Rossi Rifleman

LowKey wrote:I hope this helps.

It does, thank you! I think I will just stick with the way I'm doing it.

Ranch Dog, with over a thousand hogs under your belt, you are the Master Hog Hunter.

If I had your setup, I would consider night vision to be an unnecessary complication.

Missionary wrote: How does the view look out to 65-70 yards ?

Missionary, I tested the Photon XT tonight with a 400 ft overcast cloud layer blocking most ambient light.

With just the attached illuminator, I was able to clearly see a fenceline 85 yards away.
I was also able to put the crosshairs on a cow about 15-20 yards beyond the fence, so about 100 yards or so.

A mistake I was making earlier was seeing just a dark blank screen and thinking the illuminator was ineffective. If that happens, first adjust the brightness control knob, then adjust the focus, and of course make sure the lense cover is in the open position for night time use.

This all sounds very promising. Thanks for sharing your findings!

Could I trouble you to verify your close focus distance under low light conditions?

At the penalty of more height, have you considered an offset mount? I've used an AR-type mounted backwards when I needed to mount a scope aft.

HarryAlonzo wrote:
Could I trouble you to verify your close focus distance under low light conditions?

At the penalty of more height, have you considered an offset mount? I've used an AR-type mounted backwards when I needed to mount a scope aft.

Be happy to Harry.

Thanks for the idea about offset mounts. When using the Photon, your eye is placed onto the soft rubber extension which is the right distance from the screen. This requires more of a neck stretch than a normal scope.
I'm thinking it may not be possible to get the scope far enough back for it to be a comfortable fit for me.
(It may not be an issue for others.) I may try a 45 degree side offset mount to see if that works better.

.

Harry, the Photon worked fine in low light at close range with the stock illuminator.

As a more realistic test, I used a small stuffed gray rabbit as a target.
At both 6 ft and 15 ft, the focus was plenty good enough to see those big black rabbit eyes.

I also re-did the the typed page test.
All of the lines of text were separately viewable, though not readable.

Remember also that this is a 4.5 fixed power scope.
If hunting rats at 6 feet, those rat heads may look mighty big!

Last night there was an 11,000 ft overcast which provided a bit more reflective ambient light.
The Photon was used to scan the tree line 400 yards away with no illuminator.
Black hogs and brown cows showed up as very black with plenty of contrast from the surroundings with last night's ambient light.

Killed one hog so far with the Photon using the external illuminator two nights ago when there was little ambient light. Even at 135 yards, and while wearing ear protection, I could still hear the THUNK of impact.

Looks like it works ! We would not need anything over 65 - 70 yards as the bottoms we hunt are not open cover. Even after all leaves down and swamp growth gone 70 yards is it.
Thank you !

LowKey wrote:Ranch Dog, with over a thousand hogs under your belt, you are the Master Hog Hunter.

If I had your setup, I would consider night vision to be an unnecessary complication.

Sorry I missed this and thank you for your, comments. The limitation I face is getting past the 70-yard mark with ambient light conditions and seeing what is out ahead of me. I need to see and shoot out to 100-yards and those silly 30 additional yards has kept me from a lot of pork. That, coupled with getting geared up and out back and clouds move in and I'm done. I've been working hogs in close, inside 30 yards, and have them disappear with heavy cloud cover and that is almost an "auh oh" especially when they have doubled back on you and start growling.

Lowkey, have you weighed your setup? The scope and illuminator?

Ranch Dog wrote:.....especially when they have doubled back on you and start growling.....

Oh dear

I've been rolled around three times. You get used to it.