clamman
Member
For those of you who use red dots for hunting, do you leave them on all the time while afield, or leave them off until game appears?
Red dot scope/hunting question
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CoRoMo
Member
Once the critter shows himself, you usually don't have time to do anything other than shoulder your gun and fire.
Last year, I shot an elk heifer calf. It was the quickest shot I've ever taken. From the time I heard her and her momma beginning to run, then locating them, bringing my rifle up, finding her shoulder in my scope and firing... I'd say about a full second, maybe a second and a half. I was astonished at my own reaction time that morning. It blew my friggin' mind, and I'm still amazed.
Last year, I shot an elk heifer calf. It was the quickest shot I've ever taken. From the time I heard her and her momma beginning to run, then locating them, bringing my rifle up, finding her shoulder in my scope and firing... I'd say about a full second, maybe a second and a half. I was astonished at my own reaction time that morning. It blew my friggin' mind, and I'm still amazed.
Bullnettles
Member
I leave it on and only close the caps if it's raining.
Deanimator
Member
I don't hunt with one, but I've accidentally left them running on bullseye handguns for weeks. Put in a fresh battery at the start of the season and you should be able to use your scope with no problem. Always carry a spare. I do for matches.
clamman
Member
Looks like I'll be turning it on when I hit the woods and leaving it on.
Will be in the stand in a few hours. Thanks.
Will be in the stand in a few hours. Thanks.
FLAvalanche
Member
I leave my Eotech on. I always have an extra 4 pack of AA batteries for either the Eotech, the GPS or the digital camera.
<MoA
Member
Red Dots & Battery Life
Some of them (ATN, Burris & Leupold for example) turn themselves off. The Leupold has a motion sensing turn-on feature (wonderful!) as well as auto-off. The Bee's Knees, if you ask me!
As to batt life, a good lithium-ion batt should power that little red dot for many hundreds if not thousands of hours of use. I recently found a supplier of a recharger for the now very common CR123 batts used in many new flashlights, headlamps, laser designators and red-dot sights. just know that a rechargeable CR123 batt is generally only 750 - 850 mA hour capacity, only coming up to 3v, while a new non-rechargeable batt has about 950 to 100 mAh capacity and 3.2 V. But they also cost too much for me, and I have about 9 of the rechargeable units, with 3 or 6 in reserve always.
Now, for the "Run Bag", of course, I have another 6 of the non-rechargeable ones, but my recharger also adapts to a car plug, and therefore could potentially be hooked into a solar recharger should we experience TEOTWAWKI.
Finally, I have experimented with recharging the non-rechargeable batts, lithium only, given that my recharger is very VERY low amp. (NOTE: I'M NOT RESPONSIBLE IF YOU TRY THIS AT HOME. YOU'RE ON YOUR OWN!)
Nonetheless, I only leave them in for 10 minutes max, cthen I heck them for excessive warmth, and let them rest for about 20 min, then I turn the mini-charger on again. So far, I've been able to shove about 1.8 volts back in with no problems. At the top end of the charge cycle, the heat generated should be minimal, actually; very little milli-amperage going in. I'm just not sure of the chemistry in there.
Anyone else have any experience?
Meantime, enjoy those red dots! BTW, I'd like to see the look-through tube type red dots allowing for some of the nice crosshair type reticle options seen in those longer projection-type reflex flatscreen models. A 3 or 5 MoA dot does obscure a lot of the target @ 200 meters/yards!
Some of them (ATN, Burris & Leupold for example) turn themselves off. The Leupold has a motion sensing turn-on feature (wonderful!) as well as auto-off. The Bee's Knees, if you ask me!
As to batt life, a good lithium-ion batt should power that little red dot for many hundreds if not thousands of hours of use. I recently found a supplier of a recharger for the now very common CR123 batts used in many new flashlights, headlamps, laser designators and red-dot sights. just know that a rechargeable CR123 batt is generally only 750 - 850 mA hour capacity, only coming up to 3v, while a new non-rechargeable batt has about 950 to 100 mAh capacity and 3.2 V. But they also cost too much for me, and I have about 9 of the rechargeable units, with 3 or 6 in reserve always.
Now, for the "Run Bag", of course, I have another 6 of the non-rechargeable ones, but my recharger also adapts to a car plug, and therefore could potentially be hooked into a solar recharger should we experience TEOTWAWKI.
Finally, I have experimented with recharging the non-rechargeable batts, lithium only, given that my recharger is very VERY low amp. (NOTE: I'M NOT RESPONSIBLE IF YOU TRY THIS AT HOME. YOU'RE ON YOUR OWN!)
Nonetheless, I only leave them in for 10 minutes max, cthen I heck them for excessive warmth, and let them rest for about 20 min, then I turn the mini-charger on again. So far, I've been able to shove about 1.8 volts back in with no problems. At the top end of the charge cycle, the heat generated should be minimal, actually; very little milli-amperage going in. I'm just not sure of the chemistry in there.
Anyone else have any experience?
Meantime, enjoy those red dots! BTW, I'd like to see the look-through tube type red dots allowing for some of the nice crosshair type reticle options seen in those longer projection-type reflex flatscreen models. A 3 or 5 MoA dot does obscure a lot of the target @ 200 meters/yards!
Double Naught Spy
Sus Venator
I leave my Aimpoint on all the time except when storing in the safe.
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