Hunting at Night: Can Nightforce Scopes Help You Succeed?
As darkness blankets the earth, a symphony of mysterious sounds and sights comes alive, offering a unique, adrenaline-pumping adventure. This is exactly why so many people love to hunt at night. However, to be a successful nocturnal hunter, you need to equip yourself with the right optic. This post, prepared by our friends at this gun store, delves into the world of night hunting and explores whether Nightforce scopes are the perfect companion for your nocturnal pursuits. Enjoy reading!
Night Vision Scope vs. Night-Vision Compatible Scope
First off, we should get things clear about the terms ‘night vision devices’ and ‘night-vision compatible devices.’ Well, a night vision device is a specialized optical device that amplifies ambient light allowing users to see in low-light conditions or even complete darkness. These devices include night vision monoculars, goggles, and scopes and are built around the image intensifier tube that converts light particles into electrons, multiplies these electrons, and converts the amplified electrons back into a visible image. The result is a green-tinted image that allows users to see more clearly in the dark.
A night-vision compatible device (in our case, it’s a riflescope) is a standard riflescope with specific illumination settings that allow it to be used in conjunction with a separate NV device The thing is that using daytime brightness settings with night vision devices can cause over-saturation, leading to poor visibility and potentially damaging the night vision equipment. That’s why a reticle set to night vision mode is so dim that you can’t see it with the naked eye.
Are Nightforce Scopes Night Vision Scopes?
Nightforce might give off the impression of offering true night vision scopes due to their name, but none of them can enhance light on their own. However, some Nightforce models are night-vision compatible, meaning they have extremely low night-vision brightness settings to work with separate night-vision devices.
Such models include the Nightforce ATACR 1-8x24mm F1 and the Nightforce NXS 2.5-10×42 Compact. These scopes come equipped with two special NV-compatible illumination settings, indicated by the 1/4 and 1/2 moon icons.
To use these night-vision compatible settings, you’ll need to mount a night-vision device to the rear of the optic. Once set up, press and hold the illumination control for eight seconds, then release it to activate the NV settings.
Why Choose a Nightforce Scope?
First off, while night-vision riflescopes have their merits, standard riflescopes paired with a separate NV device offer a more versatile solution for hunters who want to hunt in both daytime and nighttime. While night-vision riflescopes are specifically designed for low-light or no-light situations, providing built-in night-vision capabilities without the need for an additional device, they tend to be quite expensive and cannot be used in daytime.
So, if you want a more versatile setup, here are a few reasons why you should consider a Nightforce scope. One of them is their consistency, achieved through the use of high-quality titanium springs. These springs develop no memory and maintain repeatability even when the setting is left unchanged for a long time. Besides, every spring is left in a polishing tumbler for two weeks to obtain the smoothest surface possible. This provides smooth adjustment in the field.
Nightforce also places a strong emphasis on precision, as demonstrated by the fine-pitch elevation adjustment screw with 110 threads per inch. This feature allows for remarkably accurate adjustments and eliminates the backlash (the backlash is wiggling that damages threads, leading to the scope not tracking correctly.)
The clarity and quality of the image provided by Nightforce scopes are also worth noting. They achieve this by using advanced multi-element lens assemblies resulting in outstanding image sharpness and light transmission. Moreover, the company employs a meticulous process of hand-matching and hand-aligning lenses (simply called optical indexing), which means great performance and minimal optical aberrations.
Finally, some Nightforce scopes, including the abovementioned ATACR and NXS Compact, come with an instant return-to-zero feature (Zero-Stop). This allows you to quickly revert to your original zero setting after making elevation or windage adjustments.
Final Words
Hunting at night presents its own unique set of challenges, but with the right equipment, you can turn those challenges into thrilling and successful adventures. Nightforce NV-compatible riflescopes, like the ATACK and NXS Compact, offer a versatile system that can cater to both your daytime and nighttime hunting needs, providing a seamless transition between varying light conditions.
Choosing a Nightforce scope not only equips you with a reliable and exceptional optic but also gives you access to their innovative features, meticulous craftsmanship, and compatibility with night vision devices. So, gear up and embrace the thrill of nocturnal hunting with Nightforce because it will help you conquer the night for sure!
