20 September 2016, 21:32
Bobby Tomeknew-to-me scope proves worthy on midnight hog
Around 12:45 this morning, in the soft morning moonlight, I noticed deer crowding our yard fence and looking back towards the creek. Their behavior told me hogs were likely present, and I already had my 7mm Bullberry at the ready.
A quick glance through my Meopta 8x42 binos showed a dark mass of bodies near a small grove of trees, but the hogs were in the splotchy shadows and difficult to see very well. They'd pushed a game block away from the open area, which would have given me a much better view, into the eerie shadows of darkness, through which only a few beams of moonlight could pass. There was no doubt these creatures were hogs, but even through the nice MeoPro binoculars, I was having a difficult time telling heads from tails.
So I rested the 7mm Bullberry across a sandbag and decided to take a look through a new-to-me, 2004 model Swarovski PV-N that I was lucky enough to acquire from an AR forum member recently (thanks, Del!). I was able to use 10x on the 3-12x50 scope, and this allowed me a better view of potential targets. Plus, the scope's ability to resolve detail under the poorest of lighting conditions certainly became my ally.
The situation was still tough, but after 2-3 minutes of observing and determining the exact position of a potential target, I turned on the BE-3's illumination for the Plex-N reticle and touched off a shot. The range was app. 165 yards, and there was no doubt about the bullet's eventual destination as an audible "whap" was music to my ears. I got on the old Kawasaki Bayou, drove down there and stopped in the spot I thought the hog stood when I pulled the trigger.
Within seconds, I spotted an impressive spray of frothy lung blood and noticed the trail led directly left. So I sat in place and shined the flashlight in that direction. About 20 yards away was the hog, unmoving and piled up in a strand of Johnson grass.
The 120 grain Nosler, launched at a sedate 2650 fps, took the sow five inches behind the onside shoulder, damaging the liver, wrecking 1/4th of the onside lung and perhaps 1/2 of the other before exiting the center of the off-side shoulder. The exit, thanks in part to secondary bone fragments, was about the size of a quarter. The bullet's performance could not have been any better.
As to the scope, I'm very familiar with Swaro's PV-PH series but was unaware that a lighted reticle was ever offered. So I made some wholesale changes, sold off a few of my favorites and wound up with the PV-N. I was second-guessing my decision as I got rid of some proven performers to get this scope, but first impressions are good. I was especially concerned since the inner "+" of the reticle lights up, and I wondered it it could be adjusted dimly enough so as not to affect low-light vision. (I am a fan of the small, unobtrusive dot in the #60 reticle of Zeiss). But it seems my concerns were unwarranted.
