Zero thermal at range

[Knightes]

Good morning. Forgive me if this has been answered before but could not find anything. Went hunting night before last and was successful with my night vision scope even though it was raining pretty hard. My buddy had a thermal and his view was much better. I decided to buy one myself because I liked his view and with my distance to stalk I want to shoot farther away. Now I have read that some use hand warmers to provide a heat source at an indoor range but do not think they would appreciate the mess. I am trying to find a good way. I think one person used a paper towel soaked in hot water and a few have said they rubbed their thumb on the target. What have you all used for success? Thank you.

 

[Sevens]

I always see the hand warmers at the range I go to. I shoot at an outdoor range in Texas, so they must provide something to view cuz it can be pretty darn hot at the range in the summer.

 

[jessej]

Hand warmers.
A piece of aluminum foil for a bulls eye works great if you're in the sunshine.

 

[AfterDark]

Use an ice cube

 

[Zen Archery]

Aluminum Foil = Less Mess.

 

[Baker Alvin]

Use Both, They work, Toe warmer and foil heat duct

 

[huntercole]

Foil tape if you're outside. Sticky toe warmer or ice cube in a bag if you're inside.

 

[dmr400]

Indoor range this wouldn't work, but the best I have found outdoors is shiny foil squares or small pieces of foil tape. The trick is to angle the target slightly backwards, so that the foil reflects the sky.

 

[jaclthr]

When I am going to confirm my thermals I use a steel plate and heat it up with a hand held torch and that works great .

 

[Lee7588]

I've used a lighter to heat up a coin and tape it to the paper target

 

[rakiura]

Good morning. Forgive me if this has been answered before but could not find anything. Went hunting night before last and was successful with my night vision scope even though it was raining pretty hard. My buddy had a thermal and his view was much better. I decided to buy one myself because I liked his view and with my distance to stalk I want to shoot farther away. Now I have read that some use hand warmers to provide a heat source at an indoor range but do not think they would appreciate the mess. I am trying to find a good way. I think one person used a paper towel soaked in hot water and a few have said they rubbed their thumb on the target. What have you all used for success? Thank you.

I use a small amount of Bostik Blu Tack heated with a handheld gas torch. Sticks to most surfaces and retains the heat for quite a while.

 

[Buck1970]

Cut one inch black duct tape squares and stack a few on top of each other, heat with a lighter.
Then
Use the same to mark your one shot then move the cross hairs to it.

 

[dmr400]

So the trouble I had with the various heat based methods is that either it cooled off too fast, or it created a thermal bloom that was too large to give a precise aiming point. By using 1/4" wide foil tape and leaning the target back 10 degrees or so to reflect the (cold on thermal) sky, by using two small pieces of the tape I can create a very visible aiming point that is around a half inch square at 100 yards and doesn't bloom. If conditions aren't great, I add another piece of tape, and keep going until I get the absolute smallest aiming point I can see in my scope. That allows me to be very precise in my zeroing, which for my setup is critical as I'm often shooting coyotes out to 300 yards or so. Give it a try, I think you will like it.

 

[dmr400]

What I did before I was told about the foil tape was to wire a single bulb socket from a string of Christmas lights to a battery pack (4 foot leads with alligator clamps for the stripped individual bulb sockets), and poke it through a small hole in a piece of cardboard. Gave a very small aiming point, but you had to zero a little high or you spent a lot of time walking down and hooking up new bulbs after you shot them