Sighting in a thermal scope

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Sighting in a thermal scope

Post by Blr243 » 23 Jan 2019, 3:38 pm

its A pulsar xp 50. What’s the best heat source to position in the centre of a target. I have heard a cigarette is ok. If I jam a win field in a hole started with a screwdriver in the centre of a target I am hoping it will stay lit. Somebody told me that cigarette s these days tend to not stay lit unless they are being smoked . I’m a non smoker so I have no idea.
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Re: Sighting in a thermal scope

Post by Gaznazdiak » 23 Jan 2019, 3:59 pm

You need something that generates a lot of heat but no light, so a politician would be perfect. I'm pretty sure they are a protected species of vermin though 8-)
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Re: Sighting in a thermal scope

Post by Gaznazdiak » 23 Jan 2019, 4:03 pm

Seriously though, you need something that doesn't glow like a cigarette because you are looking for objects that only glow in infrared.
Perhaps a nut on a lngth of wire, heated with a butane torch?
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Re: Sighting in a thermal scope

Post by No1_49er » 23 Jan 2019, 5:52 pm

Did you read the manual? If I recall correctly, they describe two methods.
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Re: Sighting in a thermal scope

Post by hunting99 » 23 Jan 2019, 9:03 pm

I heat up the metal on a shot gun shell with a lighter. Them put it halfway through a cardboard box. And then fire away, it normally stays hot for long enough to get sighted in.
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Re: Sighting in a thermal scope

Post by brett1868 » 23 Jan 2019, 10:07 pm

Being a thermal it doesn't need any light and if they are sensitive enough to detect the heat from a wombat at 1k then you don't need much of a temp difference to zero at 100m. If you're using a paper target then you use foil tape and a 1" hole punch to create stick on foil dots, stick them on and give them a rub to warm them up then go for it. I run the XD50 on a 308 and this was the easiest method I found to get it zero'd. As for the methods in the manual they are more related to how to adjust the reticule either by measuring or enabling the single shot capture method.

First attempt to get a zero, got a rough zero using the hot shredded rubber in the backstop.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_TxzGcIhKk

Stalking the kitty in the pitch black...amazing how the foot prints are visible for up to a minute using thermal imaging.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9dZ9uOBWiNs
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Re: Sighting in a thermal scope

Post by Blr243 » 02 Feb 2019, 11:22 am

Sorry for late reply. Thank you for the info.
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Re: Sighting in a thermal scope

Post by tom604 » 02 Feb 2019, 9:29 pm

No1_49er wrote:Did you read the manual? If I recall correctly, they describe two methods.


cared enough to reply didn't care enough to help :thumbsdown:
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Re: Sighting in a thermal scope

Post by brinny » 13 Feb 2019, 8:06 pm

I usually use alfoil folded up about ten times into a small 2 or so inch square....on a warm enough day the foil generates enough heat for the thermal to pick it up.....I also use a small soft drink can of frozen water...thermals will pick cold up as much as they will heat....below is a video of me hitting a small can of frozen water at 130m....works well....

https://youtu.be/EqUo61ChsgQ
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Re: Sighting in a thermal scope

Post by No1_49er » 14 Feb 2019, 10:33 am

tom604 wrote:
No1_49er wrote:Did you read the manual? If I recall correctly, they describe two methods.


cared enough to reply didn't care enough to help :thumbsdown:

Maybe the suggestion to "Read the manual" was my help! Sometimes it's the never done, or last thing, that owners of new equipment actually do.

If OP doesn't have the manual, for whatever reason, he has chosen to use an internet forum to request help when he could have gone directly to the manufacturers web site and downloaded a pdf version.

I have an original for my own scope, and a pdf version. It's not that hard, really.
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Re: Sighting in a thermal scope

Post by Sergeant Hartman » 14 Feb 2019, 10:41 am

Lol I see this a lot, and even I have done it. We post up asking a simple question... wait for 6hrs or 2 days... when the answer is right in front of us if we actually bothered to search it.
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Re: Sighting in a thermal scope

Post by Die Judicii » 03 Mar 2019, 12:47 am

Really fellas,,,,,,,, I reckon the best answer to the question is walking around fairly close to whoever needs it.

Q,,,,,,, You need a source of thermal heat ?

Answer,,,,,,,, Get a feral cat or kitten, and simply wedge its head through a small hole in a sheet of thick cardboard.

Voila,,,,,,,,,,,,

:evil: :twisted: :thumbsup:
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Re: Sighting in a thermal scope

Post by Kel » 03 Mar 2019, 6:52 am

Nichrome wire and a battery will produce a heat source (Like a heater element). I haven't played with that since high school days but that is something that might suit your needs.
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Re: Sighting in a thermal scope

Post by Die Judicii » 22 Mar 2019, 11:53 am

Another good source of heat that would show an ideal signature (size wise) if you have a safe area (green grass) would be a lit mosquito coil.

But,,,,,,, if yer good enough to smack it dead on, you'd have to re light it maybe.
I do not fear death itself... Only its inopportune timing!
I've come to realize that,,,,, the two most loving, loyal, and trustworthy females in my entire life were both canines.
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Re: Sighting in a thermal scope

Post by Blr243 » 22 Mar 2019, 1:31 pm

Mozzie coil ...Good idea A lot of people might have the idea that when scanning with a thermal it’s going to be mostly black with a big glowing white boar in the middle of the screen. But I found out not so on a recent hunt in cent Qld. That block has a ton of sandstone rocks that were holding a stack of heat from being in the sun all day. S o when scanning in pitch black about an hour after dark all I could see was thousands of pig sized white rocks glowing white in every direction
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Re: Sighting in a thermal scope

Post by SCJ429 » 22 Mar 2019, 5:44 pm

How are you liking the scope, is it what you were hoping for?
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Re: Sighting in a thermal scope

Post by Blr243 » 22 Mar 2019, 7:42 pm

I think I need more field time with it before I can speak about it. The max identification range of 1800 m sounds impressive but I have seen plenty of white blobs at less than 500 metres which could not be identified as either animal or other. So many stumps and logs glow like animals Close up animal identification clarity and movement is impressive. This April I hope to get some time to seek red deer and dingoes in the bris valley ....wild dogs s west of Toowoomba. And then some pigs at moree a little later. Bloody business customers forever harassing the s**t out of me to do more work is interfering with the things I want to be doing ......so in a couple of months I will post some realistic real world results of my venture into the world of thermal hunting
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Re: Sighting in a thermal scope

Post by tom604 » 22 Mar 2019, 7:54 pm

Die Judicii wrote:Really fellas,,,,,,,, I reckon the best answer to the question is walking around fairly close to whoever needs it.

Q,,,,,,, You need a source of thermal heat ?

Answer,,,,,,,, Get a feral cat or kitten, and simply wedge its head through a small hole in a sheet of thick cardboard.

Voila,,,,,,,,,,,,

:evil: :twisted: :thumbsup:


a kitten is better, younger, hasn't done as much damage :twisted: :thumbsup:
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Re: Sighting in a thermal scope

Post by SCJ429 » 23 Mar 2019, 3:59 pm

I looked through one and at night you can make out the animal at 100 metres but the image quality was poor. During the day I could not see bullet holes at 100 metres. I was not sure if that was as good as it gets or did the scope need adjusting.
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Re: Sighting in a thermal scope

Post by Die Judicii » 30 Mar 2019, 6:12 pm

SCJ429 wrote:I looked through one and at night you can make out the animal at 100 metres but the image quality was poor. During the day I could not see bullet holes at 100 metres. I was not sure if that was as good as it gets or did the scope need adjusting.


Yep, I hav'nt long had mine, and found that the more you play with it, and adjust the fine tuning of it the better.
The manufacturers are smack on target about the distance of picking up animals etc,,,, but the distance of clarifying exactly WHAT your looking at is much less than the claimed "pick up thermal signal".
At maximum range, at least you know that there is either nothing or "something" out there.
Then it's a matter of getting close enough to positive ID

The background,,,, ie: trees, or rocks, etc that have a heat signature can be dealt with via the three different modes.
I do not fear death itself... Only its inopportune timing!
I've come to realize that,,,,, the two most loving, loyal, and trustworthy females in my entire life were both canines.
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Re: Sighting in a thermal scope

Post by flutch » 30 Mar 2019, 9:33 pm

Blr243 wrote:its A pulsar xp 50. What’s the best heat source to position in the centre of a target. I have heard a cigarette is ok. If I jam a win field in a hole started with a screwdriver in the centre of a target I am hoping it will stay lit. Somebody told me that cigarette s these days tend to not stay lit unless they are being smoked . I’m a non smoker so I have no idea.



use a soldering iron stays hot, no luminescence just thermal energy...
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Re: Sighting in a thermal scope

Post by Ferrisweil » 18 Dec 2019, 4:01 pm

Go to your local chemist and ask for some of those hand/sock warmers. (Cost $1 per pack and a bit smaller than a playing card) Once you take them out of the package, they start reacting with the air. Give it about 5mins and they give off plenty of heat. The sock warmers even come with an adhesive back. I’ve found if you stick them on a piece of ply, you’ll actually see the bullet hole through the scope as well, making it easy to see where the reticle has to go once you freeze the reticle. Very easy to do your one shot zero if you set it up properly to start with.
Alfoil also works but you’ve gotta put it at an angle. Doesn’t work well perpendicular to the ground...
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Re: Sighting in a thermal scope

Post by Blr243 » 18 Dec 2019, 4:10 pm

I have actually started useing handwarmers. I just bought a big bundle from Bunnings. I definitely fined them to be the easiest of anything else I have tried I even stuck some in my boots one cold night when I was staking out / sleeping in a pig paddock about two am when the cold wind was smashing me last winter
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Re: Sighting in a thermal scope

Post by Ferrisweil » 18 Dec 2019, 4:39 pm

Blr243 wrote:I have actually started useing handwarmers. I just bought a big bundle from Bunnings. I definitely fined them to be the easiest of anything else I have tried I even stuck some in my boots one cold night when I was staking out / sleeping in a pig paddock about two am when the cold wind was smashing me last winter


Which model thermal you using mate? I’m using the Trail XP50 LRF. Mate is using the new Thermion.. Bloody awesome bit of kit.
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Re: Sighting in a thermal scope

Post by Blr243 » 18 Dec 2019, 6:41 pm

Trail xp 50 but no LRF. I decided against the extra money for the in built range finder because I figured that the complexity of trying to hold the reticle on the pig and press a button in a hunting situation was goin to be too time consuming and tricky but now that I have done a handful of hunts and have realised that’s it’s quite hard to judge distance with a thermal scope .....I deal with the range uncertainty by three things........getting close as I can / shooting pigs are usually big enough not to miss the vitals/ and useing a flat shooting cal. I could run into trouble though if I don’t have a good rest shooting at a fox or a cat at roughly 150 m. That’s when the error possibilities and range uncertainty could add up to give me a miss ....so how does the range finder work on yours ? If you have the reticle steady on the chest of a broadside boar is the measurement automatically displayed on the screen or is it more complex ? And are you getting out bush over the break or is your trail scope going to be sad sitting in the safe ? ....I’m making a bit of an effort to try to get somewhere ( taking the air con and generator with me )
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Re: Sighting in a thermal scope

Post by Blr243 » 18 Dec 2019, 7:12 pm

So when your holding the little white rangefinder box on your target do u have to press down on a button at the right moment ? Because I remember from having to use a hand held range finder during the day , that sometimes the action of pressing the button sometimes causes wobble and accidentally moving th laser off the target.
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Re: Sighting in a thermal scope

Post by Ferrisweil » 18 Dec 2019, 7:29 pm

Hey mate. I was kinda the opposite. I didn’t want/need the range finder but the deal I got included it. Now I love it because as u said, you tend to lose a bit of perspective with thermal on distance.
My thermal gets a proper workout. I’ve been on it nearly every weekend for the last 6-7 weeks. I’m lucky that I’ve got a little honey hole full of monster pigs only 90mins from the city.
While the drought is nothing short of horrendous out west, I’ve got family and friends on property 50-100k acres. We sleep in the air con then spend the nights sitting on a dam, so the old thermal has been spending more time out of the safe than in. I use it a LOT!
As for the range finder, it’s better than i expected. Easy to use (1 push on front button and hold down to have active range finder which changes as you move the scope/reticle. You don’t have to keep pressing the button to re-range a target. I only found out recently you can also have your rangy in the PiP (small box - 2nd window) and then your reticle can be the main screen, so u can range and fire at the same time. It’s smack in accurate as well as I’ve tested it against a few other day time ones. Giddy-up....
You in Brissy?
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Re: Sighting in a thermal scope

Post by Blr243 » 19 Dec 2019, 2:40 pm

Yes Ferris , brissy is my home. I’m still a little unclear on the use of the LRF on your pulsar. I saw a vid of it on u tube. It seems there is a button to press to get from reticle to rangeing window, that’s fine , But once the rangeing window is on your target do you hit a button again to send the laser beam on its way ? And then the distance is displayed ? And are you choosing to range now and then , often or nearly all the time prior to taking the shot ? .. in the interests of getting video sometimes I find myself juggling the buttons a bit. But I think it’s great to take the time to get some vid first instead of just shooting Have you found yourself so close to pigs before the shot that you can hear them munching on tucker? That’s when I’m super certain there’s definitely no range estimation to worry about ....... tomorrow I just have to fit some doors so possibly my last day for the year. Then it’s time off and planning for a hunt. God knows where I’ll end up but whatever I do I must be super careful with my water planning so I don’t end up in trouble .....I have broken down before in the middle of no where midday in the peak of summer but as long as you keep a cool head u can always get back on track ......I’ve even got little booties for my dogs feet if the sand is too hot
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Re: Sighting in a thermal scope

Post by Ferrisweil » 19 Dec 2019, 4:38 pm

Message sent mate.
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Re: Sighting in a thermal scope

Post by Blr243 » 25 Dec 2019, 4:15 pm

Ferris. I’ll give u a call In about ten days when I get back from my hunt
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