full moon night time scope

M

MNyoteHunter

New member
I know this has been brought up before, but when I searched most of the threads were five years or older. I'm thinking about getting a new scope for my rifle. I hunt during the day a little but most of my hunting is at night. In mn we can't use rifles with a light so it's done under the full moon with no artificial lights. Light transmission to get a clear bright sight picture is huge. I'm currently leaning towards Leopold vx-3 3.5-10x50. I want one with a 50 mm objective. Any other suggestions. Also don't wanna spend much over 500.
 
You might look at the Photon XT digital scope. It will work in the day as well as give you some night vision with good ambient light. It is not going to be as good in the daytime as the Leupold, but it will work and you can get one for about 500. Downside is finding a good mount for it and that might push your budget. I got mine on ebay for under 30. A one piece cantilevered, quick release, 30 mm mount from China.
 
I hunt at night a lot and always use my scope at the lowest power, even for longer shots (and we can use lights here). You may want to consider a nice fixed 4 or 6 power scope, maybe with a 30 mm tube.
 
As much as I love a fine duplex reticle for accuracy work, I've found the Leupold heavy duplex is much easier to find in low light. I currently have a leupold 3-9x50mm heavy duplex on my "wannabe" night rifle.
 
I have a Nikon monarch 2.5-10x50 that has worked well for me. The leupold should work well also. Keep your power setting low at night as it will draw more light.
 
Can you use a lighted crosshair? If you can I would suggest the Vortex Cross fire with the V-brite reticule. There's one in the classified right now. I have the Leupold VX-R, Weaver Classic Extreme, and the Vortex as mentioned. I would say the Vortex gives me better light transmission for less than half the price of the Leupold.
 
I think we can use illuminated reticles. I've never gave them much thought cuz I figured without any other artificial light and just them the glowing would make it hard to see the target
 
Even though we can use lights, I've used my scopes without lights on full moon nights and had no problem. Most of the lit reticle scopes have a 1-10 rheostat that allows you to choose how much light you need for the situation. The lighted dot does make a big difference IMO.
 
You may want to look at Burris scopes or Vortex. I've been super impressed with my new(er) Vortex binos and know lots of guys that rave about their scopes. You may be able to find one at your price point. Burris makes a lot better scope than they get credit for. I've got an old Burris on my .25 WSSM that's got terrific light transmission and I used it for years for killing hogs under moonlight - even though we get to use lights in TX. If I didn't have a great deal from Leupold I would probably be keeping up with Burris. Especially for the price point you're looking at.

Remember, that the tube diameter has almost as much to do with light transmission as the objective lens size.

Originally Posted By: MNyoteHunterI think we can use illuminated reticles. I've never gave them much thought cuz I figured without any other artificial light and just them the glowing would make it hard to see the target

You're absolutely correct about that assumption. In low light conditions you don't want a bright reticle - just enough (contrast) to make it out. The only illuminated reticle I can use with moonlight is my Nightforce NXS scope because it has infinite adjustment and I can turn it down to more of an amber than a bright red. I just got my VX6 4-24x52 in and I'm hoping that it may have a really low setting for the reticle; but I'm not holding my breath. I love illuminated reticles but for moonlight hunting the Nightforce is the only one I've found that's truly effective under moonlight. One trick is to let your batteries die some and the intensity of the light will dim. It's not a great solution but it does help. I don't know WHY the scope makers don't give us a dim setting or two. It's probably because people would forget to turn it off.
 
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I looked up vortex website. Their cross fire hog Hunter model looked pretty sweet. 30 mm main tube, 56 mm objective. Only comes in v brite reticle though. I'm still not sold on that idea. If you have the illuminated reticle shut off is there still crosshairs behind it or is it just blank
 
I'm not sure on the hog hunter but the crossfire w V-bright I have has the crosshairs even if you don't have the light on. The light is just a pinpoint anyway with 10 adjustment levels. It's not a NF, but it's about $1500 cheaper also.
 
I've got the Vortex Hog Hunter and plan to use it for hog hunting in a few weeks. I'm not sure how it is now, but the dealer that I ordered it from had a hard time getting the mounts for it; on order several weeks. Because of the large objective lens, maybe wasn't a real common base.
 
The AR I end up using most often has a Hawke Night-Eye 1.5-6x44 with an illuminated dot. It's great for a full moon but I don't think they make it anymore.
 
I too am on the market for a night time scope. I'm looking at getting the VX-R 3x9-40. You can select between 8 intensity settings while a motion sensor deactivates illumination after 5 minutes of inactivity, but reactivates the instant any movement is detected. Just leave the button on at all times... two reticals available

leupoldfiredotduplex.jpg
ballisticfiredot.jpg
 
Originally Posted By: PabstblueI've got the Vortex Hog Hunter and plan to use it for hog hunting in a few weeks. I'm not sure how it is now, but the dealer that I ordered it from had a hard time getting the mounts for it; on order several weeks. Because of the large objective lens, maybe wasn't a real common base.

So do you still have cross hairs with the illumination turned off?
 
if i understand right the vortex, Bushnell, center-point, Simmons, and most all popular scope brands all send there specs to the same place over seas to have there stuff built. and "mediocre and up" Leopold and Redfield stuff is made in there own facility's here in america. BUT I COULD BE WRONG about that.
 
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