Night Scope Suitable for Older .22 Rifle

[centrarchid]

I have an older .22 rifle where I'd like to use it from bedroom window to shoot Red Fox. Without night scope using cheap flashlight in while standing in a backlit room made for poor aim. I need glasses too, but ignore that issue for now. My kids watched with me what the fox was doing over about 10 minutes. I got three shots off where fox kept coming back after rooster closest to the house. Rolled fox on the third. Are there newer night scopes adaptable to the older light rifles? The rifle is pushing 100 years old.

 

[tripletfeb]

Try this article, they review a lot
https://robarguns.com/night-vision-scopes

But I don't know if any would work on a almost 100 year old gun!

 

[wolf001]

Omg, this is not a pleasant situation. I think it's pretty scary when a fox wanders around a house like that.

 

[mrtoren]

Truthfully, even an experienced shooter would struggle to humanely kill a fox with a .22LR. An amateur, with bad vision, shooting at night? You'll be lucky to wound it, which is disservice to you and the animal.

Night vision scopes are extremely expensive and impractical for rimfire rifles. You'd spend 10-20x the value of the rifle on a night optic. If you are set on shooting it from a distance, get a more powerful centerfire rifle and some glasses or contacts. Handheld night vision monoculars are much cheaper than firearm optics and may help you at least initially locate the animal. If your intrinsic night sight is too poor to shoot it properly, I'd resort to trapping. Once its trapped, you can either relocate it or humanely dispatch it. I'd still recommend more than a .22LR, but it could be done with proper shot placement.

 

[mowin]

I've killed a dozen or more red fox with a .22LR. Head shots drop them in there tracks. The issue is with your rifle. Being so old I doubt it's drilled and taped for a scope mount, or groved to accept scope rings.

 

[cmom]

Omg, this is not a pleasant situation. I think it's pretty scary when a fox wanders around a house like that.

I have used live traps quite successfully. I bait them and then let the fox take the bait for a few days then set the trap. I don't trap unless it has killed any of my birds. I have electric wires around my coops and pens and when a predator has tested the hot wires they don't try again. It will hurt. Good luck...

 

[centrarchid]

Problem was resolved some time ago without further harm to foxes nor sacrificing free-rang keeping.

 

[Egghead_Jr]

Ask your local sports shop owners who the gun smiths are around your area and night sight options for a rim fire. Typically made for handguns and AR's. This is an inexpensive option to night scope and yes a gun smith should be able to mount a picatinny rail to the barrel to mount any scope to.

See what options you have for mounting night sights on the gun. Tritium has a half life of 12 years and actually glows all by itself. You can line up your sights at night with ease. If it's pitch black you'd still need a flashlight to see the target but if you're sitting in the dark your eyes will adjust to moonlight.

 

[Egghead_Jr]

You replied in the lazy time I was writing the above post.

What did you end up doing with your gun for night shooting?

 

[centrarchid]

Pens lines up in a row to create a fence. Then using orange construction netting I made so fox could only approach pens close enough to harass birds with back to where dogs run at it from. Fox typically approaches pens from road side of orange fencing. Orange fencing provides an additional foot of space between where fox can easily reach and were penned birds can be. Free-range bird spend most of their time between pens and house. When fox comes on the fencing and pens block its easiest escape route. The fox comes by almost nightly, but has stopped harassing even penned birds after the changes. Bouts of harassment have been very short because dogs run over quickly.