I hunt pidgeons, starlings and English sparrows at night, in-doors in large lighted dairy barns that measure approximately 300 yards by 60 yards and are kept lit at night to increase milk production. The roof is domed and about 50-60' high at the apex.

Shots range from close (15 yards) to as far as you can possibly shoot with any airgun, but the limiting factor is often low light clarity and "wash out" from the lights that light the barn.

I've hunted with may different scopes, but mostly mid to moderate priced models (like the Legend) for 10-18 ft/lb guns like an HW50, TX or slower shooting Air Arms S410 guns. High powered guns aren't appropriate as they are way too likely to pierce the barn walls and roof.

My question: Can you recommend scopes that will do well in low light and tend to "wash out" less when shooting near lights? Has anyone else had this experience?

If so, what scope do you recommend? This isn't a simple matter of buying a huge objective lens scope to gathers tons of light. Those bigg objectives wash out too.



Thanks
Brad

look into a polarized filter for a camera. Usually, they'll screw right in, do what you want done AND protect the lens as well.

Check out your local camera shop or get to google.com

My buddy shoots his barn gun using a cheap 4X32 Centerpoint scope with no AO. He has no problems seeing pigeons and starlings in low light. It sounds like you have better lighting conditions than we're used to shooting in. I used a cheap 4x32 Leapers Golden Image for a couple years and it worked OK but sometimes glare was noticeable. Wade and I both noticed illuminated reticles are not desireable in low light conditions. I had a 3-9 Bug Buster and when looking through it at night, the glow of the reticle would drown out all the surrounding picture and you couldn't see your target very well. We just turned it off when shooting at night and used spotlights. I tried a 2X red dot sight with a 3 MOA dot. Even on low intensity, the dot was overpowering.

Hope this helps.
Doug

I use a 6-25 side focus and a center point 8-32 side focus both are 50 mm objectives but for night shooting I add a double length sun shade it works fantastic to figure out how long I needed to stop the wash put I used black construction paper rolled up around the objective then
slide it back and forth till all washout was gone try it you will be surprised how effective it is