First night shoot advice?

[Mad Mucus]

Anything I should keep in mind?

[Mako]

Don't get flustered, mind your muzzle and have FUN!

If you have some 1F load up some shotshells and light up the countryside.  Move up a grain size if you're shooting 3F in your rifle and pistol (for more FIRE!).  Don't watch the shooter right before you to maintain some of your night vision.  Blink both eyes hard in-between pistols and as you are raising your rifle, the same goes for the shotgun.  Close your aiming eye and acquire the targets before you open your dominant eye to shoot.  Just closing your eyes hard does a partial reset.  The harder you look the more disoriented you will be. 

You are controling your own shots just remain cool, try it sometime with tracers,automatic weapons and heavy ordnance going off around you.

Have a great time!

~Mako

[hellgate]

Pretty much what Mako said. For years I have told myself as I was loading my C&Bs that "I could do this blindfolded". Turns out the loading table had no light at all and I might as well have been blindfolded. Fortunately, no duds or dry balling occurred. One thing I learned on stage 1: GET SIGHT PICTURE ON TARGET THEN QUICKLY CLOSE EYES AND FIRE! Then open eyes to get next sight picture. Otherwise the BP flash from my Remingtons blinded me for about 4-5 seconds per shot. Once I got the rhythm down it was a great shoot. Same for the shotguns. The subs like 777 & APP/Cleanshot do not flame like real BP. I also used to load "sparklers" by including some Fg or cannon powder with the usual BP and that made impressive sparks. Look at my avatar photo and that is only 20 grs of powder!

[Noz]

Provide some light at the loading/unloading tables.  Safety measure.

We had a shooter at a night shoot last spring(with no light at loading or unloading) that had a 20ga shell in the bore of his 12ga double.  He lost a little blood and the right barrel of his shotgun.

Any small light would do.

[Howdy Doody]

I agree with Noz. You need some personal extra light. The first time I shot at night, the light was so poor at the loading table that it took everyone a long time to see if they were hammer down on an empty chamber. I got a small AAA powered flashlite I stick in a pocket for just that purpose now. Also watch your step going to and from the firing line. It is easy to trip on most anything in the dark. Wear clear or better yet light yellow shooting glasses. Have a ton of fun. 

[St. George]

Light the loading area with a Red lens Army flashlight - or a Red bulb, if you have electricity to that point.

It'll preserve night vision and will allow safer loading.

Vaya,

Scouts Out!

[Tascosa Joe]

A Red Chemlite on the loading and unloading tables would work as well.

[rickk]

The larger self contained solar powered lawn lights go for about 4 bucks apiece at Walmart.  A few of them on the loading table, and maybe a few of the smaller ones (2 bucks each) to illuminate the walking paths would probably do wonders to preventing accidents.

No wiring needed, just stick them in the ground or into a hole on something.

I live totally out in the middle of nowhere. When I turn off the lights on a moonless night it is pitch black. I spent about 50 bucks last year on a whole bunch of the large and small solar powered lights. I put the bigger ones on several fence posts for general illumination and stuck the smaller ones in the ground near stuff that one doesn't want to walk into and maneuvering got much simpler.

They run all night, even when the days are cloudy for few days in a row.

[Mako]

The larger self contained solar powered lawn lights go for about 4 bucks apiece at Walmart.  A few of them on the loading table, and maybe a few of the smaller ones (2 bucks each) to illuminate the walking paths would probably do wonders to preventing accidents.

No wiring needed, just stick them in the ground or into a hole on something.

I live totally out in the middle of nowhere. When I turn off the lights on a moonless night it is pitch black. I spent about 50 bucks last year on a whole bunch of the large and small solar powered lights. I put the bigger ones on several fence posts for general illumination and stuck the smaller ones in the ground near stuff that one doesn't want to walk into and maneuvering got much simpler.

They run all night, even when the days are cloudy for few days in a row.

Too bright...They need to have a filter on them and have the brightness attenuated (a LOT...). 

We used the green chemlights (not yellow! and not blue) or red filtered lights for reading and conferring during night missions.  The skinny ones not the big ones, or you'd lose your vision. The red ones weren't bright enough, at least the ones we had, a red lens flash light was better for that.   You also had to be careful and know the color codes for the day to prevent fratricide. 

But speaking from experience green chemlights work well, but DON"T stare at them.  Actually a shield to redirect it at the work area and to keep direct observation of the chemlight would be ideal.

A solar powered light would work, but it needs to be attenuated and filtered.

Regards,
Mako

[Mad Mucus]

 
Thanks pards..... appreciated.