Lamping question

[Polestar]

I'm currently waiting for my 'ticket' to come through for a .22 r***e for rabbits, and a .243, initially for foxes and ultimately for deer once I've done Part 1 of the deer course (necessary with the local constabulary). Both will be fitted with sound-moderators and as good scopes as I can afford (I daren't look at the really good ones ... I know what I'm like).
My question is what sort of lamp would be best for lamping - an independent unit, or a scope mounted lamp? As most of the land I shoot on is Downland with little or no vehicular access, weight is obviously important.
There seems to be a whole range of possibilities, from cheap hand held (million candlepower) 'flashlamps', to ultra-compact scope mounted jobbies with butt-mounted rechargeable battery packs.
The other query is about filters - how much difference do they make, and is orange the best / only colour to consider. Any advice greatfully received. Cheers all. David

 

[Ogri the trog]

Hi Polestar,
There are so many permutations of lamp on the market that choosing one without having tried "any" is going to be hard. I started out with air r1fles and initially used a 3D cell maglite taped to the stock, it worked well enough an accounted for its fair share of rabbits. Since then I've tried scope mounted lamps, head lamps and hand held rechargeables up to 10 million CP. The most use currently goes to a 1/2 million CP yellow hand torch which I use in conjunction with an extending walking pole for both lamp and 22lr support.
I hope sometime soon to get hold of one of the Cluson lamps (seperate battery and lamp) as they have the option of handheld or scope mounts with two power settings.
The magazines are full of adverts for all sorts of lamps, with the prices escallating for every concievable add-on.
I would suggest going out with someone else and see their set-up in use and decide on how well that conforms to your ideas. What it might boil down to is choices of endurance against output and whether you have to carry it around all night or use it from a vehicle.

ATB

Ogri the trog

 

[Doc]

I know little about this but I do know that they often used sealed lead acid batteries. These can be sourced rather more cheaply at maplins compared to the g*nshop type dealers.

 

[SMARTY]

Polestar, will you be alone when you go out shooting? I normally go with one other. That means one can shoot, one on the lamp, and then swap round. Its safer with two. This may drive your choice of lamp. I've seen some cheap 3000000 + candle power lamps in No Frills DIY, Mole Valley farmers and DIY stores. Start cheap, sell what you shoot and let the prey finance your sport / hobby.

 

[Lurch]

The method Smarty talks about is better as you can have a more powerful lamp due to not having the extra weigh on your r1fle. Additionally sweeping the land with a lamp on your scope is a bit dodgy for obvious reasons. Of course if you're on your jack then you don't have any choice...

 

[Klenchblaize]

I'm against any qualification, other than perhaps a safety test, to enable people to hunt with r----s, but that said I reckon there is more justification for gaining some serious experience of lamping than there is deer management. There simply can't be another type of shooting where POSITIVE identification of quarry is more critical. Knowing what colour the human eye reflects back is a good starting point?

Happy & Safe Hunts!

Cheers

 

[billycan]

I use a hand held one, they are much safer and more adaptable as they're not attached to the rifle and so can be used to light an area for paunching etc. Try Clusons try googling 'clulite' , they are one of the best and oldest manufacturers of lamping kit. My lamps are made up of bits from them and elsewhere. The main one is lamp from a driving lamp set that you might buy as a pair for your car from Halfords which i've turned into a handheld unit combined with several sizes of yuasa leisure batteries depending on how long i'm out, in a special rucksack.
The cheap million candle handheld torches are fine but don't hold their charge or last long at all.
Filters are only good if your shooting over somewhere lamped a lot and the rabbits are shy, red is the best if you do use one.

 

[Polestar]

Thanks for all of the advice. My previous lamping experience has been from vehicles with a varity of fixed and gimbled lamps, but as I say, the terrain precludes that. I will generally be out with by son, so a hand held lamp seems to be favourite, but I'm not sure about (him !!!) lugging great heavy 12v batteries about (or 6v come to that). I quite like the look of the 'lightforce' lamps although the 'cluson' ones are obviously well thought of. The rabbits havn't been 'troubled' much recently so shouldn't be too lamp shy, but the foxes are always wiley old things, so I might have to invest in a filter as well. Thanks again all, I'll let you know how I get on.
David

 

[Scally]

i used to use a 1/2 mill lamp for lamping but i found they became lamp shy quite quickly so i sprayed some glass colour spray KOTI i think from focus just spray and leave and build up the coats i used red at first works well

 

[Longstrider]

Hi Polestar, I do quite a bit of rabbitting for a local pest control company with my .22 Sako or the ubiquitous 10/22. Most of the work I do is in areas where I have to walk to and from my quarry. I use a Deben Tracer Max (see http://www.deben.com/lightsandlamping/tracergunlights/max.htm ) with the standard size battery in it's belt pouch or in a small bag over my shoulder. The lamp itself weighs next to nothing so does not upset the balance of the r****, and I do not find the battery too heavy to lug around. I usually carry a spare, smaller 12v battery that I have adapted the connections on to fit the lamp as a back-up too. I did find that rabbits were becoming lamp-shy so I use a red filter these days and that seems to work as well as anything I've seen. Using the red filter also means that the light does not totally screw up your own night vision too.
I noticed that the lamp was not capable of being focussed to a totally pure beam of light, shedding some light out to the sides where it illuminated my foreward hand on the stock etc. I cured this by adding a cylinder of plastic 1 litre pop bottle plastic lined with black electrical tape to the front of the lamp. This weighs nothing, and makes the beam far more compact (a little like shining a torch through a drainpipe)

Whatever lamp you decide on using, I'd reccommend making sure that you are able to carry a back-up battery or extra batteries, a spare lamp bulb and a spare fuse or two if the lamp uses them. If anything is ever going to fail it will, by vrtue of sods law, fail when you are furthest from your vehicle and least want to have to stop and go back for spares.

 

[rapidboy]

I use a gun mounted lamp and i hunt alone.
I have a PETZL head lamp for when im picking up / cleaning what i have shot or loading / unloading my gun.

I don't like really bright lamps for lamping, i find they spook everything and often it's other animals being disturbed that alert's the quarry.

A bright light switched on and off also wrecks your night vision.
I don't take long shots at night as i like to see exactly what im shooting at and what's behind it.

I heard a story a while ago about a guy who was out lamping fox's, he picked up a pair of eyes looking at him through a hedge and shot at the "fox".
Turned out he killed a dog ..... and badly injured the dog's owner on the other end of it's lead !
The man was out walking his dog along a public footpath and the shooter was pretty close (no more than 25 yards away) ,just shows that accidents happen very easily.

Shoot safely.
rb

 

[Polestar]

I use a Deben Tracer Max (see http://www.deben.com/lightsandlamping/tracergunlights/max.htm ) with the standard size battery in it's belt pouch or in a small bag over my shoulder.

Thanks for the heads-up on this - looks like a possible contender.

I did find that rabbits were becoming lamp-shy so I use a red filter these days and that seems to work as well as anything I've seen. Using the red filter also means that the light does not totally screw up your own night vision too.

Makes good sense to maintain vision.


I noticed that the lamp was not capable of being focussed to a totally pure beam of light, shedding some light out to the sides where it illuminated my foreward hand on the stock etc. I cured this by adding a cylinder of plastic 1 litre pop bottle plastic lined with black electrical tape to the front of the lamp. This weighs nothing, and makes the beam far more compact (a little like shining a torch through a drainpipe)

A great tip - thanks.

Whatever lamp you decide on using, I'd reccommend making sure that you are able to carry a back-up battery or extra batteries, a spare lamp bulb and a spare fuse or two if the lamp uses them. If anything is ever going to fail it will, by vrtue of sods law, fail when you are furthest from your vehicle and least want to have to stop and go back for spares.

Don't I know it?

I use a gun mounted lamp and i hunt alone.
I have a PETZL head lamp for when im picking up / cleaning what i have shot or loading / unloading my gun.

Seem to remember winning one of those in the members draw

A bright light switched on and off also wrecks your night vision.
I don't take long shots at night as i like to see exactly what im shooting at and what's behind it.

Couldn't agree more.

I heard a story a while ago about a guy who was out lamping fox's, he picked up a pair of eyes looking at him through a hedge and shot at the "fox".
Turned out he killed a dog ..... and badly injured the dog's owner on the other end of it's lead !
The man was out walking his dog along a public footpath and the shooter was pretty close (no more than 25 yards away) ,just shows that accidents happen very easily.

Heard the same story, and a similar one about a courting couple .. the latter probably apochryphal (sp?) ... but better safe than sorry.

Shoot safely.

As ever!!
rb

Thanks to you both, and to all of the others who have answered.
David

 

[Polestar]

Sorry, I seem to have got some of my responses in with the quotes I was responding to. Hope it all makes sense.

 

[Ex Member lyndon]

as mentioned before it really depends on solo or with a freind i would always use a freind on the lamp 100% of the time, best lamp ive found is a clue light with the gate light small ofset bulb to use when needed for gate opening crossing fences etc.
one thing im posative about is never get a 6 volt unit they just dont last the night
a dedicated battery pack with cigarete type conector is best a 15/12 or 17/12 yuasa battery type (i used to work for yuasa cheap replacements lol) these are the ones sold all over the uk in g*n shops
you may find a g*n mounted scope will shine of the moderator and blur your scope image considerably (ps. im a british army qualified gunsmith )
any further help gimme a bell

 

[wingstoo]

Hi Folks,

I took a look at this site and they have some V powerful lamps, up to 400 mtrs, though goodness knows why any one would need that one, pro's I guess....

http://www.opticswarehouse.co.uk/products.asp?cat=173

I like the 12volt jelly batteries as well, coming in a variety of sizes as well, I have more than a dozen from Small under 3 hr up to large 17+ hours, the big ones are like small car batteries. I got mine from an electrician who services alarm systems, they have to pay to get rid of them so I have them for free, attached to a car spot light with a switch they work just as well as some of the expensive models, and you can usually pick up some spot lights at a scrap car breakers for a couple of £.

LS

 

[Cormac]

can i ask is there a reason for the "***" in words particulary retaining to things that go bang

 

[British Red]

Cormac,

Its to avoid keywords that peoples work internet "surf patrol" software picks up on. Too many wrong words tends to result in many lunch breaks being a little more boring as works close access to the site. My work for example permits me to read BCUK but not British Blades. We aren't squeamish about em (a lot of us use em) just don't want to have access to the site restricted for any members

Red

 

[demographic]

I heard a story a while ago about a guy who was out lamping fox's, he picked up a pair of eyes looking at him through a hedge and shot at the "fox".
Turned out he killed a dog ..... and badly injured the dog's owner on the other end of it's lead !
The man was out walking his dog along a public footpath and the shooter was pretty close (no more than 25 yards away) ,just shows that accidents happen very easily.

He must have been fairly thick then cos as I remember from shining lamps on foxes ( I used to lamp rabbits years ago but never shot foxes cos I like em) their eyes show up a different colour than dogs.
Dogs (with brown eyes) show up kind of green.
If they have blue eyes (I once had a wall eyed dog with one blue and one brown) the eyes show up red.

As I remember Foxes show up yellowish in the lamp.

Oh and rabbits show up red also.

 

[ArkAngel]

Another thing to consider may be a variable control for the lamp.

I fortunately now have a shooting partner so we use a filtered clulite, but when i shot on my own a had a little deben atom light on my FAC Rapid with a switch and intensity control on the stock.

I always used to start at the lowest setting and raise the intensity slowly until i could see the reflection of the rabbits eyes (making sure they were rabbits, not the farm cats or small dogs!!!). This way my night vision wasn't wrecked, the rabbits that are really light shy weren't too startled and my hunting bag got heavier

 

[pothunter]

I'm with Rapidboy on this one.
Know your ground ensure you have good back stops and if you arnt sure dont pull the trigger.
Happy hunting