Hunting at Night. Spotlights, Night Vision Sight, and a Sytong PM-03 Thermal Sight.

I've hunted for many years, but seldom hunted after dark until about four years ago. I'm not an expert on night vision or thermal gear, and as a beginner I had to learn some things..... and some information wasn't easy to find. So I thought this video might be of interest to others like me.

If I had just one rifle and didn't need to shoot after dark often, then I probably wouldn't bother getting a night vision or thermal sight. A powerful LED flashlight (either white or red light) has enabled me to have hunting success using an optical telescopic sight on many occasions. However I found the relatively low prices on Sytong equipment very attractive and ended up purchasing some from Night Vision NZ. I am pleased to have this gear, and if I ever wanted something similar I would happily use the same vendor.

The two sights shown in this video were both made by Sytong. The night vision scope is an HT-60 and the thermal scope is a PM-03. Both are equipped with a laser sight which is useful when you have to deal with something up close, perhaps with a view partially obscured by scrub.

The Sytong PM-03 thermal sight is mounted on a Ruger American Predator .223. This is big rifle with a long barrel and a clunky action, but it is very accurate and reliable . It has a sturdy Picatinny rail mount, and the extra few inches of barrel help to propel my heavy 70 grain bullets a little faster than they might travel from a shorter barrel.

I have a Sytong HT-60 night vision scope mounted on a Ruger .22 which I use with subsonic ammunition. This rifle was sold new with a decent Picatinny rail on top.... which seems to be the only type of mount that our local Sytong equipment will directly attach to.

While I will take a shot at long range if necessary, I am not a fan of long-range hunting. I find too much can go wrong at a close distance, so I don't want to increase the risks by shooting further than I have to. My gear is not particularly suited to longer shots. I like to sight my rifles to have a 'point blank range'.... which is a continuous range of distances where, in theory, the bullet will hit within a small target area without having to think about winding a turret or holding the cross-hairs under or over the target.

I have zeroed my .223 at 100 metres. According to the Federal Ballistics online Calculator, this means (theoretically) that between 40 and 135 metres my bullet should never hit 2cm higher or lower than my aiming point. This may not hold true for all cartridges and for rifles with higher or lower scope mounts, but it gives an idea of what I try to achieve.

I zero my .22 rimfire (with the NV scope) for 50 metres when using subsonic ammo. In theory, this means that between about 12 metres and 58 metres the bullet should always hit within 2 cm of the crosshairs. When I have a good estimate of the range I am shooting at, I will sometimes risk a longer shot by holding the crosshairs over the target. But it is OK to not take a shot. I'd rather do that than make a mess of it. Plus I can look forward to maybe seeing the same thing next time.

I felt prompted to make this video after a short frustrating time of not being able to work out why I could not connect the Sytong Outdoor app on my phone to the actual device. After a lot of button pressing I found that the TV option in the menu had to be switched off before switching on WIFI in the menu. Simple, but not obvious to someone like me with very little experience of these devices.