Tip on sighting in thermal sight

I gotcha Gman. I've used tin foil once and angled it up to the sky and it worked ok. I have half a sheet of silver sided foam board at my FIL's shop I'll try.
 
Iowayotehunter: I bought the pig and the coyote targets They work as advertised but was a little disappointed in the actual size. I was told they were life size but the ones I got were not to scale. I wanted them to help with determining range. The pig is actually about the size of a small coyote and the coyote is about the size of a fox. Your idea about using the repair patches for zeroing is right on.
 
I can't speak for the size of the hog, but the coyote is 15.5 inches high at the shoulder and 39 inches nose to tail. While I would agree, it doesn't look like a big coyote, it is way bigger than any red fox we have around here. It worked great for me for determining range with the thermal.
 
A friend of mine and I fool with bullet casting. He brought some diving weights over to smelt down for bullet casting some time back but we have so much lead between us I saved the weights.

All this steel plate talk got me thinking so I broke out a scuba dive weight and heated it up in our convection oven we use for polymer coat baking on our cast bullets.

In short order the diving weight was uncomfortable to the touch. I screwed it onto a plywood sheet with a cardboard liner between them and set it at 100 yds. Shows up great. Takes hits great. I like a softer metal to eliminate splash back with a rifle.

Don’t get me wrong, I have shot my share of steel but I have also gotten kick backs.

I found the lead weight to remain detectable even after the apparent heat was gone. I don’t understand it but why look a gift horse in the mouth? I can see a hand held propane torch being useful especially after the fire danger has subsided around here.

I figure a mold is in order to cast my own lead targets will be in the works. The lead does not self heal like my electric friction tape does but it really absorbed energy from the bullet and it’s passing .... glows like it’s on fire.

Best regards

Three 44s
 
Originally Posted By: GreyhunterTinfoil works but I've had better success with using a torch to heat up 3/8" steel plates. The thicker plates hold heat for quite a while and with a little paint they are just like new again. I was using white paint but my plates face the sun so I painted them black to see if they will soak up enough heat from the sun to glow without the torch, but I haven't had time to try it yet.

Finally got a chance to try out the black painted steel today, it didn't work. My backstop is faced with weathered grey 2x12's and I could not distinguish the 12" black steel from the backstop at 200 yards. The white steel hanging next to it was visible (barely). The black steel was significantly hotter than the white steel to the touch, so maybe if you had a grass background or used something white or reflective behind it then it might work ok?
 
Originally Posted By: Greyhunter[The black steel was significantly hotter than the white steel to the touch, so maybe if you had a grass background or used something white or reflective behind it then it might work ok?

You just need the steel and the backdrop to have contrasting thermal signatures. As I stated before the white styrofoam I tried did not absorb any heat and I could see a steel plate in front on summer day without heating. The silver side of the same material was heating up and I could not see the plates against that backdrop.

In your case it sounds like the backdrop is about the same relative temperature as your steel plates when viewing in your thermal unit so I would try dipping the steel plates in ice water. I have done it before and it works. Just figure out what will give you TEMPERATURE CONTRAST.

 
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I believe you are correct Gman. The grey backstop is too close to the temp of the black plate, which is why I could see (sort of) the white plate but not the black one. I think I'll try draping an old white sheet or towel over the backstop before I give up on the black paint idea. Heating the plates with a torch works fine but it's just one more thing to mess with on the range.
 
A lot of great ideas on this post. Many sound like a lot of extra effort. All I've ever had to use was tin foil folded to about a 1 1/2 piece. Pretty simple and trouble free. It always works cold or hot day or night. Sometimes you get a better image with black hot or switch back and forth to find the right combo with each different situation.
Done it 100's of times. Check my zero often as I change between day and night optics often on two of my guns.

It may also make a difference with the quality of thermal you have? Mine are all trijicon.
 

Well, last night I tried aluminum-backed tape. It worked just fine in either white hot or black. The only issue I noticed was the crosshair color will have to be changed, and that's no big deal. On white hot I have a black reticle and on black hot a white reticle. The aluminum gives the same color as the crosshair so I will change it for sighting, then change back for hunting. The tape is quick and easy.

As indicated in this thread, there's many ways to go about it. It's good to hear what everyone is doing.
 
Never tried aluminum backed tape. Sounds like it works great, I do pack a staple gun to attach the foil to the target. The tape would be easier to attach if you already have the paper or cardboard

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Mine is a Gen 2 Thor 100 mm objective. I will have to try that tin foil and foil tape and see if has the mustard!

Anyone hangin’ back, I encourage you to chime in on what works with your setup!

Thanks to all who have and best regards

Three 44s
 
Disregard the bullet holes and the markings, but this seems to work the best day or night with thermal. I make crosses with the centers cut out using foil thermal tape with the adhesive back. This allows you 3 different ways to line up your shot. You have the horizontal and vertical lines plus you can see the difference in the middle of the target where there is no foil. This seems to work well for me. The strips are a little less than 1" in width. Doesn't look pretty but it works. I didn't bring anything to cut the 2" tape into strips at the range, so just ripped everything by hand and why it looks so horrible.
pulsar.jpg
 
Kirsch,

Now you’ve got my noggin’ working!

For regular optics I build my own targets with Excel and a printer. There I use four black squares with white space in the form of a cross between them. This allows me to use a target four four individual groups if I chose to.

I can do the same thing with aluminum foil except for having to cut out the squares and glue them into my desired spacing.

Thank you and best regards.

Three 44s
 
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Originally Posted By: KirschDisregard the bullet holes and the markings, but this seems to work the best day or night with thermal. I make crosses with the centers cut out using foil thermal tape with the adhesive back. This allows you 3 different ways to line up your shot. You have the horizontal and vertical lines plus you can see the difference in the middle of the target where there is no foil. This seems to work well for me. The strips are a little less than 1" in width. Doesn't look pretty but it works. I didn't bring anything to cut the 2" tape into strips at the range, so just ripped everything by hand and why it looks so horrible.
pulsar.jpg



If it was any fancier it may be too much for all us red necks. All of us just really care about getting-ur-done

That looks good to me
 
My newest thermal target idea.. I was using soda cans filled with hot or cold water at 185 yds.. but have an abundance of eggs so figured if I can hit an egg at 130yds I should be good to go.. If it's hot out, get an egg from the fridge.. if it's cold, get one from under a chicken's butt. Wife keeps me stocked in empty wine boxes, so back it up with that so I can see which direction to tweak it.. hit then tee.. then whoops, start over..


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Originally Posted By: 6mm06

,I have been using can lids cut from bean cans and such that my wife gets at the grocery store. I attach the lids to a cardboard backing via a nail at the top.
Then I use a small hand-held butane lighter that I purchased from WallyWorld, and heat the can lid for maybe 2 seconds. It doesn't take much and the lid will
glow like a neon sign. It cools down quickly but stays hot long enough for a couple of shots at closer ranges. I always walk to the target after a couple of shots
anyway to check POI, so I give it another short burst of butane.

This can lid target works for me, but then also I have only mounted the Pulsar Apex XQ30 on my Ruger 10/22 so far, and shots have only been 35 yards, so I
didn't have far to walk. Still, I think using this at 100 yards will work but may have to heat it a couple of seconds more to make it last since the lids cool
down quickly. It's cheap to do and bullet impact is easily seen. When the lid cools just a little, I can see the glow when a bullet hits just for two seconds or so.

These particular can lids are 2 5/8" diameter. The top target was for sighting and then a few shots for grouping. The second target is at 35 yards from the 10/22 and CCI Mini Mags.

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I have also tried placing the can lids in the freezer to cool them, but that doesn't work as well for me. They don't remain cool very long
and in short order I can no longer see the target. I much prefer the heating method.





Dang Ought Six, You have some BIG RATS!!
 
I tried the tin foil Sunday but my back stop is situated where I was shooting at the wrong time of day and could not see it at 100 yds.

I brought out a scuba lead weight and heated it in the toaster oven for 30 minutes. Then for longer shooting times I resorted to the mentioned propane torch trick to reheat the lead target every couple of shots. When you hit the lead weight it absorbs some of the impact energy from the strike and glows longer.

It is getting pretty battered up now so I am thinking about making a diy purpose built mold and recast the lead into a custom shape and thus recycle it.

My bullet casting partner brought a 3400# lead weight off a junked out forklift . We could shoot at that for a long time but it would not foster much accurate shooting ..... it’s always something!

Three 44s
 
I shoot "a lot" at least once a week at a max 100 yard range using HVAC reflective tape and for the first time ever I set a target at 200 yards in a vacant lot and was tickeled how well the target showed with a Trijicon MK2 35mm. I believe angle and intensity of sunlight and the right background are very important.
 
Three 44s: Sorry it didn't work for you. I know the HVAC Foil tape can work well. Not sure if tinfoil works as well as I haven't tried that personally. Also, if you can leave the box or target in the sun a little, it helps.

200 yards can be hard to see sometimes if there isn't a drastic temp change, so you may need bigger X's if going past 100. Also, the thermal has to be adjusted for brightness and contrast in daytime vs nighttime, etc. Overall, HVAC foil tapes works quite well for me, but realize there are lots of other ways. I've had a few instances where it didn't show up as well, and I was able to either turn the box different, or adjust the scope. Also, trying white hot vs black hot or whatever setting might help as well. Use whatever works well for you.
 
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