James - our resident Night Vision and Thermal expert - has shared his insight into what to look for when purchasing a compatible Rifle Scope for Night Vision use.
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So, you’re looking for a day Scope that’s going to not only work well with your Night Vision device but also be adaptable to a variety of different nighttime situations.
Well, there are a few things you need to consider when selecting a scope that’s going to work well with your device. These are as follows:
1. COST
What is a £600 Scope going to give you that a £200 Scope can’t? The simple answer is build quality.
A £200 Scope is going to be limited by its quality. Therefore, Scopes with this price tag would be more suited to Airgun/Rimfire Shooting, tying in very nicely with an affordable Rifle package price.
If you are Shooting a Centrefire, however, where you are likely to be shooting up to 200, 300, maybe even 400 yards, then we would recommend that you invest in a quality Scope to achieve that reliability in your equipment.
[IMAGE: A Rear Night Vision Add-On - the WULF Night Vision Rear Scope Add-On]
2. GLASS QUALITY
The big benefit of using a Rear Add-On Night Vision device is that you don’t have to fork out for a high-end Scope, purely for the fact that the higher-quality lens coating will not allow you to see the IR light come back through the Scope and therefore not produce a clear Night vision image.
With this in mind, the majority of Night Vision Add-On Scopes will be around the £50-£700 mark.
3. PARALLAX ADJUSTMENT (SIDE FOCUS)
This is, without doubt, the most important aspect of choosing a day Scope for your Add-On.
The Scope you purchase MUST have some form of Side Focus or an Adjustable Objective (AO). This is because you need to be able to adjust the Scope to the Night Vision device to achieve a clear picture. If you don’t have any adjustment, you won’t have a clear image and this will frustrate you when you need to react quickly to a target.
A good rule of thumb to go buy (when working with an Add-On device) is; whatever is second in the setup, must adapt to what is first in the setup. What I mean when I say this is that if you have a Rear Add-On, the Scope you use must adapt to it by use of Side Focus. However, if you have a Front Add-On then that must adapt to the day Scope on the Rifle, which will be explained in my next point.
[IMAGE: A Front Night Vision Add-On - the Pulsar Forward F Digital Night Vision Add-On]
4. MAGNIFICATION
If you are going to be running a Front Add-On device as part of your setup then you need to consider the magnification of your day Scope. The majority, if not all, Front Add-Ons won’t work very well past 7x mag on your day Scope so take into consideration that you should be looking at Scopes with a lower base mag, i.e. 2.5-3x mag as a base magnification in order to use the device to the best of it ability.
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I hope you find these points useful and that you are able to make a decision on which Scope you will need for your specific set-up.
To see our recommended section for Night Vision compatible Day Scopes [CLICK HERE].
Finally, and as always, if you require any further help please call Optics Warehouse on 08103 611895 or alternatively, for Night Vision specific enquiries, please email james@opticswarehouse.co.uk.