Is it my eyes?

[Big Al]

I was in the market for a foxing scope for my c/f. I got it into my head that I would invest in some good European glass so I bought a S&B 8x56 Hungarian, the optics are blemish free and very crisp during the day. However, in the dark under the red led of my NM800 Turbo I really struggle to see any better quality than the Nikko Sterling Gameking I have on my .17HMR. I have also compared both of these scopes to my friends Docter 3-12x56 and again being honest I cannot see any difference when all three are at 8x mag.

 

I assumed that the crisp optics and famous low light gathering qualities of this legendary S&B 8x56 would stand out head and shoulders over these inferior cheapies under lamp light, bearing in mind the NS Gameking cost me £80.

 

Does lamplight neutralise the performance advantages of good glass or could I possibly have a real gem in the Gameking which punches well above its price tag?

 

I would welcome any thoughts you might have?

[Swamp Donkey]

Red light.

Try them under white light, you'll see the difference then.

 

Pete

[Big Al]

Red light.

Try them under white light, you'll see the difference then.

 

Pete

 

OK, that's interesting although I dont usually lamp with white light

 

Could I assume it would also be better under the green light?

[Akeld]

Try them all again as the light is fading (without artificial light), thats when you'll see the diference

[tackb]

if it works for you , don't change anything ?

[tisme]

I also bought a 8x56 S&B. While out shooting in the snow I swapped rifles with a couple of friends to try each others scopes. We all agreed the S&B was the worst of all three and tried again a few weeks later when the snow had gone with the same results. The other two were a Hawke and a Nikko sterling so the S&B was sold a few days later.

It's not just your eyes

[DW58]

I can't speak for the Hungarian S&B 8x56, but I've had a German S&B 8x56 since 1988 and find it superb.

 

Bear in mind that these scopes are not designed for/intended for shooting at night or under artificial light conditions, the S&B 8x56 (and other similar German optics are dawn/dusk scopes intended to maximise use of available natural light in early morning/late evening and in very poor natural light conditions.

[Blind Hunter]

I have shot with 8x56 Hungarian and the only time the red lamp causes any problems is when the lamp is mounted to the rifle. It suffers really bad with flare when the light bounces back of the mod etc. If I'm shooting with someone, they hold the lamp and problem gone!

 

Weird how you're struggling!

[Big Al]

I have shot with 8x56 Hungarian and the only time the red lamp causes any problems is when the lamp is mounted to the rifle. It suffers really bad with flare when the light bounces back of the mod etc. If I'm shooting with someone, they hold the lamp and problem gone!

 

Weird how you're struggling!

 

Im not struggling as such, I can see through the S&B, its just no better with red light than the £80 Nikko, something quite a few others have agreed with me on now after looking through them.

 

Without any doubt the S&B will give a brighter sight picture as the light fades but once the light has gone and the red lamp is on its no better, this was also established with the Docter, another quality optic. I still can decide whether to be disappointed with the S&B or happy about the Nikko?

[Chris-NZ]

No idea on the optical observations but there's one thing that catches my attention- what is it with using colour-tinted lights??

Us Kiwis (99% at least) just use plain white lights when "spotlighting" (lamping to you guys).

 

By co-incidence, I have just taken delivery of a new LED torch that two Kiwi professional pest controllers were very closely involved with developing. Its basic dimensions are 9" long with a 1" handle and the head is 2.5" diam. Runs on two 18650 batteries. Quite light and can easily be mounted on a rifle. Here's the amazing thing- it's easily as good as a Lightforce 170 which has been my traditional spotlight. I know coz I was using both side-by-side on the weekend. The beam on the torch makes whole deer stand out like dog's nuts at 200yds, still dead clear at 300yds and deer eyes are very obvious at 500yds+. Run time is a good hour with 3100 Panasonics. You just shake your head as to what can come out of a small package.

 

Here's the torch:

http://www.aliexpress.com/store/product/MAXTOCH-Sniper-M24-Lighter-Version-of-SN6X-2S-AR-Lens-Copper-LED-Base-Longer-Shooting-Distance/314381_1769281159.html

 

One of the development guys de-domes the single Cree LED for free when it arrives in the country and it -doubles- the light output, namely 183,000 lux at 10 metres.

[Chris-NZ]

(duplicate?! )

[gaz6br]

I only use red light for rabbiting and spotting a fox's eye shine, when the shot presents it's self we drop a white, orange and the odd time green filter on it as you can see it a lot clearer

 

Gaz

[Marky610]

Chris, theres two main advantages to using coloured light's, less eye strain for you, lamping all night with white does your eyes in, use red or green (depends on your eyes) and and you have no problems due to the huge reduction in glare. And two, the beam is near impossible to spot in the sky so when your waving your lamp around everybody in a 10 mile radius don't know your out shooting. where I live it's almost impossible to be more than half a mile from a house and all the old farm houses dotted around the countryside are lived in by city bankers with no understanding of countryside activities so it helps reduce the phone calls to the law too. What the eye don't see the hart don't worry about.

 

I have homemade and modified torches here running coloured led's that far out perform the old LF170

[Chris-NZ]

Thanks for that Marky, we don't have the issues here with p*ssing neighbours off, well not unless you're poaching..

I can also see why cans are near mandatory too

[ejg223]

Not sure if I am right, my take is low light scopes have coatings to help blue light as that is prominent at dusk-dawn-night. Exactly the opposite to red light.

I had a few S&B 8x56 and thought they were ok, however no match to my S&B 4-16x50 classik or a 2.5-10x50 Kaps or 3-12x50 Zenith. Bought at ~ 300 Euro second hand they are hard to beat and very reliable.

edi

[Murph]

The red spectrum is very hard to see. A lot of the hid lamps suffer really badly because of the spectrum of light they put out- mostly in the blue colour phase. I personally hate shooting under armed light but a lot of the time it's the only way to get the foxes in.