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Nightvision Riflescope for Springers

12/7/2016

15 Comments

 
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Another DISCLAIMER, courtesy of our legal counsel:

Hunting pests at night is a specialized activity. It is NOT for the beginner. Make sure that what you are planning on doing is legal in YOUR area.
When hunting pests that are "publicly recognized" as pests, still make sure that the Fish and Wildlife authorities share the public's perception.

Hunting pests in the dark carries some inherent dangers, take EXTREME safety precautions. IF you hunt in a group make absolutely certain that you and everyone else knows where everyone else is at all times.

Last, but not least: In no way are we recommending night-time pest hunting as a first recourse. It should be taken up by knowledgeable persons capable of holding the highest standards of safety not only for the party that shoots, but for everyone around them. Be even more vigilant of having a solid backstop BEFORE taking ANY shot. Be ABSOLUTELY certain of your target BEFORE taking ANY shot. Do NOT aim a rifle at ANYTHING you do not FULLY INTEND TO DESTROY.

UFF!  Glad that is over with.

Well, having said that, let's get down to business:

​Up until a few years ago, the idea of using a photomultiplier equipped riflescope in a spring-piston gun would have been met with disbelief, warning cries and downright derision.

Nightvision scopes were simply NOT made for spring-piston air rifles.

Even before they were labelled with a "Generation something" I've been involved in photomultiplying so, I know how delicate the photomultiplier imaging tubes were, and some still are.

Over a decade ago now, I had an Aries Warrior that proved VERY useful in some pest eliminating tasks. BUT, as good as it was, the scope simply was not designed for the forward recoil of the spring-piston air rifle, so we had to design and build rigs on PCP's, either a Steyr LG-100, or a Talon SS

Many agreeable outings we had getting rid of all size of pests between belfry pigeons that threatened Colonial era architecture and art, to feral dog packs capable of attacking humans.

My experiences and ties to nocturnal pest control are some of my best memories.

Not all of them were sedate, peaceful and bucolic, but all were good.
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Times change. And with change comes new technology.
Among the new kids on the block there are several "night/day" scopes that intrigued me.
Until last year there was no model that could really be applied to spring guns because their large size and weight negated much of the spring gun advantages.
Then there was the price. At around $700-800 all in, they were not for everyone.
Lastly, there was the issue of energy efficiency. It is no fun having to lug around battery packs.

VERY recently, our good friends at SightMark came out with a peculiar scope they call the "Photon XT". The Photon replicates the general architecture of a normal scope except the large objective now present in many scopes is replaced by a squarish video unit:
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As you can imagine, the cilindrical section is what called powerfully my attention. If it fit into the ZR Mounts, we could have a very capable setup for powerful springers.
A brief call into SightMark and some paperwork and I had a sample on the way.

When it arrived I was pleasantly surprised by the light weight and compactness of the unit.
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The Photon weighs less than 26 oz (0.725 kg); together with batteries and the ZR Mounts the whole thing comes close to 2 lbs (under 1 kg).
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The rig weighs in fact less than when the Sightron SIII is riding atop it.
​Looking at the mount in detail
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It may seem that it is a little too far back.
The reality is that the ZR Mounts do such a wonderful job of dissociating the masses of the recoiling rifle and the scope that very little "holding power" is needed when they are working properly.

It is a TIGHT fit, and if I was keeping this system for night pesting, I would definitely mill a little off the rear ring, but until I get better contacts that allow me to do some night pesting, I will return this sample and be very happy. Someday the situation will present itself and I will know how to tackle the problem.

But let's get back to the testing.

Part of the problem with testing optical devices is that it is almost impossible to get pictures that actually reflect what the shooter sees.
​For example, this is a daylight picture
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Notice how the target is a blank sheet of paper, while in reality you DID see the aimpoints.
By night:
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Using the full power of the Infrared Illuminator, you can now see that the cardboard stand has something written on it. You still cannot see in the pictures the target aimpoints, but in reality you could see them through the scope.

The photon controls are all located in one knob, surely this will be familiar to the I-gizmo users. To me it feels unnatural, but with a few probing and messing around you can actually find what you are looking for.

You can choose between six reticles:
​
Standard Mil-Dot:​
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A variation of the Duplex crosshairs:
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A variation of the target dot:
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A BDC (Bullet Drop Compensator that I would assume is for the 0.223")
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Another BDC (I would suspect this is for a better bullet)
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And a variation of the Post and Crosshair:
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All of them can be had in White:
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Or Red in addition to the Green shown above:
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Zeroing the Photon is an almost unique process.
First, you shoot a group, then you turn on the zeroing reticle, then you correct by moving first the horizontal (marked as "x"):
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Then the vertical (marked as "Y")
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What you are doing with this is to actually move the zeroing reticle to the group's LOCATION.
So, instead of moving the POI according to where you want it to go, you move the reticle to where you are hitting.

Apart from Steyr Match Pistols, I do not know of any other sighting device that follows this logic.

Still, as strange as it is, if you have a solid benchrest or sled that can be locked into position, you get zeroed in in no time flat.

I can hear many of you commenting: Let's get on with it, how does it shoot?
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Zeroed in and shot a few groups with different reticles at different distances to get a feel for the trajectory.
Personally, I seem to do better with the PCH reticle.
The aimpoints in the target are slightly less than ½" in diameter.

At 6x it is much less magnification than I am used to, but using the PCH reticle and holding to the TOP of the little cross, you can get a pretty steady and reliable sight picture.

In hunting rigs I think that three shot groups, when the shots are taken in quick succession, are more illustrative of the system's potential than long steady 5 shot or 10 shot groups. Those are fine for target guns, but not for hunting tools.

At 35 yards using some reasonably life-sized targets the results were interesting.

​Here is a squirrel about the size of a Fox squirrel:
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The methodology for these groups was to take a shot from the FT position.
Then get up.
Take a turn around the bumbag.
Sit down and take another shot.
Repeat for the third.

The first group shot was to the heart/lungs area, and funny, the first shot landed where it should, but the next two landed to the right.
Without being able to spot the shots, I took the second group to the ear/neck area.

When I went to see the target, I knew I had to re-zero the scope.

I did that using my favourite pigeon target:
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It is not uncommon for systems to need some settling in time and shots. So I really do not think that this is a source of problems or uncertainties. It is simply one component getting used to the others.
Fiddled with the horizontal and vertical "clicks", and I think that now I finally understood them, LOL!

Anyway, after re-zeroing the scope (I should have put in one more click to the right), I took three shots at the neck and three shots at the bottom of the top wing-fold.
In real life I do not recommend using this last shot unless you are usng a gun capable of at least 20 ft-lbs of M.E. Pigeons are hard flyers and have strong muscles and feathers. At times it may feel that they also have Kevlar vests. They don't, but the feathers pretty much act in the same manner as a bulletproof vest, so take your shots carefully.

Ah! Yes, there ARE three shots in the wing. One to the left and two that went in pretty much together to the right. From the FT position and using the same technique of shooting, standing up, taking a turn around the bumbag and then sitting down to shoot again.

The Photon is an interesting scope and it mates very well with the D54.
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The position is such that it leaves open the loading port and it is easy to load by feel. No need to look. Important if you cannot see because you are shooting at night,
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There are other video-telesights out there, possibly the better known one is by ATN.
Though money wise they cost about the same, ATN chose to cater more to the "normal" scope users that want to see color and higher definition on the sight picture.
It is also loaded with other facilities that consume energy, like WiFi, video recording to an SD card, on board drop compensation.
So, the REAL COST of the ATN is that it needs the added weight and cables to tether it to an external power supply.

The Photon was designed the other way around. It is mainly geared to those that are used to night-sights and demand maximum portability and efficiency. Yes it is monochromatic, and yes it has either an infrared Illuminator or a laser one (for extra cost), but the reality is that within normal pest-hunting ranges and situations, you do not need 200 yards reach in your illuminator and you do need to be able to go for 5 to 6 hours (23:00 till 04:00 usually) without lugging around too much weight and spare batteries.
It is also a lighter device and more compact.

And, BTW, when I asked the ATN guys if their sight was spring-piston rated they said they would guarantee it and would replace the unit if it failed, but there was no mention of a refund.
Because of the way the ATN is built, it is impossible to mount it on a ZR Mount, so that when you come down to springers, the reality is that the Photon is the only one that can fill the bill.

Had a ton of fun doing these tests and I hope some of you will find it if not useful because night-pesting is not for everyone, at least entertaining and interesting.

Keep well and shoot straight!







​Héctor Medina
15 Comments
Alejandro O Martinez
12/8/2016 23:33:43

The ZR Mount ring spacing is a major limiting factor in scope selection. How about milling the rings off and leave flat surfaces. On the pads left were the scope rings used to be, drill and tap for a rail to be installed. A rail will allow much more flexibility for scope mounting.

Reply
RidgeRunner
12/10/2016 06:46:58

Hi Alejandro,

That is a good idea with the exception that when you add rings, the scope is going to be mounted fairly high even with low ones. If that is not an issue for you, then you do indeed have a more versatile mounting system. It is most definitely worth keeping in mind.

Reply
Hector Medina
12/11/2016 21:32:47

Hello Alejandro!

As we have discussed in the past, and as RR tells you, it is a question of balance.
One of the things I liked most about this combination is that, literally, the rifle balances just as well as with any of the larger/heavier scopes (Horus, SIGHTRON, BSA Platinum, Nikko-Stirling, etc.)
If I ever get a chance to talk to the Diana people about this, I will let them know, as it is an interesting idea that could be accomplished in a slightly different way and even make the mounting of the scope LOWER than what it normally would be.
Which in some case would be very interesting.
Thanks!


HM

Reply
Alejandro Martinez
12/13/2016 23:36:23

Another alternative after the scope-rings are milled-off and flat pads remain. Install flat-based two-piece Weaver scope mounts (http://www.midwayusa.com/product/1592237341/warne-maxima-2-piece-steel-weaver-style-scope-base-marlin-36-336-444-1894-1895-9-45-922m) on the remaining milled-flat scope pads. Then, offset scope bases (http://www.bkltech.com/BKL-1-Offset-Dovetail-Rings-p/bkl-274.htm) could be used to allow more flexibility in scope mounting - especially to locate the scope towards the rear ... closer to the shooters eye.

Alejandro O Martinez link
1/24/2017 14:57:07

"The problem of the 54 is that it develops more inverse recoil than a full braked 0.50" BMG.
So it is a good platform to test "shockproof" optics.
With the ZR Mounts the masses are isolated and therefore the optics do not suffer at all."

If I recall correctly, the ZR-Mount on a full-power Model 54 ... the recoil caused the ZR-Mount to traverse the entire length of rail travel.

As such, the scope "bumped" to a stop at the end of the ZR-Mount rail travel.
To counter this, why not employ a short, larger-OD spring situated on the outside of the OEM-recoil-spring.

The short, larger-OD spring would act as a buffer to cushion the scope as it came to-the-end of the ZR-Mount rail travel.
The short, larger-diameter, buffer-spring will be held in-place by a shorter, tight-fitting delrin sleeve.
The inside-diameter of the short-sleeve would be tight-enough to remain in-place on the last couple of turns of the OEM recoil spring.
And, the outside-diameter of the sleeve would be large-enough to keep the larger-diameter short-buffer-spring captured at the end of the ZR-Mount rail travel.

The short, larger-diameter, buffer-spring would serve mitigate the greater recoil of the Diana Model 54.

Hector J Medina
1/25/2017 08:55:06

Alejandro;

While that was true of the first case assessed, further research showed that it was a combination of a weak mount spring (1st gen) and a heavy scope.
The photon is quite light and lately I've been mounting a LOT of SIGHTRON SII's in hunter's systems, the newer versions (2016 and forward) are even better than the older ones.

When I have to mount a HEAVY piece of optics in a hard recoiling airgun, I now CLIP a piece of the mount spring and add a rubber grommet buffer in there. That has provided the necessary "two step force" reruired by what is, in origin, a bad combination.

As video scopes progress,I am sure we will see a lot of High Definition Long Range scopes added into the mix, those will always be lighter than the Purely Optical systems.

Thanks for your ideas and for reading the Blog, hope you are happy with your 3 rifles.


Héctor

Mike B
12/9/2016 10:13:17

Great review! Thank you!

Reply
RidgeRunner
12/10/2016 06:38:17

Hi Hector,

Thank you for this review. I have been considering a day/night scope for some time now and your comparisons of the two top contenders was most beneficial to me. The compactness and weight of this package verses the ATN is indeed in it's favor.

I had not considered mounting one on a sproinger, but you have shown this to be a new possibility to me. As for the ZR Mount, you mention milling the rear ring to provide a better fit. Would it be possible to instead move the ring further up the guide rods. Yes, this will compress the spring a bit more, but it may not be enough to cause issues.

You also mentioned the resolution was not as high as that of the ATN. Would you say it is sufficient for hunting squirrels in woods during daylight out to 100 yards?

Reply
Hector Medina
12/11/2016 21:40:30

RR;

I would not consider ANY springer a 100 yards squirrel rifle.
Out to 55/60 yards, no problem.
75 would be pushing it.
100 yards, ONLY in an ideal day out in the open. NOT in the woods.

The Photon allows you to see reasonable detail out to about 60 yards with the IR illuminator, I would assume the Laser diode unit would give you more distance,

In reality, you do NOT need it.

Hunting at night is something that needs to be experienced to believe. Yes the animals see better than all humans at night, but they still do not see WELL. Even the humble (for current state of the art military technology) Photon will help you see 3 times better than the most proficient hunter cat.

At night you can actually HUNT, instead of snipe.
And that is a great challenge and a worthwhile endeavour.

The rings in the ZR mounts are located in grooves that are cut in the rods. I guess it would be possible to craft a set of SLIGHTLY LONGER RODS and make the Photon fit nicely in there.
I think the spring would need to be shimmed, as when the rods are extended we LOOSE a little bit of pre-compression.

Excellent idea, Thanks!





Héctor Medina

Reply
RidgeRunner
12/12/2016 14:16:48

Hector,

From your photos it looks to me like you need to shorten the rods a little bit to bring the rings in.

I myself would not consider using a sproinger out past 50 yards. Any sproinger with enough power to be effective at that range would be almost impossible to shoot accurately. I am not much of a fan of uber magnum sproingers. I like to hit what I am shooting at.

I have been considering one for my Talon SS with a 18 inch .25 LW barrel. 100 yards with it is quite realistic.

Hector Medina
12/12/2016 15:48:34

LOL! Yes you are right!

Too many irons on the burner, LOL!

The beauty of the 54 is that you CAN shoot a 20-24 ft-lbs springer and still see and hit what you are aiming at.
The problem of the 54 is that it develops more inverse recoil than a full braked 0.50" BMG. So it is a good platform to test "shockproof" optics.
With the ZR Mounts the masses are isolated and therefore the optics do not suffer at all.

I would agree to a Talon being a 100 yards squirrel gun. I used mine quite a lot. From 0.14" to 0.243" they are a lot of fun.

Keep well and shoot straight!




Héctor

HermanVermin
1/23/2017 17:06:58

Hi Hector, I'm looking at the same set up: Sightmark Photon XT 4.6 & Bullseye ZR mount for weaver rail. Any issues or cause for concern with the tight fit of the rings? Or did you just note that it's a tight fit.

Also when moving the Photon recticle to the zero, will the recticle stay in that new position once zeroed or move back to the center?

For example, if zero is top right of the screen will the recticle always be in the top right of the screen?

Thanks

Reply
Hector J Medina Gomez
1/23/2017 23:34:56

Hello Herman!

I've set up now 2 systems using the short rails idea provided by Ridge Runner.
Since the ZR Mounts need to be disassembled, the rails polished, the buttons installed and then everything has to be assembled again, it makes sense to cut the rails, or simply make a retaining groove 1/8" shorter on both sides, That provides clearance for the rubber pieces in the Photon and allows a good mounting.

If you have not purchased the Photon, let me know and I can quote you a package made of the Accurized Weaver based ZR's + Photon. I can assure you I can give you the best price on the Photon you can find.

If you want, I can also quote the regulation of your barrel to the center of the Photon's mechanical system.

Since the optical system of the photon in the end impinges on a CCD, the field is completely "flat" optically speaking, and there is no concern with the crosshairs not being at the "optical" center, though AFAIR, the reticle stays centered / is re-centered in the image.
Since my gun was fully regulated to the mounts, very few clicks were needed to get it sighted in.

If you need to discuss further commercial matters, do use the contact page:

http://www.ctcustomairguns.com/contact-us.html

Thanks for reading!





HM

Reply
Fazal Abbas link
9/14/2022 17:18:52

Much obliged to you for this review. I have been thinking about a day/night scope for quite a while and your comparisons of the two strong competitors were generally useful to me. The compactness and weight of this bundle versus the ATN is to be sure in support of itself.

Reply
Hector Medina
9/16/2022 12:54:17

Dear Mr. Abbas
Thanks for reading!
It should be noted that night-vision has advanced much in the last 6 years.

At present, the best option would be the SIGHTMARK Wraith Mini, that is an improvement over the original Wraith that was reviewed here:

https://www.ctcustomairguns.com/hectors-airgun-blog/the-nacht-jager-or-the-night-hunter

Again, thanks for reading!





HM

Reply



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    Hector Medina

    2012 US National WFTF Spring Piston Champion
    2012 WFTF Spring Piston Grand Prix Winner
    2013 World's WFTF Spring Piston 7th place
    2014 Texas State WFTF Piston Champion
    2014 World's WFTF Spring Piston 5th place.
    2015 Maine State Champion WFTF Piston
    2015 Massachusetts State Champion WFTF Piston
    2015 New York State Champion WFTF Piston
    2015 US National WFTF Piston 2nd Place
    2016 Canadian WFTF Piston Champion
    2016 Pyramyd Air Cup WFTF Piston 1st Place
    2017 US Nationals Open Piston 3rd Place
    2018 WFTC's Member of Team USA Champion Springers
    2018 WFTC's 4th place Veteran Springer
    2020 Puerto Rico GP Piston First Place
    2020 NC State Championships 1st Place Piston
    2022 Maryland State Champion WFTF 
    2022 WFTC's Italy Member of TEAM USA 2nd place Springers
    2022 WFTC's Italy
    2nd Place Veteran Springers

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