Shooting at night

[Ccrider]

There are target gremlins that you can not see at night.

 

[Carl S]

To get better tuning conditions I was thinking of shooting at night. Can a guy just put a spot light on the target and see it fine?
Thanks

Yes Alex you can.i do alot of shooting at night,used a lamp for years on foxes and rabbits also zeroed rifles aswell in the dark.you will see your target no problem with a suitable lamp.

 

[joshb]

This leads me to a question. I have long heard the term “my gun shoots lights out”. So......if you’re shooting at the target but hitting the lights, that’s a bad thing....right?

 

[Fuj]

I'll tell ya', shooting under LED lights when it's dark is a treat.
Anderson Creek has LED lights installed at 100/200 yards and they
get there use during the winter matches. Long relay times and
short hours make them much needed. LED lighting also has no
glare so your looking at a pretty high res target when you crank
the power up.

 

[urbanrifleman]

To get better tuning conditions I was thinking of shooting at night. Can a guy just put a spot light on the target and see it fine?
Thanks

Smallest groups ever. No mirage. And I bet you will see even better. Just spotlight the target. Love shooting at night.

 

[gunsandgunsmithing]

Does the mirage go away as soon as it gets dark or does it take some time for the ground to cool down?

I'll 2nd the led's because of mirage. A typical spotlight will create mirage, as does shooting from a heated room..like crazy in cooler weather. You can rig up an led light over the target itself and then light the range with a utv or whatever you have but led's are much better than halogen etc. Shooting at night is better than day but it can have gremlins...thermals etc.

 

[Fuj]

I just thought of one problem that could happen if the night
air is high in "humidity". Your smoke may just hang with no wind
to move it, and repeating shots making it worse. Just an occasional
minor irritant.

 

[Alex Wheeler]

8 years later, and I still have not tried shooting at night. Probably never will.

 

[K22]

This topic brings back unpleasant memories.

When I was in basic training at Fort Campbell, KY I shot Expert on all my day light qualifications. I even got a one-night pass for doing so well on the rifle range. I wanted that Expert badge really bad and had it except the next part of the qualification was "night fire."

I fancied myself a precision shooter and this night fire course you couldn't even see the target. We were supposedly taught "instinctive" shooting but it was literally a shot in the dark. I didn't do well and ended up with a Sharpshooters Qualification badge. I protested to TOP (first sargent) and you can imagine how that went. I drew extra KP duty.

I promptly tossed the Sharpshooter's badge away after I was mustered out of the Army. For a guy raised in a hunting family with my father a WWII Army vet and three uncles who were Marines, this was a huge disappointment not to obtain an Expert Rating. I wanted some bragging rights with my hard-core Marine uncles, but it was not meant to be.

 

[Dusty Stevens]

There are some serious boogers out at night. Ive shot some horrendous groups at nite. Once i started flying i found out one reason the zero conditions groups get out of hand sometimes- wake turbulance.

 

[Ccrider]

There are some serious boogers out at night. Ive shot some horrendous groups at nite. Once i started flying i found out one reason the zero conditions groups get out of hand sometimes- wake turbulance.

Like I said, invisible night target gremlins.

 

[Seagull]

Probably shoot 3 out of 7 nites a week no issues at all light infront of the target angled towards target is the go. Never have a light behind you as it cast light and shadows into your scope.

 

[22BRGUY]

I and my son did a bunch of nighttime coyote calling and hunting in Minnesota.
We made some nice shots where all you could see was the reflection of their eyeballs
that you tried to hit between.
Yotes would not look at a regular flashlight sized or larger light but would look at a small high intensity flashlight for some reason.
It seemed that they related small with farther away and therefore safe to look at
but can only guess. Was sure fun though and night shooting was fun.

 

[C.E.Smith043]

I bought some 12 volt LED lights that I plug into a 12 volt car battery with a 12volt socket attached. I would recommend using a flood type light with a large target board if you can. You don't need a very bright light...too bright and it will blind out the target. I set the light appox. 6 feet away from the target. Having the bigger target board helps you get a full picture thru the scope to help you ensure that your stock and cheek position is consistent. If you don't have a big enough target board you often end up to close to the scope or too far away and you will not be able to tell that at night. Other than that don't forget to do a really good visual inspection with a good light before you leave your shooting range. I once left several things behind that I forgot to pick up and put in the truck. They were laying just feet away in the darkness and I totally forgot about them until I got home. Like others mentioned, its really nice out at that time and the wind oftentimes is non existent.

This is spot on^^^^

 

[C.E.Smith043]

I and my son did a bunch of nighttime coyote calling and hunting in Minnesota.
We made some nice shots where all you could see was the reflection of their eyeballs
that you tried to hit between.
Yotes would not look at a regular flashlight sized or larger light but would look at a small high intensity flashlight for some reason.
It seemed that they related small with farther away and therefore safe to look at
but can only guess. Was sure fun though and night shooting was fun.

Sorry but that sounds irresponsible

 

[22BRGUY]

Sorry but that sounds irresponsible

I understand why you would say that but we knew our spots well and the safety
of shooting which direction and all else always came FIRST.

 

[22BRGUY]

Sorry but that sounds irresponsible

We also knew every farm owner and landowner where we hunted and told them
beforehand what we were doing.

 

[Ledd Slinger]

WOW....this is old.

Lol! Only 8.5 years old so not too bad

 

[Will Henry]

Back in the late-seventies, they used to hold a night shoot in Namaka, Alberta. As I recall, we started shooting at around 8PM and finished up around 7AM. The idea was to get a chance to shoot when it was less windy, and it usually worked out. Lights were kept above the targets, to minimize mirage. We shot five classes, (Hunter, Sporter, Light Varmint, Heavy Varmint, Unlimited) so it was a bit of a marathon. Had a generator sitting out by the targets to run the lights and moving backer system. Mirage didn't disappear until around midnight. WH

 

[Todd Earhart]

Water vapor from dew is a issue.
Todd