Who makes a reliable and functional night scope?

Dan, there's lots out there.

A good entry level scope is the Sightmark Wraith. $499. Sometimes you can find them on sale cheaper.

https://outdoorlegacygear.com/colle...igital-riflescope?variant=15986263326794

The IR light that comes with them is inadequate, in my opinion. Having a good IR light is like turning on the lights for a digital NV scope.

I use one of these and can see much further than I can shoot. I can see clearly 800 yards or so.

https://sniperhoglights.com/66lrx-gun-hunters-package-with-1-4-colors/

This video was made with the above equipment.



You can also use the scope in the daytime.

Details on rifle. Scope is great

Dan, the first decision to make is whether you want to go conventional NV or thermal.

The advantage to conventional NV is expense. There are decent NV scopes out there starting t well under $1k. The biggest disadvantage is that it relies on a either a certain amount of ambient light or infrared illumination. One of the big problems with IR illumination is that nearby objects reflect a lot of that illumination back to the scope and saturate it, essentially blinding the device. Also, muzzle flash tends to momentarily blind conventional NV.

The advantage to thermal is (IMO) two fold: there is no illuminator necessary, so it does not share that weakness with conventional NV. The other advantage is that animals stick out like a sore thumb, making it easy to quickly scan around you and detect any potential target. The disadvantage is cost. There's new stuff on the market I know nothing about, and I think some starts at less than $2k but don't take that to the bank. I'd say that if you spend around $3k you should be able to acquire something very usable.

My personal recommendation is Pulsar. My personal "brand to avoid" is ATN. I did all my buying several years ago, though, and a fresher perspective may be more helpful to you.

I bought a Wraith on BBar's recommendation, along with a better Illuminator.

He did not steer me wrong.

It's a decent setup for very little pain, which was important to me. Just testing the water so I didn't want to put 2-3 grand into something I may not use much. We could not renew our lease this year and that put coyote hunting on hold. I have secured permission to deer hunt a couple parcels of private land, so the possibility may develop.

Thanks for the input, very much appreciated.

I also bought the Wraith after pestering Bbar a bit by PM. As with Vic, I didn't want a bigger investment in an unused piece of kit.

The Wraith works well on an AR, you'll want the scope close, with your eye at the eye cup.
The Hog light works well and it's now a complete package for the coyotes that visit the farm at night.

Mostly on hogs I use my AR10 in .308.

Was shooting 165gr soft points.

So do you need to purchase some type of scope mount to put this on your rifle?

No.

It comes with a very sturdy built in mount that attaches to a standard picatinny rail.

If you are shooting a rifle that doesn't have a picatinny rail, as an AR type rifle does, you may have to get a picatinny rail base mount for your rifle that attaches where your rifle is drilled and tapped for scope rings.

Nice rig. What was your IR illuminator

Never mind I see it now….

I bought my Wraith based on Barry’s recommendation. I did call Cameraland and they had the best price I could find. 👍

What are you up to?

Hogs and ‘yotes

You can get military/LE grade night vison and thermal from TNVC. It is not cheap.

Dan, I was sitting on one of my stands with the Wraith last year, and when it got dark, I switched to night vision.

I'd placed the Foxpro caller out and turned it on before getting situated, a couple of hours before. After it got dark, I activated the caller with the remote and sure enough, a coyote came right into the sendero.

Shot it with my .308. Usually, when calling coyotes I use a .223 with 55gr Vmax bullets, as it kills them quicker. But the .308 was what I had...

I also have a Wraith (and spoke with Barry about them). I got the 2-16, for the larger FOV. I’ve also bought a better light for it, but have yet to put it on. The “included” illuminator (I’ll disagree with Barry a bit, here), while not fantastic, is perfectly adequate out to 150 yards (and you may get 200 out of it). For guys who hunt wooded areas, it would likely do all they need. For open country, get a better light.

Can you use the wraith in the daytime?

Yes. View is pretty good, until you start going up in magnification. The zoom is “digital”, so the picture quickly becomes more “pixelated”, as mag increases. Stay at 2-4x (on the 2-16), and 4-8x (on the 4-32), and it’s good enough for killin’ stuff.

It has 3 modes to cycle through, 1) black/white night mode (2) green night mode (3) daytime mode

Works well in the daytime.

Look at the spotted boar video I posted above.

The scope is actually clearer than the videos represent. What you see through the eyepiece is higher definition than the scope records in.

Dan, i run a couple older [2014 ish] Armasight Vulcans on a pair of 7.62 REPR's, need to brush up, charge up and check everything, i dont like fooling with that chit, i know what they're for, if i need em the damn country has collapsed and we'll be building up to a super heated chit gas cloud floating off on some distant horizon.

I'll blow my Sharps rifle black powder smoke and let that armageddon chit collect dust ; ]

So the wraith is not a traditional scope. It has to have power to be used correct ? So it’s digital?

It's a digital scope.

It requires 4 AA batteries to run, or plug in an external battery.

Coincidentally, I invented an external battery system that mounts to the picatinny rail that will run night vision scopes, and thermal scopes for several night's hunting on just one charge. Then you just recharge the 10k mah battery and you are ready for lots more hunting.

The Wraith has good instructions on sighting it in during daylight ( it would be tough to sight in at night) .
You can then use it like a normal scope in daylight mode or wait till dark to switch to night vision using an illuminator.
When it's on it uses battery power, day or night and must be powered on to use.

I've not tried the SightMark.

Have had two ATN's.

Currently for Night Vision, I'm using the ATN 4K Pro, with upgraded Nite Snipe NS 750 IR illuminator

As mentioned previously, the view through the scope is superior to the clarity of the video.

Daytime.....



Was trying to line up two. I found one about 20 yds into the scrum. It was rapidly getting dark and I''ve quit tracking hogs at night when I"m in shorts,crocs and no shirt. Scrub Oak and Cactus shred me these days!

Same place same distance (+/-120 yds.) but at dark-thirty.



The 4K PRO has and internal battery that is good for +/- 14 hours continuous use has a USB C port for charging with an external battery pack.

ya!

GWB