More on Cateyes

The amazing amount of moonlight at Swift Fox ruined my plans to try out some of my night sighting equipment, and some other operational night stuff, like glow in the dark notebooks, signalling gear and cateyes on everything.

But the other day I was out shooting in a very dark night, and noticed some gaps in capability. Glow tapes were hidden because I was on the other side, new items were hard to find, and I couldn't take notes without breaking out a flashlight, which isn't exactly super sneaky.

So, have now fixed it. Here's how everything looks now in my precision rifle setup. Look close, it's only worth looking at in the dark:

My solutions are mine, and many of you won't have much of this gear. But you should be able to use the ideas to think through solutions to some of your problems before they arise.

Pack

I totally have velcro on the outside of the pack, and a cateye, but... when I am using the pack the lid is flopped open so you cannot see it.

So, I added a small glow in the dark tag to the webbing on the inside of the lid. You can see it here centered in the lid at the bottom of where it is when halfway flipped open.

Similarly, I'll also note that I flipped over my magazine carriers. You want them right side up of course, but I made them "right side up" when the pack is upright, as though worn. But I never pull mags out when wearing it, but laying on the ground. So, I flipped them over. Just like the cateyes, think about everything in the context you will actually use it.

Expensive Things

Really, this is "loose things" and much of the immediate value is finding them without bumping into other stuff as you brush your hand around the terrain.

But what freaked me out while packing in the dark was finding the very expensive LRF and Kestrel. So they got various labels with my name, a reminder the LRF is in yards (not meters) and also some glow tapes.

Importantly again for context, note where I put them: on the flat sides. The kestrel gets to be right below the screen—and on the back, on the windvane cover—as it lays on one side or the other.

The laser rangefinder gets them on the sides. Which seems nonsensical when using it, but when you lay the unit down, those are the sides facing up.

Ammo Box

Most ammo is in magazines, but I also keep a spare 50 in a plastic MTM box. It has a little glow tag, and appropriate day labels, on the lid. But again when used it is open. So I added a nice large chunk of glow sheet to the inside of the lid.

This much sheet will shine light onto things, so if it's really, really dark you can see the ammo itself.

Also note, I wrote on it. You can write on the glow sheets to label items. Here, I've labeled the type of ammo in case I forget and need to write it down. I get forgetful.

Data Book

I used the weird heat-sensitive glow sheet I got the right way finally, and ironed it onto the divider in my notebook holder, as a sort of sheet lifter. Now it's smooth, so I don't need to keep several sheets of paper under it to write on it.

Not sure my eyes are good enough to read this anymore, especially as I use pencil, but at least it glows enough to find the book and then if I use a light I am swinging it around a lot less to find things.

Scope Adjustments

Windage and elevation knobs have little glow triangles.

These are not so much to be used to adjust, and with a zero stop there's no direct need to have it on the elevation knob except for one issue:

I am terrible at this. I forget to adjust properly, reset knobs between ranges or even range days. I spent a whole range session the other month wondering what was wrong with the rifle. Gave up, and once I got home looked and yup I had leftover windage dialed in.

These, day or night, help remind me to start at zero.

Clip On

This is probably the simplest. I have a simple glow tape on the back of the PVS-30.

It provides an orientation mark to the gun, which I would otherwise put on the rifle but I don't need it when the clip on is not attached.

I have similar tags on the back of the tripod (not shown) and some other modular rails that I use at night.

Again here I wrote on the tag, the amount you dial for offset.