Thermal Rifle Scope Foxing Video

[CliveWard]

Hi All,

 

After all this recent wet weather I finally managed to get out and have a play with the GSCI TWS-3075 640x480 thermal rifle scope on some foxes.

 

I've covered most of the techie stuff on another thread here.

 

I fitted the scope onto my Steyr Scout Tactical Elite in .223 for the nights foray on a local estate. We had one of the estate employees driving and my oppo joining in the fun spotting with a thermal monocular. I ran a lead from the Lawmate recorder to the input of the trucks LCD display so that the driver could see what was going on and get the vehicle into the right position.

 

After spotting a few but not being able to quite get onto them because of backdrops, livestock, etc., we had our first 'opportunity' in one of the orchards. Usually this would have been a complete waste of time with traditional NV due to back reflection off the tree protectors. If anyone's shot an orchard before then you know it's a constant shuffle of 'nope back a row, nope forward a row, nope it's gone back again' ad nauseum. With the thermal you can look through the gaps in the trees in all directions. I had spotted one cagey fox just in the dead ground where the land dips. We had been trying to coax it out into a safer shot when another fox romped across and came into the call. Once it winded us it moved off to the right, fortunately into an area that I could take a shot and the bullet struck home just as it turned to leg it.

 

The next one we picked up over the top of the hedge with the monocular and drove along the track to the gateway. I set up and the driver crawled forward until the fox came into view. I watched it for a short while to see if it would naturally present a shot, but it needed a short quiet call just to get it's attention and down went number 2. This time the shot was a little lower as in my mind I was assuming it was a bit further out than it actually was and unnecessarily holding under.

 

Anyway here's a quick video edit of the nights endeavors:

 

http://youtu.be/SGggYRhUDXI

 

The actual view through the scope with it's OLED display is considerably better defined than he captured video recording.

 

 

Cheers

 

 

 

 

 

Clive

[srvet]

Nice footage What sort of ranges were they at?

[Sherlock]

Sorry , but I must have bad eyes , because that footage looks very poor considering this is a video meant to promote sales.

The chevron is actually very poor as a reticule for vermin and fox - I have used it on my 2 Kite night sights and it isn't the best - but at least the picture was excellent on the kites.

 

The the last fox was definitely in need of a finishing shot when the clip ended (early) Everything I have seen so far makes me not want to buy one even if they were a fraction of the price.

 

 

Just my 2 penneth.

 

 

S

[CliveWard]

Nice footage What sort of ranges were they at?

 

Hi srvet,

 

The first one was 85-90 yards. The second one was 120-130.

 

 

Cheers

 

 

 

 

 

Clive

[CliveWard]

Nice footage What sort of ranges were they at?

 

Hi srvet,

 

The first one was 85-90 yards. The second one was 120-130.

 

 

Cheers

 

 

 

 

 

Clive

 

Sorry , but I must have bad eyes , because that footage looks very poor considering this is a video meant to promote sales.

The chevron is actually very poor as a reticule for vermin and fox - I have used it on my 2 Kite night sights and it isn't the best - but at least the picture was excellent on the kites.

 

The the last fox was definitely in need of a finishing shot when the clip ended (early) Everything I have seen so far makes me not want to buy one even if they were a fraction of the price.

 

 

Just my 2 penneth.

 

 

S

 

Hi Sherlock,

 

Thanks for the comments.

 

It's not a sales video. We make a point of not showing anything being killed in our public sales videos for obvious reasons.

 

The video was quickly put together to accompany the account of the nights shooting and to give the members here a bit of an insight into the upper end of thermal technology.

 

The view through the device is 'considerably' better than anything that can be captured from the video output. I've covered this and the multitude of reticule options in the referenced post.

 

Shooting in the field isn't an exact science. As I have mentioned in the original post, the shot was a touch lower than 'ideal' and I always strive for 'ideal', hence applying the hold in the first place. The video was edited in the best taste as some people may not want to see a few seconds of movement of an animal after being shot before it fully expires.

 

 

Cheers

 

 

 

 

 

Clive

[Paddy_SP]

Thanks for taking the effort to post this, Clive.

[rover]

Hi Clive, thanks for posting.

[CliveWard]

Hi guys,

 

No problem at all.

 

Yep just catching Paddy up with the thermal gadgets. My accounts could never be as exciting as his though.

 

I'll do some more when time allows.

 

 

Cheers

 

 

 

 

 

Clive

[Montey]

Hi thanks for posting very interesting I've been using a 38s for spotting and a Drone10x on my 223 with good results . The night vision can't see through hedges ect like the thermal or in the fog and rain. I'm interested to know how does you as the shooter know what's in between your shot when using the thermal sight? I spoted a fox this wk,it was the other side of a hedge, I had to wait until it moved away up the fild befor I could take the shot.Ive found performance of the thermal drops right off, when using it in warm weather. Is this unit a much Superior unit than the 38s? I was very impressed with the footage as I know what a thermal picture looks like, any body viewing the footage could be forgiven for not appraising, what they are viewing.

[CliveWard]

Hi thanks for posting very interesting I've been using a 38s for spotting and a Drone10x on my 223 with good results . The night vision can't see through hedges ect like the thermal or in the fog and rain. I'm interested to know how does you as the shooter know what's in between your shot when using the thermal sight? I spoted a fox this wk,it was the other side of a hedge, I had to wait until it moved away up the fild befor I could take the shot.Ive found performance of the thermal drops right off, when using it in warm weather. Is this unit a much Superior unit than the 38s? I was very impressed with the footage as I know what a thermal picture looks like, any body viewing the footage could be forgiven for not appraising, what they are viewing.

 

Hi Montey,

 

No problem at all. I know what you mean. I've gone from my usual fast loaded 36 grain varmint grenades to archaic 55 grain soft points to use with the thermal just in case of the odd bit of unseen vegetation in front of the target.

 

The thermal core in this is a world of difference to the one used in the Pulsars. This core is very sensitive, about 4x the pixels and the scope has an F1 lens to retain all of that sensitivity. With this core you can tell if there are any significant obstructions. I'm just running the heavier bullets to be sure in case I can't see the odd thin stalk of whatever that could be in between the rifle and target, any deflection is minimised.

 

One other thing I have noticed about this is that even in thick fog the gain can be ramped up to define both the target and the backdrop. Also the gain can be manually dropped down so that instead of silhouettes you can see a good deal of thermal variation in the animals. Also with the gain turned don a bit it's virtually noise free.

 

 

Cheers

 

 

 

 

 

Clive