Spotlighting rifle, what are you guys using?

[dave]

Well its often bothered me when spotlighting taking along a 26"+ truck axle rifle that weighs 12lbs+ and lugging it here and there in generally not great conditions with a huge scope on it thats really only useful during day light hours so ive decided im not going to do this anymore with my 204 when its done.

So what do you guys think is a good spotlighting rifle?
Synthetic v timber
20"-24" barrel?
Heavy v sporter
repeater v single shot
and what cal??????

I used to have a weatherby red mist heavy barrel 22" long in 22-250 and i think thats probably the handiest spotligthing rifle ive had, what are you guys using? Prey will be rabbits, hares and foxes max range 250-300yards, dont like taking long shots under the light!

Cheers
dave

[wifecallsmegrumpy]

Rem 700 LVSF in 204.

Synthetic stock, sporter barrel, Stainless wearing a Loopy 4.5-14 Vari X3 24" barrel I think, but not long.

It's light, handy and still accurate enough for shots out to 300.

I took my Savage LRPV in 6mmbr out spotlighting once. Never again, what a PITA !

[doidge5781]

My synthetic 6mmBR with clearidge 6-20x40 on it barrel cut to 25".However there is usually two shooters and two guns my mates use wood stocked sako's both heavy barrels cut at 24" one in .17 rem the other .222 both wear leupold 4.5-14x50 vx3's

[dave]

Rem 700 LVSF in 204.

Synthetic stock, sporter barrel, Stainless wearing a Loopy 4.5-14 Vari X3 24" barrel I think, but not long.

It's light, handy and still accurate enough for shots out to 300.

I took my Savage LRPV in 6mmbr out spotlighting once. Never again, what a PITA !

lol, thats exactly what im talking about!

Thinking 24" heavy barrel max......not sure which way to go im looking at 17 rem fireball / 22-250AI or 6mmbr..........

[Dave.223]

Rem 700 VLS in 6mmBR, barrel is about 25 inches and it reliably feeds about 3 rounds in the magazine but I tend to use it as a single shot. I normally load the 70 grain NBT, they are devastating out of the 6BR.
Scope is a Nightforce NXS 5.5-22x50. I like the illuminated reticle too. Awesome fun!

Dave

[Seddo]

i like en short, a 20" LTR (308) is the perfect size for shooting out of a car. i liked it soo much i got my 223 cut down to 18" but havent take it out yet, still working out a load.

[macca]

Just to be different I use the axles.All my target rifles double as spotlighters.Never been an issue.I shoot off a door rest and put have put an awful lot of rounds out of 26-30" barrels of a night.Most have nightforces on them.When I did it for a living I used Zeiss, Kahles or Swarvo.
I like a heavy rifle that sits.
I use everything from a 223 to a 300 win.Longer barrel tends to have less muzzle flash.
I prefer the single shots nowadays as well.

[Brad Y]

Had an 18lb 27" (target barrel at the time) heavy barreled 22BRX in a slee thumbhole with big 6-24x56 scope on it. It was that long on the back of the ute that when i turned, I kept hitting the barrels of the other guns. Now its been cropped to 23" and will be alot better. Its still heavy but off the back of a ute, I like that. Also got the 20 prac with its #4 contour barrel, its alot lighter and much easier to move around. But i have a heavy 24" Pac Nor barrel on its way for that too, it should end up about the 13 lb mark. I like em heavy for some reason, but long target barrels are a PITA.

Scope size has been a big one as well. I moved to larger objective scopes to gather more light while spotlighting but they have all been sold off in favour of a couple of 6-24x42 weavers which actually do heaps better at night than $300 large objective scopes anyway.

Spotlighting is usually done for foxes, rabbits, cats and roo's under permit so I dont see the need for anything bigger than a high powered 22 cal. Saying that if there is the chance you will come across a few pigs then up to and including a 243 would be fine for a dedicated spotlighting rig. Anything bigger really would make too much noise for my liking and for the properties I shoot on locally. Ive turned people down for wanting to come for a shoot because they wanted to bring a 30-06 spotlighting.

Repeaters or single shot technically shouldnt matter- most things that you shoot at while spotlighting dont hang around for a second shot after you miss the first But Ive always shot repeaters.

And synthetic stocks would be better for resisting scratches etc, but I still like wood.

[17MachIV]

A ruger VT in .223 with a Bushnell 3200 5-15 X 50. My son has the exact same setup in .204, we use them for comercial harvesting and are very happy with them.

[chris thomas]

This what i would like one of these days

Left hand action for right hand shooter ( easy to load and unload and don't have to remove trigger hand for follow up shots out of car window)
Sako-Rem Varmint stock
Rem profile varmint profile at 22 inches
Kahles 10 x 50
20 Vartarg

[MISSED]

I was using in the last couple of years a Ruger m77 220 swift,VT 204,Win 243 all Varmint weight 26 "tubes and a Sako L461 222 with a sporter weight.
As for glass I was using a Bushnell Elite 4200 6-24x50,Burris black Diamond 6-24x50 , Weaver 6-24x42 on the 222 sits a 4-12x42 Sightron bigsky 11.
Soon I will be using a Sako L461 20 Vartarg with a 4-16x40 Bushnell 4200,Sako L579 22-250 with the Bushnell 6-24 , the 222 with Sightron and a ZKW 465 22 Hornet wearing a 3-9x40 Busnell 4200
Pity I will not be able to use them all at once

[Rumpus]

.223, Heavy Barrel, Kahles or Zeiss 8x56.. If you havnt looked through one of these scopes at night you have no idea what your missing..

[andrewk]

Rem 700 LVSF in 204.

Synthetic stock, sporter barrel, Stainless wearing a Loopy 4.5-14 Vari X3 24" barrel I think, but not long.

It's light, handy and still accurate enough for shots out to 300.

I took my Savage LRPV in 6mmbr out spotlighting once. Never again, what a PITA !

lol, thats exactly what im talking about!

Thinking 24" heavy barrel max......not sure which way to go im looking at 17 rem fireball / 22-250AI or 6mmbr..........

i have a rem 700 VSF in 17 Fireball for sale. viewtopic.php?f=5&t=9634

[stinkitup]

My Old Swede had done spotlight duty alot, its a 96 and has had the barrel shortened I think around 24", Ramline syn stock and an old tasco 3-9x40. Its perfect for spotlighting, no issue with putting marks on the stock, 5 in the mag and one up the spout if you want. I missed nailing a pair of foxes one night because I had only put 3 in the mag and forgot. Nailed the first fox at 50 meters then his mate ran to about 70-90m and turned for another look as I'm bloody fumbling for another round because I had shot a couple of hares before that.

If your shooting with a mag keep at least a couple in at all times, if single shot have em at the ready I use my martini 222 and its fine too just keep extra's close by on you.

The swede is a bit heavy for most spotlighting but no crow, rabbit, fox has ever whinged about it and if a pig or goat pops up there's no changing rifles.

Ryan

[JBS3]

savage vlp .223 topped with a hakko 3-12x50 works for me