Rifles and night optics for foxing

[finnbear270]

An informative little bit here,Redirect Notice

 

[Jh1986]

I picked up a second hand Zulus 5-20 to go on my 223. They can be had quite cheap, probably as cheap as buying a scope and add-on. They go for £4-450 ish and if you are sticking it on something centerfire, you likely won't even need the lrf

 

[gr cz527]

highly recommend the 22 250 calibre as a foxing rifle nice flat trajectory is great to 250 yards for me. its all down to personal preference as to set ups and combos. if you are getting a seperate set up for foxing and you can manage technology ok the alpex is a great value for money option. to ID at distance i use an upgraded IR torch. pbir, sirius, ludicrus lumens to name a few. i use a tikka t3 with a meopta optika 6 with pard nv007sp add on as i also use it for stalking. i use a thermal spotter which i can detect heat at upto a mile and use the add on to closer ID to save me a walk if its a badger and not a fox.

 

[Bavarianbrit]

You already have a moderated .270 so get the .270 Win 95-100 grain varmint loads and stick a Pard on the back of the rifle the early ones go for £200 second hand now. It might well be quiet enough. I have one of my 3x .270s with a mod and it is sighted in at 100m with these loads.

 

[finnbear270]

highly recommend the 22 250 calibre as a foxing rifle nice flat trajectory is great to 250 yards for me. its all down to personal preference as to set ups and combos. if you are getting a seperate set up for foxing and you can manage technology ok the alpex is a great value for money option. to ID at distance i use an upgraded IR torch. pbir, sirius, ludicrus lumens to name a few. i use a tikka t3 with a meopta optika 6 with pard nv007sp add on as i also use it for stalking. i use a thermal spotter which i can detect heat at upto a mile and use the add on to closer ID to save me a walk if its a badger and not a fox.

400 yards was an average nights foxing with Flyboy 270 shooting .22-250.

 

[gr cz527]

yep. i dont do enough to get that accurate at those ranges.

 

[finnbear270]

yep. i dont do enough to get that accurate at those ranges.

Mind we did have THE very best of lamps & operator.

 

[paulst]

Get a 222 then you can be sure God will be smiling on you.

 

[finnbear270]

Get a 222 then you can be sure God will be smiling on you.

SSSHHHH! Keep it dark!

 

[Tim.243]

Ive been asked by the owner of my permission if I can take care of some foxes (along with the deer I already manage) as they are doing a number on his lambs. Ive never really targeted foxes before, and to be honest never really even seen one outside of crossing a road in town. My current setup is a moderated .270 with a standard 3-15x44 scope, which obviously proved very ineffective when I tried to get out there earlier in the morning or later in the evening. Cant see a thing.

Id like to get some recommendations on calibers (something not as noisy as a .270 as the lambs are relatively close to the farmhouse) as well as what everyone's night vision setup is. Thermal spotters? Scopes? A combination of both? this will all be extremely entry level for me so really not looking to go to town with the high end stuff yet. Just really something to get me started.

thanks in advance!!!

It is hard to advice people on spending their money, but a .223 3-12x56 scope (mid range prices) lamp a red pin point torch or thermal spotter. Will mop up a lot of them for starters, you only want to shoot them once so keep the distances shorter, avoid the full moon. keep shooting them until you are then struggling because of missing a few or it is not working.
Before digital/thermal scopes and spotters it was all we had but I still and many others shot a lot of foxes.
I learnt to come back or go in from a different direction rather that poke at it and miss. Still missed but not the foxes fault lol

 

[Rake Aboot]

What exactly is wrong with what you have ??

God knows I shot more foxes than I could count with a motorcycle headlight strapped to my heed !!

Stick a sniper hog on your scope and get a warm jacket on and sit out like everyone else does / did

 

[finnbear270]

He’s shooting .270 Win, he says that noise will be a factor.

 

[villaman]

.204 / .222 / .223
.17Rem / .17 Fireball

Very short range up to well placed shot inside 100 yards .22LR / .17hmr.

Some forces don’t allow.22lr for fox apparently

 

[andy.k5]

My foxing recipe that I use :

Tikka T3x in 223
Alpex 4K with Blade IR
Falcon FQ50 spotter

 

[Cyres]

Thermal spotter absolutely essential.
I am bias but a .204 good moddy and factory ammo. You could get away with a Photon one on sale here at present with a good IR torch. That will enable you to shoot anything up to 200 yds.
If you have the cash it would be worth getting a Zulus suggest you DM some SD members for opinion.
If your walking out a good pair of quad sticks are also essential.
Couple of squeakers handy.
If you don't go .204 then .223 would be perfectly adequate.
Just choose a light rifle with an adjustable check piece.
D

 

[Hardy]

The nature of the land for me would dictate which calibre of rifle to go for. I got a 222 just for one particular farm I was regularly seeing fox on, but at 200/250 yard range. But have had many fox with hmr at sub 100 range also on that farm in a different area of land.Horses for courses.

 

[BenBhoy]

If you're unfamiliar with night shooting, it's nice to have a calibre that's genuinely flat as far as you dare - pop in a 204 variation before February!

 

[Rake Aboot]

He’s shooting .270 Win, he says that noise will be a factor.

In all seriousness, I couldn’t tell the difference between a .22-250 or a .223 and a .270
Centre fires all make big bangs

 

[Will the chippy]

In all seriousness, I couldn’t tell the difference between a .22-250 or a .223 and a .270
Centre fires all make big bangs

People think I'm mad when I say that. But I've stood next to mates with different calibers, there were none that stood out as being quieter than any other. Different mods make a difference but to me a 223, 22250, 243 all sound pretty much the same.

 

[jamesey]

Ahhh, didnt even think about the add on's like the Pard. Just watched a video on it, seems like this would be something more up my street to start. Thanks!

Hi, i have a PARD NV007V for sale. Its used but as new, boxed and I have the Eaglevision adaptor kit to give you flexibility on scope diameter and easy fit.
Let me know if you are interested and I can work something out pricewise. I went balls deep on Thermal scope and spotter and rendered the PARD surplus to requirements.
The PARD is great for fox and would benefit as others said from running a decent IR torch in tandem with the PARD.