A buddy of mine wants me to build him a light which will be used for hunting. He saw my UF 1504 and said he wanted that host with a red led. It was daytime, so he never even turned on the 1504. I don’t hunt, but I would think the 1504 would be too bulky to use as well as it would have a useless beam for hunting. However, I could be totally wrong.
He wants something quick, so I’ll have to order from mtn. Would a C8 host or even a UF-T20 host work for this? I honestly have no clue what makes a good hunting light. Thanks.
Mitko or 18sixfifty would be a couple of members here that would be able to answer your question.
The T20 would be one way to go with an an XPG2 led in it.
Though i hunt? and shoot a lot outdoors? I still cant tell you what “hunters want” in a flashlight… i can tell you what I WANT, though, lol…
THAT hunter told you what HE wants… apparently he wants a 1504 with a red LED, lol…
1) if i wanted a flashlight simply for walking the trails before dawn to my hunting spot? then yeah, i might think my own 1504 was a little bulky for just that use…
2) RED is great for not spooking game as much as white light, and, he might have plans on GUN MOUNTING IT to use for nighttime varmint hunting with a scope… you dont really know.
3) I know for scope use? i would want the tighter beam of the wider long focal length of the bigger aspheric. He might plan on coyote or raccoon hunting at night with it.
=
but i mean, why second guess what someone asks for to build for them? he wants that light, with a red LED… he sounds like he knows what he wants. Why give him a T20 when he liked the 1504? he might WANT a “seal huunter” aspheric brand (expensive, but nice…) and he sees THAT as a viable affordable host alternative (I know thats why i have my 1504, lol, actually like three of them, maybe 4, i dont remember, LMAO)
WillyD,
It’s hard to know what your friends specific needs are. Is he calling in predators or pursuing at night with hounds? If I’m calling animals in to me, I only want a soft spill of light to hit their eyes as they come in and it doesn’t need to be red. I don,t care what they say about red lights being invisiable to animals. Does your Cat have any problem chasing a red laser? The UF 1504 uses an aspherical lens with almost no side spill. If you hit a Coyote directly in the eyes with a focused beam of light even if it is red light… He’s outa here! Red lights work because they usually put out very little light and don’t spook the animal. A white light used properly is just as good.If He’s a hound hunter, the UF 1504 would be fine as is any other light with a tight beam to shine up through the limbs to look for a Coon or Cat. If he needs to attach the flashlight to his rifle for long shots in the land of OZ then something like the Maxtoch M24 would be the bomb. It’s on my must buy list. A few more details from your friend would narrow it down.
Is he also from Ohio??? Probably calls in coyotes, Fox and Bobcats and shoots at close range.
1. Throw (the more the better),
2. Remote pressure switch (flashlight without remote switch is not hunting flashlight),
3. Max mode only (flashlight must not change modes when operated quickly, on/off),
Well, firstly it depends where are you hunting: the field or in the woods- there isnt any bennefit if you are a using a thrower in the woods, yet 1504 could be floody
Anyway i use several( like 7) hunting lights depending on the place i go
1504 could be mounted too, especialy on a heavy rifle class 300w/Magnum and above- thus one will have like 800 meters of clear view with a nice scope
It aint that heavy , the scope is 2 times heavier :): the tail spring should be upgraded/swapped cause of the recoil.
It aint suitable for light arms w 223 or so caliber- its just the rifle is too light and the torch wil massively deballance it, it aint practical
Yet, 95% of all hunters never shoot beyond 200-250 meters at night - its just its kinda tricky after that distance, plus they dont have either the hardware needed, or the skills to do so, usualy weather conditions are always agains you
My Steyr SSG 04 is “tuned” for a half a km shot range- its a jackal rifle mainly( they are cunny , nasty buggers) and usualy i have like 80-90% susses rate daytime, and like 40-50% nighttime
WOW Mitko! That Zeiss Victory is huge! Your objective lens is bigger than the objective on my 60mm spotting scope! Even on full power (24X), your exit pupil is 3mm and would be gathering plenty enough light to see eyes way out there. I built a new Remmy 5r 300WM last year and that scope is worth more than my whole rig! Very nice!
I could talk about your rifles and hunting in Bulgaria all day but back to the original post.
Ohio is mostly hardwoods, flatlands and farm fields. Long shots are rare. As an example, deer hunting is restricted to shotguns and straight wall pistol and rifle calibers. Rifle calibers for Hogs and Coyotes are unrestricted. If I had to guess (and we are). He’s probably sitting in the hardwoods with a shotgun across his lap. In this case 50 yards would be a long shot and not much light is needed. Of course I could be wrong. He may be hunting for Hogs in a Deer blind overlooking a vast farm field. In that case your rig would be perfect.
+1 for single mode only. Once you’ve blasted an animals retinas with your SolarBeam MEGA 10,000, he won’t wait around for you to cycle through you flashy modes.
–1 for pressure switches. I like my flashlight mounted where I can easily click it on with my left thumb and it stays on till I click it off. Terrain and animals frequently require me to assume hurried odd positions. Maintaining a firm grip on a pressure switch is not someting I have time to worry about.
I personally prefer warm to neutral colors. 3500k to 4500k makes the browns brown and the greens green.
More information from the end user would be nice.
Agree with numbers #1&3.
Disagree with #2.
Yes I have weapon mounted flashlights with remotes. I also use weapon mounted with NO remote. No remote flashlights are mounted on the forward end of the stock and are operated with the forward hand index finger or thumb. AR Type rifles are well adapted for this option due to the modular tube front end and I use this method on my crossbow.
Modes are a joke on a weapon mounted light. I use direct drive or the cheap single mode 7135 drivers adding or subtracting 7135s as needed.
1. This is correct
2. This is foolish (forget about remote switch if you want maximum throw gain with 1x18650 lights, remote pressure switches messes with performance of linear or fet drivers so if you have lets say 200kcd light remote switch will kill its performance for 50% and you’ll end with 100kcd light)
3.True and not true… There are lights with modes, no memory affect that always starts on high and yet they have possibility to change to low and medium and with such setup you have more versatile options(shooting, tracking, skinning)
*1504 flashlight for hunting?* It is heavy as !?*l I just can’t believe that some of the hunters here likes it and use it for hunting?
50 mm aspherics can throw more than 300 kcd these days(600+ meters of usable and 1 kilometer maximum throw) with wider and more usable beam than bigger aspheric brothers.
Now this is very interesting: “I use and have been using MOSFET coin cell powered remote switching and have no significant light loss”
Could you please show us how to make our own version of this? So when you said no significant light loss it means it looses something… So how many % it looses with it?
If someone wants to use classic pressure switches without performance loss they will not have any issue with 2x18650 battery configuration(buck driver) but light loss will happen with linear or FET 1x18650 lights up to 60% on some lights.
To the hunter`s community arround here:
You prolly know what it is :), i DO HOPE it will be awailable for crafting any time soon, it holds 10 amps as good as an Otmen switch though
Yet, i dont like remote switches, they arent durable enough for my taste
10x Killforfood
Steyr SSG 04 plus that scope is a nearly perfect combo for me….i tried to get my hands on a russian Dragunov 12.7x77 but i hit a wall, nearly impossible to get it in the EU
About the hunting arround here: its now a real paradise! jackals topped 100k this year, boars too, and hey, we do even have Linxes now! Noone spotted that bugger arround here for like a century- the main reason is that there are vast abandoned territories, ppl massibely moved to cities, thus made the wild life flurish- actualy we do have the biggest brown bear poppulation in Europe, after Russia- but there they are mainly in Ciberia and Russian Far East
And since i see a fella hunter in you, let me show you my last throphy room piece
OT.
We BLF hunters should have a separate topic in hte offtopic chart i think….sadly there are too many wild animal fans, the last topic that i made was flooded with them, i was nearly thorn apart .
In fact i am a wild life fan too….at least a sort of
For visible light, I’d probably go with something like a red XP-E in a C8 for some throw. However, I think a 3-4 mode IR emitter/build in a zoomie (T20, etc.) + NV scope/camera/goggles is probably the way to go if budget allows. Or, if there is no budget, then thermal scope.
Thanks for the replies. Very helpful in that I asked my buddy some specific questions. This is what he told me:
- 100 to 250 yards, but typically likes to bring them in to about 100 yards.
- smaller varmints and coyotes.
will be using a 223 ar15.
Based on that, I think the 1504 is out. And again, I’d like to purchase the host in the States, so that will most likely be mtn. I guess that would limit me to either the C8 or T20. A 7135 based driver with 1 mode and red XP-E2 should do it. I would think the T20 would have better throw plus the added option of flood.
I am sure that hunters are also animal fans… I would say there are a lot of anti hunters here. So yes one forum section for hunters would be Bingo for this forum and that is good idea Mitko.
P.S.
So 12,7 you say? It would be good rifle in a case of dinosaur resurrection
It is overkill for hunting… But USA guys are happy to be able to use that monster on the range
QUOTE
Based on that, I think the 1504 is out. And again, I’d like to purchase the host in the States, so that will most likely be mtn. I guess that would limit me to either the C8 or T20. A 7135 based driver with 1 mode and red XP-E2 should do it. I would think the T20 would have better throw plus the added option of flood.
ENDQUOTE
250 yards is a POKE in the dark… you dont think the 1504 will throw better than a T20 at 250 yards?? with a red LED emitter?
Oh, I know without a doubt the 1504 would out throw at T20. I was going off of what he will be possibly mounting it to, which would be a small caliber AR.
So when you said no significant light loss it means it looses something… So how many % it looses with it?
