot (green) redical on my .375. The buffalo I shot this past summer was at twilight, and I needed to get a perfect shot off very quickly in failing light. It also worked extremely well on a plains game. As we have discovered in combat, that glowing dot is very, very fast, and unlike the other illuminated options, Trijicon uses no batteries.

I am also plesantly surprised by the quality of the optics on a glass in this price range. I have a couple of Schmidt and Bender scopes, and no, the Trijicon isn't quite in that class, but it is equal to any of my Leupolds. And at least the two I have seem to be absolutely bomb proof on the .375 and a .338.

Just use a sufficiently large reticle for close quarters work such as the German #4 or, as I have done a large post with crosshairs (my 416 Rigby)

General rule, simple and rugged good, gadgety or complicated bad. Really bad. And no good reason for it.

I've used Aimpoint sights in combat in both Iraq and Afghanistan. I've never seen a CompM2 or newer version fail. I'd have absolutely no hesitation to use an Aimpoint Micro H1 or T1 on a DG hunt. You already said you'd have irons on the gun as well. Mount the Aimpoint with a quick-release mount and carry an extra battery (that you'll never need) and you have no worries.

P'haps we should merge the threads from the AK and Africa forums...

Haven't got any combat experience but had an H1 fail me twice in cold weather... see other thread for details.

thanks for your service. well the rifle it would be mounted on is a ruger m77 hawkeye alaskan which comes with those african style express sights, which sits pretty high... i wonder if I could get them to show up in the bottom half of the aimpoint in case for whatever reason the dot doesn't work at a bad time and don't have time to break off the sight i can still see the iron sights

I would only use a sight that works without power. That way you still can use it when the batteries die.

You also have to be careful that the illumination is not too bright when hunting it low light conditions.

Good to know! I'll check it out.

Don't know why, but my understanding is that 'electronic sights' are not legal in AK. I could be wrong.

I'm going to use a scope with an illuminated reticle in 2011 in Africa. If the illumination fails for any reason, the reticle looks just like a normal scope.

Polska,

Trying to push the envelope with cutting edge tackle and/or techniques may sound great on paper, but in reality, it may not be the best option for someone who is new to a particular hunting experience such as hunting and killing a dangerous big game animal in an unfamiliar environment.

When you look at the people who have long standing professional careers at hunting and guiding for big dangerous game, you'll quickly notice how they've reduced their tackle to the most basic and most reliable stuff that tends to always work. You most certainly don't see too much frill and fluff. Not saying that contributions made by the military are not useful, as quite a few things tried and true in the hunting world had a start on the battlefield. But when it comes to experimenting with military sighting systems for hunting game, limitations are sometime set by game laws, and sometimes the desire to stray is tempered by a hunter's practicality. When it comes to something like large dangerous game, most do not stray too far from the most basic and most simple tackle that has already been proven to work well.

If you would like to assemble the basic tackle needed to carry you through a guided hunt for a very large dangerous bear in Alaska, I could not think of anyone better than someone like 458Win to give you sound proven advice. This includes a recommended optical gun sight. If you would like to assemble the basic tackle needed to carry you through a guided hunt for very large dangerous game in Africa, you probably could not get any better advice than that of someone like safariman. This includes a recommended optical gun sight. You are not obligated to accept their advice, but rest assured their advice is well founded.

Every one of us at some point will have a tendency to become carried away with uneeded frill and fluff with our hunting tackle, that is just the nature of the beast. Every one of us at some point will also have the tendency to become too big for our britches, that too is just the nature of the beast. But when reality rears its head, it is truly hard to beat actual boots on the ground experience in the given arena. If you were deployed tomorrow to the battlefield, I'd listen carefully and follow marching orders to the letter. It would probably be a bad idea to seek advice on battelfield gear and tactics from an Alaskan bear guide or an African pro hunter. Flip side, if you were headed to Africa or Alaska tomorrow for a dangerous game hunt, it would probably be a bad idea to seek advice for your hunting gear and tactics from a grunt in Iraq.

If you were to take a step back and re-read both threads you started on this topic, you will see a ton of solid advice given by several who have walked the walk for quite a number of successful years.

Best of Luck:)

Military grade Aimpoints work. They are faster than any iron sight and hell for stout. Batteries are cheap and disposable; that makes them the weak link. In cold weather it is imperative to use lithium cells. The micro sights use tiny batteries which don't have the life, capacity or cold weather resistance of AA lithium cells. If you use a sight dependant on batteries, then regular inspections and scheduled batterychanges are necessary. Do you want to add that to your list?
The comments on game laws are the biggest reason to maybe consider something different. Game regs and laws are different in each jurisdiction and "new" stuff is most likely to cause you problems.

that is correct.

I just checked their website, and it's only for bow's... not sure where you got that info from

I looked at the eotech transverse or XPS models, they are the mini ones that use only 1 cr123 battery. I like the xps2-2 which has a 65 moa ring with two 1 moa dots, the second 1 moa dot would be good for shooting 200 yards or further to estimate drop

You need to consider that magnification increases the light gathering capability of your sight. It effectively moves you closer to your target so less light is need to see it. Magnification also lets you thread you shot thru brush and trees. So it has a lot of advantages while hunting.

A low power fixed or variable scope from a quality manufacturer like Leupold is best for DG. The 1-4 power Leupolds are good for this. I think they make one with an illuminated retical, Here is the link: Leupold Prismatic Sope

And this is even better: Mark 4 1-3x14mm CQ/T

Hello,

The Mark 4 1-3x14 CQ/T is designed for the 5.56 and only has 2 inches of eye relief! I'm sure that it is durable enough for a DGR, but not have enough eye clearance to avoid getting cut by a DGR with real recoil ! Meprolight and Trijicon make battery free reflex sights that use fiberoptic and tritium as light and can be mounted on or forward of the receiver as desired. I have not tried one on a DGR but have thought about it, also.

Best,

jpj3

i'm runnin' a MK4 MRT 1.5-5 M2 on a .375 AI. it wasn't my first choice, but i had it on hand.

so far so good. i like the scope. down side, the illumiation knob does not have a detent for "OFF", so it can and will get bumped on and run the batterys down. eye relief could be better (3.6")

upside, it is not dependent on the battery for normal use and the retical seems to be pretty quick.