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So broke down a while back and started budgeting for a thermal sight. Looked at several like the WTM but it was only rated to 5.56mm
Having "more than a few" of my preferred rifle in 7.62x39 I decided to look for something that could be used on the variety of platforms I had.
Went with a T320 Thermal sight. There are numerous variations, this one is the 50mm unit which is recommended for higher caliber weapons including .308's. This is the 3X 60 hertz 25 micron unit.
The unit comes with a very durable throw arm mount, hard carry case, manual, batteries, objective lens cover and rubber eye piece.
My first thought after mounting it was "OK I've zeroed a bunch of weapons and scopes, but how do you zero a thermal sight?" The thought of using a hand warmer popped into my mind but I first dismissed it as childish. Surely there is something more "advanced" out there. I asked my rep at the factory about using a hand warmer- "Sure, a lot of people use them." OK, so the idea wasn't that stupid... :)
Time has been in really short supply the last few months so I went out on one other occasion to get it zeroed, but did not have enough time before other obligations come up. Keep in mind I don't walk away from work every night at 5pm- we answer the phone well into the evening 364 days a year.
So having a solid couple hours on Christmas Eve, the boy and I went down to do some shooting at the home range. He worked on BRM at 100 and 200 yards and I worked on zeroing the T320.
After the first go around and a little RTFM and some adjustments at the home base, I was pretty sure it would be in the general ballpark. Upon first shooting it was very low and to the left. The manual got into "X and Y axis" talk and I remembered once again which classes other than Federal Tax accounting I had to take over again in college...
So today the grouping started out low and to the left, if anything lower than previous. Darnit, I'm guessing I made these adjustments backwards. Sure nuff... a little tinkering and we's moving on up Wheezie! Two subsequent small changes and voila!
Trying my best to juggle the rifle, keep it lined up with the target and take a pic with an Iphone, this will give you an idea of what 2 small handwarmers look like at 100 yards through the sight. The targets are attached to a 4x8 sheet of foamboard- hence the rectangular black look.
Can't wait to use this again, course you would definitely want to know the legalities of hunting with something like this as it would almost be too easy. Certainly it wouldn't be exactly "sporting" when using it against 2 legged varmints in the PAW either. When you consider those little handwarmers are about the size of the thermal signature of a person's EYES and you see how clear that heat signature is, well "sporting" doesn't even come to mind.
This unit has digital zoom and an output for video cables. I'll play with that part more as time permits and do a video showing it in action. I'm just happy as hell to find a quality thermal sight for under $10K. At just under $7K I consider it a bargain all things considered.
Having "more than a few" of my preferred rifle in 7.62x39 I decided to look for something that could be used on the variety of platforms I had.
Went with a T320 Thermal sight. There are numerous variations, this one is the 50mm unit which is recommended for higher caliber weapons including .308's. This is the 3X 60 hertz 25 micron unit.
The unit comes with a very durable throw arm mount, hard carry case, manual, batteries, objective lens cover and rubber eye piece.
My first thought after mounting it was "OK I've zeroed a bunch of weapons and scopes, but how do you zero a thermal sight?" The thought of using a hand warmer popped into my mind but I first dismissed it as childish. Surely there is something more "advanced" out there. I asked my rep at the factory about using a hand warmer- "Sure, a lot of people use them." OK, so the idea wasn't that stupid... :)
Time has been in really short supply the last few months so I went out on one other occasion to get it zeroed, but did not have enough time before other obligations come up. Keep in mind I don't walk away from work every night at 5pm- we answer the phone well into the evening 364 days a year.
So having a solid couple hours on Christmas Eve, the boy and I went down to do some shooting at the home range. He worked on BRM at 100 and 200 yards and I worked on zeroing the T320.
After the first go around and a little RTFM and some adjustments at the home base, I was pretty sure it would be in the general ballpark. Upon first shooting it was very low and to the left. The manual got into "X and Y axis" talk and I remembered once again which classes other than Federal Tax accounting I had to take over again in college...
So today the grouping started out low and to the left, if anything lower than previous. Darnit, I'm guessing I made these adjustments backwards. Sure nuff... a little tinkering and we's moving on up Wheezie! Two subsequent small changes and voila!
Trying my best to juggle the rifle, keep it lined up with the target and take a pic with an Iphone, this will give you an idea of what 2 small handwarmers look like at 100 yards through the sight. The targets are attached to a 4x8 sheet of foamboard- hence the rectangular black look.
Can't wait to use this again, course you would definitely want to know the legalities of hunting with something like this as it would almost be too easy. Certainly it wouldn't be exactly "sporting" when using it against 2 legged varmints in the PAW either. When you consider those little handwarmers are about the size of the thermal signature of a person's EYES and you see how clear that heat signature is, well "sporting" doesn't even come to mind.
This unit has digital zoom and an output for video cables. I'll play with that part more as time permits and do a video showing it in action. I'm just happy as hell to find a quality thermal sight for under $10K. At just under $7K I consider it a bargain all things considered.
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