NIGHT VISION RIFLE SCOPE MODEL LUNA LN PRS40 / GOOD OR BAD YOU DECIDE This is a typical NV rifle scope of 1 st Generation, this model is sufficient to shoot accurately to 60m with its normal setting with its own built in IR illuminator. It has WEAVER style mounts, 2 infra red settings, an image crosshair that you can set from dim to very bright on subjects; it takes ONE fat small 123 Battery. At the back you have a FOCUSSING feature and a focus ring for the eye piece. What I do is I before I start calling is I set the crosshair and focus to see clearly out to 60m, then I am happy. BUT as I say before I am not a fan of these scopes, I prefer normal telescopes and shoot with dimmed red lights after watching the predator come in with my normal night vision. BUT everybody to his own, if this is what you want then go for it. Price today (March 2010) is R15, 995-00.without a laser (this model needs a laser!!!!!!!!) You can t see far enough without one!!
The turn ring at right is the crosshair that you can make bright or dim down. You sight this scope in like a normal rifle scope; above it you can see the rifle scope settings. You can sight it in during the day just do not remove the front lens cap while it is on or your can kiss your R23, 000 piece of equipment good bye! The stumpy small battery is inserted above in the BATTERY marking - generally it is simple to operate after it is set for your eyes. The unit is strong and well made. The one drawback is weight, the unit is pretty heavy and bulky, and so caution must be taken to not bump it to much. In the photo you can see above the unit the two settings screws to zero in the scope, and it has a protective lens cover on the front to protect the Electronic Intensifier Tube against daylight exposure. DO NOT SWITCH ON NIGHT VISION DURING THE DAY. You will damage the unit and that will cost you thousands of Rands!
This is a good indicator as to the real size of the night vision scope.
COMPLAINTS This is what really makes my blood pressure go even higher than it is, you buy a scope of R23, 000 with that laser and the company that sells these scopes DOES NOT include a spanner to tighten the scope rings. Generally all the scopes I have seen have real crap mounts, this is one! The more you turn the turn ring closed or tighter the more a small pin comes out the middle, so you CANT use a screwdriver to tighten the ring, AND ALSO who the %$#@ makes a mount with a turn ring as a tightening aid, man it should be a 8 sided nut or A Key! I often wonder who thinks this crap up! They ask good money for this but can t include a decent spanner! Here I had to cut out a steel plate with a hollow in the middle to go over that irritation pin protruding in the middle, if this was my own scope, I would do away with this complete system and fit a proper plate on top with a mount with an A key. The general mounting system on these scopes is bad.
LASER The laser is the heart and sole of a night vision system, without it a system isn t worth much at all, using an infra red laser is the way to go. http://www.africanpredator.com/art_night_vision_latest.html http://www.africanpredator.com/art_b_reference.html http://www.africanpredator.com/art_nv_predator_nm.html As usual I am a firm believer in this item; with this laser you can now increase your shooting range to over 300m easily in pitch darkness with the laser. AGAIN to see it in action is amazing. To scan with a NV bino, see jackal, put it down, pick up a rifle and kill him out to 350m easily at night in pitch darkness is totally amazing, BUT I have never don t that, but yes have popped one at 200m in total darkness with this above mentioned laser. I never shoot too far at night in the event that I miss, I believe shooting too far at night is unethical.
TARGETS These two targets are fired at 60 and 90m, both are fired in total darkness with an extra infra red laser fitted, the groupings are pretty good, the crosshair is a standard + not a German crosshair as found on many night vision rifle scopes. We first BORE sighted the scope and it took just two shots to get on target. I believe that at night it is of NO USE to shoot groups all day with a warm barrel, this means zero at night, at night you shoot on a cold barrel, sometimes with a freezing cold barrel and one shot. So you must zero it in with a cold barrel also. This was zeroed in the day, we called at night, called in two jackal could not shoot either as we could not find them in the tiny tunnel vision small field of view scope and then shot these two targets late at night before we went home, shot with a cold barrel at 60 and 90m.
NOTICE - in these photos the lens cap is ON, you can safely sight it in during the day with the cap on, but those mounts are not good and need to be re thought at the factory when they make these scopes as now a buyer must have them changed as they are very bad I am really surprised that they make a R23, 000-00 rifle scope including a laser with such terrible mounts and screws. We used a mild recoil 223 Remington rifle here to sight it in, and after 5 shots the mounting screws needed tightening again and again, causing a zero check every 5 shots as the sight had moved. Here are the targets we made up, the groupings are great, and I can imagine this scope can really perform well with good mounts.
The first hole at top RIGHT was our first zero shot to find the target after bore sighting the scope, the second and third shot was a group fired at top left and then finally turned it down and shot the two shot group below in the black area. This scope has a lot of potential indeed to get great groupings, when you start to play with reloads this scope will be as accurate as many normal daytime scopes within a realistic range.
Here is Mr Jackal with the two shot group fired at 60m with a cold barrel 10-30 at night, the group was fired using the extra infra red laser with a sand bag rest. NO PROBLEM with this grouping, as I say it s no good shooting groups but we needed to test what it can do in pitch darkness anyway. Aiming point was a square shiny square we removed for the photo.
Mr Jackal with another group fired with a cold barrel at 90m, again using the infra red laser over sandbags, this is perfect, no problem here. But already after this group the rifle started shooting right, the mounts given with this scope are pathetic, but as I say with a good mounting rail this is a good accurate night vision rifle scope. It was very interesting to test this scope, it is well made and strong, so much so that you feel that if you dropped it nothing would happen to it except see it bounce, BUT we never tried that! I can only comment on what I personally witness here, and my personal feelings are below this, that is an honest opinion on this scope, as I don t want another night predator hunter to buy blind so to speak.
MY PERSONAL HONEST OPINION; When you get out and test an item this gives you a true reflection of what it can really do, and not what films can portray, this is in my opinion not nearly as good as a dimmed red light. Last night this system cost us two jackals that we never got to kill after we called them BECAUSE we could not see them in the small field of view, RANGE was no more than 50m. So, it is of critical importance that me as a professional to offer the possible buyer a true and honest opinion on this scope. You can make your decision to either buy or not. My main complaint about this scope is the mounting system, it is a really poor design, and after you buy the scope you will need to spend more at a gunsmith to fit a better mounting rail with A - Key bolts. Personally, after giving this scope a 5 hour test, is that firstly it is like tunnel vision, your field of view in very small, like looking down a pipe, so you call, watch a predator come in with your night vision binoculars and when he is close you put down the binos, pick up the rifle scope on your gun, now you must find him with that small field of view in the night vision scope is a problem, and when you do he is no longer in that place you saw him last, and by that time is far from that last position, to much time wasted. A rifle mounted dimmer red light in my opinion is better. When you buy the scope you will have to send it to a qualified gunsmith to have a proper mount put on, a taller or thicker base plate made to allow a better area between open bolt handle and the base and also to have a proper tightening system with A keys fitted, BECAUSE when we tested this crappy factory made system that the scopes comes with it was TOTALLY useless, the screws came lose after 5 shots, and after tightening again the gun was not zeroed again. So, mounts with a higher "ground clearance" with A keys needs to be fitted.
And the story of having to buy a scope of R23,000 with a laser and not getting a proper spanner is really crap, BUT maybe the manufacturers knew it would be changed so thats why they never supplied a spanner! However, seeing how it can group with good custom mounts and bolts with A Keys this scope is great for ranges out to 120m with a laser, it needs a laser this is the heart and sole of this scope, without the laser it is but a sheer toy. Price is as follows, the scope retails at R16,000 and the laser R7000-00, if you have that and want to shoot in the dark thats great, remember you will need a good NV binoculars also to scan with and that will also need a laser, all this matched up to learning how to fast get onto your target with a small field of view and you will be ok to kill at 120m or maybe a little more. For me, as a professional I will stick to scanning with NV binoculars and shooting on a dimmed red light, I can see better, faster, much more and its far cheaper! A VERY HONEST PERSONAL OPINION So want one? With a good mount and an IR laser it s a good buy considering the mentioned pointers above, call Richard at 082 312-0035