Illuminating Reticle

TXCOONDOG

TXCOONDOG

Well-known member
I bought a new Savage in .223 today and I have a Nikon Monarch with the BDC and was thinking about mounting it on the .223. But of coarse, me being me, I was thinking about mounting something with a illuminating reticle so I can use it during the day and night hunting.

I thought about a red dot at night and the Monarch for day hunting, but I figured I could buy something and have the best of several worlds (Day, Night, short/long (400 yds max,day time)distance, great eye relief,etc.)


Any suggestions and/or thoughts ?
 
Uhmmmm yeah... but you may not like them! What's your budget??


Trijicon Accupoint


Excellent Optic Quality!
No batteries to buy ever!!
Several reticle styles and colors to choose from!!!

But they aren't cheap!!!!
 
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Rocky1,

How long will the tritium last ?

Chad,

I was wondering about that.

..............................................................

My son-in-law brought over his Halo sight last night, it went blurry on me, but was clear to my wife and 13 year old boy.

I have good eye sight (no glasses) and I have my eyes checked twice a year, but my eyes are sensitive to light.



 
Originally Posted By: TXCOONDOGRocky1,

How long will the tritium last ?

Chad,

I was wondering about that.

..............................................................

My son-in-law brought over his Halo sight last night, it went blurry on me, but was clear to my wife and 13 year old boy.

I have good eye sight (no glasses) and I have my eyes checked twice a year, but my eyes are sensitive to light.





It's a radioactive phosphorus dust, not sure what half life on Tritium is. They do have a lifetime warranty on the scope, and that is covered under that warranty as well.

Illuminated recticle on this one adjusts to light conditions. It uses a fiber optic light gathering coil to brighten the illuminated portion of the recticle during daylight hours, the tritium gives it a nice soft glow at night.
 
I've thought about the Trijicon myself...Its a good looking scope...I would like to try one at night before I bought one...Maybe one day I will run across somebody that has one that I can look thru at night with...

Chad
 
I had tritium sights on a NEW Galil rifle - the sights were brand new!

When the gun was new, they were very bright, even outside in twilight.
When the gun was 5 years old, they looked very low in a fully darkened basement. They would have NOT been useful in the field.
I sold it when it was 8 years old, and they were totally black in a fully darkened basement.

They may say it is guaranteed for life, but I don't think they are going to replace the tritium every three or 4 years forever
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Meow
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Originally Posted By: Chad WalkFrom what I've read about the Trijicon is that the amber doesnt show up as good at night...Red is supposed to be better...

Haven't seen the red, only the amber, it shows up plenty good to suit my taste at night. I don't want something glowing so bright it's going to obscure my vision, when shooting in low light conditions; it's that simple. The amber dot, is small, unobtrusive, and not overly bright. I can see the center of my crosshairs where the dot is fixed just fine, and it doesn't glow so bright so as to prevent me seeing anything else. If you want illuminated crosshairs you can read by, the Trijicon deinitely isn't what you're looking for.

One other thing that might come into play there Chad, and therefore it might be wise to try and find one of each color, to look through guys. It may be possible that your friend doesn't have normal color vision. I know mine isn't, and that could be why I see the amber fine. More about color blindness in men...

Originally Posted By: WikipediaAnomalous trichromacy is a common type of inherited color vision deficiency, occurring when one of the three cone pigments is altered in its spectral sensitivity. This results in an impairment, rather than loss, of trichromacy (normal three-dimensional color vision).

As for it fading after 5 years, I honestly don't know; I've had mine 2 years now, and there's no noticeable difference to date. Personally however, I'd think that it would stand up better in the enclosed environment of a scope, rather than exposed to the elements on rifle sights. Did you contact them about the problems you experienced?
 
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i would suggest a weaver classic extreme. they quit making them a few years ago but you can still find them new for about $500. i picked up a used one a couple years ago and have been very impressed with it. the dot works great day or night.
 
I have the Trijicon 5-20X50 with a green dot crosshair and I can attest to the fact they are really nice for hunting day or night. Truth be told I enjoyed using it so much I kept moving it from AR to AR this past season.
I spoke with the Tech from Trijicon before buying and he said the tritium should last for 15 years give or take. They are able to recharge it but they do make you pay some amount for that.
After using this one this past season I just ordered another 3-9X40 with the green dot as well.
 
When buying a illuminated scope at night make sure you can dim the light so you can barly see the lighted dot or crosshair.The trijicon and Leupolds scopes work fine.
 
Rocky you bring up a good point. What one man can see, maybe another man cant... Im almost blind in my right eye anyway and thats my shooting eye...I was shot with a BB gun in the right eye when I was 8 and its left me with a cataract thats inoperable...Its just like when I night hunt, if I'm not right behind the light, I cant see eyes...

That Leupold FireDot scope looks dam good also! I think I'll have to have one of these
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...

http://www.leupold.com/lightbox/features/fire-dot/

Chad
 
Interesting. I THINK that the tritium half-life on the night sight inserts is supposed to be 10-12 years. I have Trijicon on a 26 I bought used..still useable however I will not replace when they fade to black...basically a "belly" gun for me.

I have two(2) scopes w/illuminated reticles..a Mueller 8-25X and a Millet DMS 1-4X..Muellers on a .223 LTR and the Millett on a M4gery..not a fan but OK for their intended purposes neither of which is night hunting.

IF you go with a battery powered sight ALWAYS have extra fresh batteries..just sayin'.
 
I have a VX3 Leupy with the IR and the dimming works extremely well. In daylight you can't even see many of the lowest settings (which is what you want because at night the illumination is nice and subtle).

Txcoondog - LaRue makes a great QD mount (buy once cry once)
 
There are a few gun shows coming up so I’ll check out the Trijicon accupoint scopes.

After looking at several scopes the past few days:

No matter the quality, red dots/ill reticle look blurry to me and I can’t afford a night vision scope so I’m thinking the 50mm or 60mm objective lens will be a better choice for me at night.

I understand that a larger objective lens lets in more light.

However, I’ve never used anything larger than a 40mm (95% light transmission) at night and was thinking about going to a 50 mm or 60mm objective lens with 98% light transmission. It’s hard to tell anything in a store where there is plenty of light J

I like using a red 250 kill light with the 3 mode led (low, med, high) on low because I have better luck getting the critter closer.


Any other suggestions or comments ?
 
Didn't set one, but I want the best one possible for the dollar without over spending for it.

I hunt in a lot of timber, thick brush, pipeline, etc so a 3-9x will work 98% of the time.

I will keep it set at 3 so I get the most light at night and widest field of view as well.
 
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