hello from beds

[bongobango]

Hi all,
I am pretty new to nv, I have a sub 12ftlbs air rifle as my first foray into hunting. Didn't want to make the giant leap straight into fac. Wanted to know I would go out enough to make it worthwhile. I am looking at a homemade start up nv set up as the rabbits on the airfield that I regularly shoot at are quite lamp shy. That and my knees are shot from years of rugby so the thought of doing lots and lots of creepy crawly stuff to get up close and personal makes them ache at the thought.

Craig

[PESCA]

Hello Craig and welcome to the forum.

George

[paulham]

Welcome.

How did you gain permission from the airfield? There is one near me but ive never known who should be spoken to there.

[some bloke]

Hi Craig - welcome to the forum.

You've got the most demanding task there in some ways mate because it's very easy to achieve much more than optimum for your low range.

Up close and personal, but not overly mobile with 35 yard 12ftlb means being very very covert, ideally seeing the bunnies with no IR signature to help alert them till you are ready for the shot, and then just the barest minimum being as they are already light shy.

If your pockets are deep enough then dedicated gen 2 or gen 3 tubed is probably the optimum starting @ well over £1000 I believe, but cannot be used in daylight.

Next covert option is either a dedicated digital ready made - Cheapest is the £400 Photon - or home made 'scopeless' rig, these can often be used at those ranges with no IR for the stalk, and when needed, minimal IR for the shot. This requires a rifle dedicated to primarily night time shooting - but can be used with some fussiness in the daytime.

Least covert but most swappable and convenient is an add-on to the back of almost any existing rifle scope - which is of course primarily a daytime rifle but very useable at night.

[bongobango]

Some Bloke - Thanks for the info, i have kind of jumped in feet first as i am all too often inclined to do. I have a T20 IR on order and have picked up an old Sony DCS-V1 with a 1/1.8 Super HAD CCD and Night Shot. I am hoping this will be enough to get me going and maybe even be a keeper if i ever go down the rimfire route. I forgot to say i like to do things on the cheap so anything over 100 pounds makes me feel a little sick!. A friend had a similar setup for his centre fire .177 allbeit with a russin military IR spotter type thing and old camcorder which worked well out to about 200yards. Seen good things about the T20 IR especially for Air rifle ranges, my absolute max range on a reasonable day is 50 yards so i am hoping this set-up will be ok for this. Shouls all be with me by the end of the week, just in time for me to drop the wife and kids of at my folks for the week giving me some prime guilt (moaning) free shooting time!!.

Paulham - In the military so part of the rough shooting club here. I would contact the airfield/club as they are often very keen on pest control. The rabbits tear up the runway (if grass!) and bird strikes are a big risk and can ruin a pilots day. Speaking to the chair of the club or if they have a tower the controllers can be the best port of call. I am very fortunate as we also have a golf course here too so there are quite a lot of rabbits, far more than on the farm i also shoot at.

[silent shooter]

Hi Craig welcome to the forum mate

Geoff

[punky]

Hi and welcome to the forum