I would like to get into thermal night hunting for coyotes. I’m not going to be on a budget and want the best I can buy. Planning on getting a helmet with monocular and a thermal scope for gun. And suppressor for gun. I know nothing on thermal.
If you have some suggestions and thoughts I’m all ears
I would suggest you make a budget, due to so many different makers out there.
I would also suggest you check out USA makers first before going to out of country makers, some do not have great support with problems on models
You should decide just how much range you need, as that is a big cost the more you wish, some come with the ability to plug and play take pictures as well a nice feature for your keep sake. Others on the high dollar line come with yardage help and hold over.
Others have the ability to switch from thermal to daylight and not have to switch scopes, nice feature and not lose hold on
Pulsar is one company that I'm watching they have a good selection and price ranges for several good models, though still high for the most part, I think them better than ATN who is getting a pretty big record of not supporting their work, I don't wish to worry about having a 4 or 8 grand scope failing and not being able to have it fixed in a short matter of time for that cost.
Lots of info on them, you really pay for what you want to have but now days they are much cheaper than 15 years ago and better made.
Ron, I have a bearing optics super hogster its a decent scope. I suppose it was3500. Resolution is like 340or maybe320 without looking it up. My next one will cost considerablymore.
Personally if the budget has the room I'd buy one with 640 resolution and a built in range finder. Halo makes a dandy .
You need to check out “The Late Night Vision Show” podcast. They discuss all things thermal and night vision. They just did a “Top 10 mistakes when buying a thermal”. One of them was not having a budget. The newest civilian model out is I think they said $18k. Another of the top 10 mistakes they mentioned was asking on a forum what was the best.
The Trijicon is what I was going to get about a year and half ago until I had some unexpected purchases, at that time it was going to cost about 10000 then not sure now what the cost is.
Everyone likes trijicon and they are good scopes, but if you want the best go with nvision. Right now, I am running an Iray rico and love it but it's only a 384 resolution. I've been in the thermal game long enough and looked through enough optics to tell you that nvision is the way to go if you don't have a budget. A friend has one and was ranging animals in the dark well past 1000 yards, not practical while night hunting but still neat. The Halo-XRF is going to run you around $9500 but is unmatched in the sport right now. Unless you want to spend $18,000 on a new 1280 resolution Iray lol. I'd look into a Team Wendy helmet, and most people run one eye thermal and the other night vision. I don't know too much about that though. There's a lot to consider about what you want out of a monocular, most come with a base magnification of 2x plus but if going on a helmet and used for walking into stands you'll want one with 1x so you can tell where you are going. Get ahold of a dealer and tell them what you are looking for, most guys I have talked to are really helpful.
Suppressor will take a year as stated, I waited 14 months for mine. I went through silencer central, and the process was simple. There are better cans out there though.
Its funny how the suppressor process goes. I ordered mine in Feb 2020, got it end of September. My buddy ordered one a month before sat the same place he got his a month after. Another friend ordered one from the same place a year later and it took 15 months.
I have a silencer Central banish 30. Silencer Central has a deal going Monday buy one get a free one that fits 22 rimfire. You have to pay the extra tax stamp fee. My banish 30 will fit anywhere from a 17 centerfire to a 30 cal..
I highly recommend silencer Central. No one else in the business has streamlined the buying process better. The owner of SC was in Black Rifle Coffee podcast not too long ago. Look it up it's interesting at least to me. I'd reconsider a helmet mounted mono and look hard at a hand held..
Put some money in to your spotter, that is what you will be looking through 99 percent of the time. Trijicon is nice, but heavy compared to the Nvision.
The Halo XRF is out of this world good IMHO, price tag is 9500, lower end Halo's will run somewhere in the 6500 range. Won't have a built in range finder but still 640 resolution. Trijicon's will run in the same price range. I can't say it enough Jacks, IMHO you want one with 640 resolution although I was unaware they make them with 1280 until now. IMHO a guy will want one with a minimum of 3x optical magnification. Mine is a 2.9 optical to 11 digital. Forget about the higher number digital zoom sucks. If you want you can take a look through mine, I could come home through your area one weekend. One thing to keep in mind is battery life on many of these suck and you'll want an external pack. Mine uses 123 batteries and they last less than an hour when it's cold. Trijicons use the same batteries. I had an ATN with an internal battery, that thing would go six hours plus. The halo advertises 6 hours at room temp so most likely an hour or two, they use an 18650 rechargable.
What type of rifle you expecting to install the suppressor on? Bolt gun? AR type? If it's a bolt type is you barrel threaded and if not do you have someplace in mind who can offer that service? If your going to install it on an AR type rifle keep in mind that is going to effect back pressure. Less if you are using a pass through type like a Thunderbeast more if using a baffling type like a SC. The increase in pressure could effect the reliability of the gun on an AR.
49'r What can you tell me about the Banish 30. Was just looking at buying one yesterday. Not sure about a multi caliber can though. Thanks for any info!!
Yeah not enough info to make a recommendation because we can go from homebuilt to every bit of $15k just for the rifle setup. What caliber, what type of rifle action, suppressor function wants, you want a clip on, perma mount, weatherproof or not.
Thanks for the info, Below is some answers to questions from Steve, and a few others
Steve, I can’t say very well why the helmet mount other than a guy I met recommend it, and it seemed to make sense that you didn’t have to hold the moncolaur and when your walking out in field it bound to be better, just seemed to make sense.
Why do you recommend hand held?
Gun I’m thinking of an ar 10 in 6.5 creedmore
Like I said I don’t have a budget limiting me, but expect to pay 20-30 k all in.. maybe more.
On of my downfalls is I don’t have a lot of time to research this info, so it’s usually buy the more expensive and hope I made the correct choice.
Jacks I’ve shot a good plenty at night the old fashion way, the new thermals are incredible. For personal reasons not financial I’m holding off, but I have been out with others who have geared up. Impressive. At this time the prices are significant, but the product is remarkable and seems to get better year by year along with the methods and accessories. A lot of it outdates quickly. I do question your rifle choice. Others may differ in opinion but when I’ve been out with the guy with all the bells and whistles the goal was still to bring them in as close as possible, same as day shooting. Bold in darkness they do come on in if your set up right. I have been forever a .243 guy on coyotes and that won’t change but were I the more involved night hunter as we are talking about here I would arm up with something softer like a 223, 222, etc. Getting on or staying on for the follow up shots on more multiple situations would be far more important than trying stretching any great distance in the dark. Multiples are plenty common at night and remember all the videos of guys whacking them using thermals seem to be on very smooth flowing fields. Most fields, pastures I seem to get on have dips, irrigation ditches, humps, grassy fence lines, all sorts of things that make long shooting at night a crap shoot even with good thermals.
The reason why I was thinking that size of caliber is the gentleman I talked so said he use to do a .223 and find that to be too light on coyotes at times. I know a .243 would be better on fur than 6.5 but I feel the fur days are over and will never come back or make it less interesting for me to bother going through the effort to put it up. so if fur damage is not a concern the 6.5 would make it better for things like hogs if I want to go south later or larger gun if I remove the thermal and use it as deer gun, or out west gun which I know a .243 is capable also.
The reason why I was thinking that size of caliber is the gentleman I talked so said he use to do a .223 and find that to be too light on coyotes at times. I know a .243 would be better on fur than 6.5 but I feel the fur days are over and will never come back or make it less interesting for me to bother going through the effort to put it up. so if fur damage is not a concern the 6.5 would make it better for things like hogs if I want to go south later or larger gun if I remove the thermal and use it as deer gun, or out west gun which I know a .243 is capable also.
I certainly understand that Jacks. The guy who I’ve been out with is a rep for one of the above mentioned manufacturers and I won’t get into the minutia as they all have their shpeel. Real important to him was as little recoil as possible as I mentioned above specifically for night multiples. Even a Creed or .243 with a brake would actually fit that bill as well. However you go, keep us updated on your successes, always willing to learn. Osky
I highly recommend a scanner with built in laser rangefinder. I’m not sure who all makes them but the ones I’ve used were binocular style. Knowing range is the most difficult part of thermal hunting for me. It’s nice to stay on the scanner and keep rangefinder going until animal is in comfortable kill range then switch to the rifle.
I’ve got the Banish 30 suppressor and have no complaints, bought it originally for a 308 but now it stays permanently on my 22-250. I don’t think it is quite as effective suppressing the 22 calibers as would one built specifically for them.
I’ve got the Banish 30 suppressor and have no complaints, bought it originally for a 308 but now it stays permanently on my 22-250. I don’t think it is quite as effective suppressing the 22 calibers as would one built specifically for them.
49'r What can you tell me about the Banish 30. Was just looking at buying one yesterday. Not sure about a multi caliber can though. Thanks for any info!!
Gman, I like mine. It shoots well on my 223s up to 7mm. My next one will be a Banish .223 it will do .224 on down to rimfir. SC has gotten the buying experience down pat, can do it all from home. They also have the trust process down to a science. You will want to put it in a trust so your kids or a buddy can use it. Also if you die and it's not in a trust all your heirs have is a headache.
Ron, I shouldn't say I recommend handheld there really isn't a difference I suppose. Take it off the helmet now it's a handheld lol. Ron 1280 is the resolution kind of a long the lines as a digital camera. Remember all these things are is a fancy computer. Typically they come in 320 and 640. Mine is 320, next one will be 640. IMHO a good scope is definitely more important than a great scanner. You aren't shooting them with the scanner. If your budget is that high just get a Halo xrf. You won't be disapointed. I don't know of any local dealers. I believe there is one in Watertown SD and Bismarck. One in Lecenter MN.
Id suggest something other than the AR 10 in the 7.5. AR 10s are heavy. I can almost see what you are possibly envisioning. 6.5 22 inch plus heavy barrel. Put a 9 inch can on that and it will weigh a ton. I would recommend starting out with a .223, build it yourself or find someone that can do it and use quality parts. Say an 18 inch inch medium light barrel. A guy can build a heck of a nice gun for 1500. If it don't work out you have a heck of a home defense rifle or an adequate deer gun for grand kids. If you have your mind set on an AR 10Bthen do both
Osky my preference is any type of 6mm as well, I've been shooting a 700 .243 forever, not overly fur friendly but with marginal hits the critter is deep do so.
I have been running my thermal on a 223, if I ever get time to finish load development I'm going to put it on a 20 practical I built this summer. My thought process is the vast majority are shot under 150 yes. I'm already second guessing myself though on that caliber though, we will see. If nothing else it will make a great pd gun. I'd I don't like it then I'm either going to build a 223 akley improved or maybe a 243 wssm, I'd sure like to stay in the ar 15 platform.
Here is my night rifle
20 practical, 22 inch medium fluted Shilen barrel chambered by DTech in Bemidji, Superhogster thermal, Banish 30 can. I'm going to shorten the can to 7 inch.
NVision is the best in 640 resolution. Trijicon hasn't kept up with NVision. If budget is truly not an issue, IRAY has a 1280 scope out. There is nothing on the civilian market that can compare.
I have the Banish 30 and have no complaints. Silencer Central is really good to work with and they make it really easy, waiting is the hardest part.
As far as scanners, I didn't spend a whole lot of money one mine. I have the Pulsar Axion XQ32 and it's ok, but there are better for the price point. I don't care about quality or a rangefinder so much in the scanner, I just need to know something is there. I can ID a target out to 200 yards fairly well, but I rely on my scope for quality and range. As mentioned, I would recommend getting the best quality scope with a rangefinder built in rather than worrying about it on a scanner. Scanners just let you know something is there.
