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Ted,

Thanks for that excellent write up.

Lots of info.

DF


Edited to add, I have an SSK .300 Whisper, suppressed AR.

It's sorta heavy and would be even heavier with a thermal scope.

What loads are you using, and you said sub-sonic...


Last edited by Dirtfarmer; 02/14/17.
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I just got the rifle right before Christmas and haven't had an opportunity to reload for it yet, so I've been using the Hornady "Black" subsonic with 208 Amax, which shoots really well in my rifle (Kimber 84M Adirondack w/ 7 twist).

A couple other things about thermal sights...
Unlike traditional night vision, you can also use them during the daytime on a more limited basis because animals will produce enough contrast to see them through the scope, but it's helpful to use the light shield that comes with many of them to block sunlight from the side.

The most common way to zero the thermal sights is by using one of those hand warmer packs attached to a target. Or, you could freeze a water bottle, or heat up a piece of foil and attach to the target...any method for creating a big temp differential between your aiming point and the surrounding target works fine.

Battery life on most is around 4-5 hours of continuous use. This may not sound like much and isn't compared to, say, a typical red dot sight. However, these things are power hogs, so it's understandable. In reality, you don't really need to keep it on the entire time you're hunting since they power up pretty quickly. Most have a battery saver mode that will turn the unit off after a set amount of time to conserve batt life. Most of them use lithium batteries such as CR123's.

The FLIR Thermosights don't have user replaceable batteries; they have internal lithium battery packs like a laptop computer. They use a charging adapter to a mini USB port to recharge. At first, I didn't like the fact it only had an internal rechargeable batt pack and couldn't replace batteries in the field, but when you consider the short battery life, you can spend a lot of money on lithium batteries if you hunt a lot, so this feature saves me a lot of money in battery expense and I can always rig up an external battery pack with USB connection to extend battery life in the field if I ever need to. The battery life I'm getting will usually last me about 2 night hunts, since I don't have it turned on the entire time.

Last edited by RifleDude; 02/14/17.

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Ted - Thanks much for your very informative post, great info! I will have to see how things progress and will "keep my powder dry" while figuring my next move. Thanks again!


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Anyone in need, I have a Merkel SR 1 .06 for sale that I used twice for pigging in Florida, S&B scope sold separately or together.
Contact me at ssheridanaol.com for pics.

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Folks, I have never used the new products, but this gizmo may be interesting. I have a small 110V rechargeable pack that supposedly will give an automobile three or four jump starts. It will also charge phones, computers and such. Cased, it is about 2x5x7" and may weigh a pound. I have only used mine once. I remained in the car listening to the radio while wife shopped. I neglected to turn of the AC blower fan, and ran the battery down. One shot from my toy and the engine started! Under a $100 most places, and I bet your rechargeable thermal imaging unit would respond.

They are available at auto supply, tractor supply, and wife bought mine on HSN or QVC.

Best,

Jack

Last edited by jt402; 02/15/17.

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How bad do they spook with suppressed sub-sonic rounds??

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Originally Posted by hanco
How bad do they spook with suppressed sub-sonic rounds??

And, how well does a subsonic round, like the .300 Whisper, anchor them?

Guess you'd need a head, shoulder/spine hit.

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Originally Posted by Dirtfarmer
Originally Posted by hanco
How bad do they spook with suppressed sub-sonic rounds??

And, how well does a subsonic round, like the .300 Whisper, anchor them?

Guess you'd need a head, shoulder/spine hit.

DF


I'm in the "sit and wait" stage of obtaining a suppressor, so to the first question, I don't know yet. I hope to receive it by mid summer. I'm using subsonic rounds because my plan is to go 100% subsonic once my suppressor is released from federal prison and want to test effectiveness as often as possible before then.

From what I gather from those who've pig hunted with suppressed subsonics, they still spook, if nothing else, from the reaction of the pig who was shot and the sound of bullet impact. I've heard some reports that the main advantage of the suppressor is that they supposedly don't always spook (depending on shot distance), and when they do, they sometimes don't immediately run off and/or don't know from which direction the noise came from. I've had hogs spook from the sound of me shooting arrows from a compound bow, and I'm pretty sure the suppressed subsonic round will make more noise than that.

As for effectiveness of .300 Whisper/ BLK subsonic, I can only speak to the .300 BLK subsonic 208 Amax at around 1000 fps MV. So far, I've killed 5 hogs with this load, and they all died. The only one that was anchored on the spot was one I shot in the head. The rest, I shot in the shoulder to intentionally test expansion through the thickest, toughest part of the hogs. I figure if the subsonic round works on shoulder shots on larger, tougher pigs, it's good to go. Unfortunately, I've only killed one pig that could be considered "large," a boar that I estimate weighed around 200 lbs. I shot him at 80 yards, the bullet entered just behind his shoulder, completely penetrated and exited, and that pig traveled around 50 yards before toppling over. The exit hole wasn't very large. The remaining 4 hogs were in the 50 - 100 lb range and were all between 50 - 80 yds away at the shots. Of those 4, the 3 shot in the shoulder ran a short distance before dying, as I managed to barely miss breaking the shoulder bones on each. About the best I can say to this point is the subsonic 208 Amax .300 BLK works, but not to devastating effect. Whether I stay with subsonic or go with supersonic loads depends on both more kill results and suppressor effectiveness. If the suppressor allows me to get in more shots at groups of pigs before they run off and the subsonic load continues to get the job done well enough within the short effective range, I'll stick with subsonics. If not, I'll reluctantly trade off a little noise, switch to supersonic loads and still appreciate the noise reduction the suppressor provides.

Last edited by RifleDude; 02/17/17.

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Try this

http://www.sniperhawglights.com

Or this

http://www.texasboars.com

Check the whole sight.

Captdavid

Please keep me informed.

Last edited by captdavid; 02/17/17.

"It's not how hard you hit 'em, it's where you hit 'em." The 30-06 will, with the right bullet, successfully take any game animal in North America up to 300yds.

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Update: Must of had just a couple hogs initially that spooked at any kind of light, I actually got those 2 on bright moonlit nights. I have nailed a few since then and the red led for the Wicked Hunting Light has not spooked those hogs, so have switched to the red and it seems to be working.

For those that have never used the Wicked Lights, they seem to work very well. The intensity and beam, spot to flood, are easily adjustable. Definitely worth a look if you are in the market for such lights!


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I've got two XLR 250's and have no complaints. If I get another light it will be a Wicked. Done some reading and Wicked gets better reviews than Elusive Wildlife.


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