Optics on Revolvers...

L Ross

Well-Known Member
In my state they go by the published 1/2 before dawn to 1/2 hour after sunset rules, for big game anyway.
My take is Wine Lover is saying he can actually see to use those times. I find 1/2 hour before sunrise to be too dark to use irons. It's one thing to shoot ducks out of the sky in the early dawn but quite another to place a shot on a grey brown deer in the woods both early and late even though entirely legal.
 

RBHarter

West Central AR
1 year I checked the sun rise/set chart , legal 1/2 hr before was pretty dark . It has a lot to do with latitude and one point of reference in a time zone also .
Nevada had 5 tables I think but the state is 400 road miles E/W and 500 N/S . California and Utah face the same 2 axis challenge while Kansas and Nebraska have the E/A thing in Spades I'm certain . Nevada/California have an interesting longitudinal relationship , Reno is west of San Diego and a large portion of the grossly referenced LA metro ......I want to say the N/S runs between Palmdale and Valencia , SD is about 60 east of Reno .

Anyway location vs legal hours . There's like 20 min across NV probably closer to 35 across Ks and Tx spans a whole time zone and is latitude challenged too .

Math geek , probably one of the higher schooled guys knows exactly but the rotation surface speed of the planet is right at 1100 mph at the Equator , and 1° is 66 miles . Of course with the advent of gps there's someone that does ground mapping to whatever 1/60th of a second is . Whatever .066 miles is in feet N/S anyway . 33-34ft ?
 

Winelover

North Central Arkansas
My take is Wine Lover is saying he can actually see to use those times. I find 1/2 hour before sunrise to be too dark to use irons. It's one thing to shoot ducks out of the sky in the early dawn but quite another to place a shot on a grey brown deer in the woods both early and late even though entirely legal.
When their within spitting distance, no problem. Since I'm a bowhunter at heart, up close and personal is the norm. Helps immensely, that I take my prescription glasses off for the first half hour and the last half. Any magnification cuts down the available light to your pupils. Therefore no magnification red dots are my preference for low light.

I first tried the Leupold 2x handgun scope on the Python during deer season. Worthless, during early and late legal shooting times. Couldn't make out the crosshairs.................that's where the lighted reticle comes into play. Promptly, replaced that with a red dot. Irons :rofl: Even a large aperture with a light pipe front on a carbine was worthless.............and I always had excellent vision till age caught up,in my later years. Still don't need glasses all the time. Watch TV without them. Cloudy days, I'll hunt without them. Outdoors, I wear them because their transitions and don't have to switch back and forth, as I would with sunglasses.

When I hunted in Michigan, poaching was common in my area, the deer were basically nocturnal. Was hard to harvest a deer of any kind. Michigan was generous with landowner doe permits for our area. With a doe permit anything was legal. I shot may a deer that were just silhouettes, mostly with a bow. Only hunted on the weekends. Working back then. Many a year, you might only get one opportunity to see/take a deer.
 

CWLONGSHOT

Well-Known Member
When their within spitting distance, no problem. Since I'm a bowhunter at heart, up close and personal is the norm. Helps immensely, that I take my prescription glasses off for the first half hour and the last half. Any magnification cuts down the available light to your pupils. Therefore no magnification red dots are my preference for low light.

I

tried the Leupold 2x handgun scope on the Python during deer season. Worthless, during early and late legal shooting times. Couldn't make out the crosshairs.................that's where the lighted reticle comes into play. Promptly, replaced that with a red dot. Irons :rofl: Even a large aperture with a light pipe front on a carbine was worthless.............and I always had excellent vision till age caught up,in my later years. Still don't need glasses all the time. Watch TV without them. Cloudy days, I'll hunt without them. Outdoors, I wear them because their transitions and don't have to switch back and forth, as I would with sunglasses.

When I hunted in Michigan, poaching was common in my area, the deer were basically nocturnal. Was hard to harvest a deer of any kind. Michigan was generous with landowner doe permits for our area. With a doe permit anything was legal. I shot may a deer that were just silhouettes, mostly with a bow. Only hunted on the weekends. Working back then. Many a year, you might only get one opportunity to see/take a deer.
Thisbis exactly my story last year.

That 2x Leupold left me with no shot at very first legal light!!

I swapped it THAT DAY and hit the range before I was back in the stand that evening. Aimpoint Red Dot was the answer.

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Pressman

Active Member
Three of several, the shiny 357 Ruger is the latest addition to the family. Below it is a 357-44 Bain & Davis that was used for product testing in years past. Bottom is a 41 Whitetail that I built after reading a filler article in a gun rag then lusting after one. It can reach impressive velocities for a 41 caliber revolver, equaling the 414 Dan Wesson cartridge. There are others not shown here.

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Rockydoc

Well-Known Member
If I want to hit anything with my handguns beyond 10 yards, it needs some kind of visual aid. My K38 Smith and my S&W Victory 22LR have red dots on them. My 629 loaded with Sig 44 Special ammo in the bedside table wears a Crimson Trace laser.

For my carry piece, a Springfield MDS 45 ACP, no sights are necessary. I use the Applegate and Janich method. I can do well enough at 10 to 12 feet or so with that.
 

Rockydoc

Well-Known Member
Bullseyes Don't Shoot Back: The Complete Textbook of Point Shooting for Close Quarters Combat

Just in case you are not familiar with Colonel Rex Applegate and his work on point shooting.

Available in paperback or Kindle from Amazon.
 
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dannyd

Active Member
Kid at the range told me to try his red dot, some of best advise anyone ever gave me. Took the scope off installed it and liked it. So I went from have none to having four and working on number five. Makes the greatest difference at 25 and 50 yards. The biggest problem is turning the thing off, but the kid gets a good laugh at that.

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CWLONGSHOT

Well-Known Member
"Shake awake" is now found on much lower cost dots. Very handy plus down right astounding hours of service on many dots!! Just change the battery once a year and you will never have battery issues.

CW
 

Rick H

Well-Known Member
The Holosun red dot that I have on my AR had an advertised battery life of 50,000 hours if left on constantly. That is a bit over 5 years. It really isn't a big thing if I forget to turn it off. I can't vouch for that long of battery life but have had the thing with the original batteries for 4 or 5 years and it is still going strong. I do try to turn it off when I put it away.
 
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CWLONGSHOT

Well-Known Member
Just remember most of the time quotes are for the dot on the lowers or lower settings. If ya have on "high brite" is shortest time. (Still Impressive)

CW
 

CtnLA

New Member
I hunted small grey squirrels for 25 years almost exclusively with the 2x Leupold on a 5” High Standard 22LR…. Shots were often past the distance where a 1” dot would have been feasible to pin point a hiding brushytail, and a 2” would have been useless.
In that application the 2x Leupold was exceptional…. The magnification felt more like 1.5x and it’s light weight made for minimal balance issues…. After lots of trials the Leupold dominated every other option.
The light weight, compact size, and large field of view due to minimal magnification simply suited me better than competing options.

On a different note, the Leupold line was also the only scopes I never busted on larger pistols.
Although I was fond of Burris, still am, I broke 2 and had to use my warranty…. That and the extra weight has always made the 2x Leupold my scope of choice when putting “magnifying optics” on field pistols.
 

L Ross

Well-Known Member
Somehow....a lot of handgun ammo was sent down range at this past cast bullet shoot that started on Wednesday and finally ended after 2 on Sunday. To my surprise and delight I was hitting the gongs at 25 and 50 yards with a FA and a Super BH with regular old sights. It's the trough and blade sights on the old timers that are really tough. A late afternoon plinking session with a fine old New Service was a frustrating experience for a couple of us. The refrain was, "I can't find the tip of the front sight." But I will say this. If you stuck it out in front of you and held about at the targets belt buckle the target would have a very bad, very short day.

Anyway, one of the last guys to leave on Sunday and the last gun we shot, was a Contender in .357 Herrett, from a rest at buffalo silhouettes at 210 yards with a 4X Leupold scope. I don't think we missed any!

During the frenzy of the event I had a buy sell trade table out and I now have a Contender again, it's been at least 25 years since I sold the last one when I quit handgun silhouette. I don't have it in hand yet but because it will strictly be a range toy I will scope it.