In today’s review, Robert A. Sadowski tests the Armasight Thermal Contractor Pro 640 3-12x scope on a feral hog hunt. He mounted the optic to a Springfield Armory SAINT Victor to evaluate the thermal scope’s usefulness for hunting. The optic was provided to the author for the review.
Feral hogs are tough. Their bodies are compact and designed to take tusks in their sides from rivals who have a different opinion. Their sense of smell and hearing are great, which makes up for their eyesight. Sometimes they look at you, blinking their eyes like need a need eye glass prescription.
Vital organs are tucked between the shoulders. Shoot too far back and you’ll hit paunch and send them running. Good luck finding a blood trail. I’ve seen pigs walloped to the ground after a shot only to get up and run like they just woke up and are late for breakfast. Other times you think your shot was true, but they don’t react to being hit. No hunch, no stagger. They just kick in the afterburner and take off.
You need a set up with the power to punch straight through a pig. Two holes are more effective than one. It also helps if your set-up offers an edge especially at twilight when pigs feel hunting pressure and go into crepuscular mode to feed. Where the hoof meets the dirt, so to speak, shot placement and a good bullet get the job done.
I like 7.62 AR’s for hog hunting because they offer power as well as a fast follow-up shot if things go sideways. And like hogs, they should be tough and able to take a beating. No need to treat it like as a safe queen. The .308 Winchester round is an excellent choice offering an embarrassment of bullet choices. In particular, the SAINT Victor 7.62 by Springfield Armory is great place to start when setting up a rifle for hog hunting.
An AR-10, SAINT Vic-Style
While there’s a 20”-barreled version of the SAINT Victor 7.62, I prefer the 16” barrel version for this role because it’s more maneuverable in a blind or climbing a ladder, and weighs slightly less than the 20” tube version. Also, a 16” barrel offers a relatively minor velocity penalty with the .308 Winchester round.
The .308 uses medium-burn rate powders that typically burn completely in 18” to 20” of barrel, so two fewer inches of barrel don’t make a huge difference in a rifle set up for close- to mid-range hunting. If your hunting scenarios have you shooting farther shots, then definitely opt for the 20”-barreled SAINT Victor.
Springfield has upgraded the Victor with practical features that are easy to appreciate. First off, I really like the B5 Systems furniture. The Enhanced SOPMOD stock adjusts to fit me and most anyone’s stature, and what I really like about the stock is the comb. I can get a nice cheekweld that’s comfortable when aiming as well as when the AR recoils. The more vertically oriented B5 pistol grip is comfortable to shoot whether shooting off-hand, using the rail in a hunting blind, or on a rest or sticks.
The ambidextrous 45-degree selector of the SAINT Victor is fast and positive, and the Radian Raptor-LT ambidextrous charging handle is very easy to run with an optic mounted. The Raptor-LT’s handle wings stick out farther than a mil-spec charging handle, so manipulating the charging handle is easy — even when wearing gloves.
Another detail that sets the Victor apart from many other AR-10-pattern rifles is the flat-faced trigger, coated with nickel boron. This translates to a trigger press that is smoother compared to mil-spec-style triggers. In addition, the forend rail has plenty M-Lok slots as well as QD sling swivel attachments.
Go Thermal For Hogs, or Go Home
You may have heard that using a thermal optic completely changes the way you shoot and hunt. I can categorically say that it does.
I’ve been lucky to have the opportunity to hunt with a variety of thermal optics from a who’s who of manufacturers. In my opinion, the Armasight Contractor Pro 640 by far is one of the easiest thermal optics to use, even if you aren’t a big tech guy and hardly know how to use a smartphone.
Armasight uses turrets to control and operate the optic’s menu. If you have used a thermal sight with buttons, you know why this is a nice feature. Buttons can be confusing and difficult to operate, especially when wearing gloves. The Armasight does have one button, and that one button controls photos and videos. One press, and the camera is rolling or a single still image is taken.
The optic is built like a tank and features a USB-C interface for external devices, an integrated stadiametric rangefinder, inclinometer, levelometer, graphic compass, an easy-to-navigate app, plus more. Most of us just want a thermal optic that is easy to use without having to read a 500-page manual, and the Contractor delivers. The Contractor’s manual is 20 pages, by the way.
Target detail is very good out 150 yards. At farther distances, the image quality does start to erode. Also, the unit is designed to run four hours on the batteries, so be sure to take some spares and don’t accidentally leave it turned on. I found it can slug down CR123A batteries like a cold adult beverage in August heat.
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The thermal also allows the user to stream data to their phone via Wi-Fi. I downloaded the free mobile app to my iPhone so I could control the camera functions as well as use environmental data like wind speed and temperature to calculate ballistics. If you hunt coyotes, these ballistic functions are helpful to fine tune the load to the optic for long distance shots.
Between the 7.6-lb. weight of the SAINT Victor and the 2 lbs. from the Armasight Contractor optic, total weight was just under 10 lbs. That is a doable weight for a hunting rifle.
Range Warm Up
The Armasight was a snap to zero. Navigate to the bore sight icon in the menu using the left turret, shoot a shot, then dial the turrets so the reticle moves to the hole. It’s that simple and intuitive.
The day was overcast, so I use a small, 3”x3” square of tin foil taped to a piece of cardboard to get on paper at 50 yards, then I moved the target out 100 yards. The weight of the Victor and Armasight allowed the rifle to quickly settle on the rest. Recoil was nil and the action cycled smoothly.
The Armasight has a 1-4X digital zoom by rotating turret two, which was simple to operate. The set up was very pleasant to shoot. At 100 yards, my groups averaged 1.73” with Winchester Deer Season XP with a 150-gr. Extreme Point bullet.
The Armasight can store different rifle zeros. You can easily swap the optic out on your rifles with the optic’s QD mount, which is one of the easiest optic mounts for a Picatinny rail I have ever used. Just press a button, place on the Picatinny rail, and it snaps into place. I didn’t lose zero even when I removed the scope multiple times at the range.
There are five color palettes to choose from, from black to hot rainbow. White hot is my go-to choice for target palettes, and there are eight reticle choices — from a plain dot to a chevron with holdovers. For up-close, fast-shooting on hogs, I used the T-Dot reticle. It’s like an old-school German #1 reticle with thick lines that form a capital letter T, but the lines don’t connect. A dot is in the center where the strata would meet. It’s uncluttered and excellent for using in dense brush as well as on targets that move, like hogs. There are six different reticle colors, so you can adjust the target palettes and the reticle colors to be super contrasting or whatever you find is easiest to see.
One Shot, One Pig
You know how it is when you are in your stand sitting over a food source and the last bit of daylight fades. I heard something deep in the woods, but the brush was too dense trees to see anything.
This is the moment a thermal optic changes the playing field. I fired up the Armasight thermal with a twist of a knob and rested the SAINT Victor on the edge on the blind window. Through the scrub brush, the Armasight sight picked up white hot images of pigs. Lots of pigs.
They were about 200 yards away, moving toward the blind at a fast clip. They were bunched up like a school of fish and, when one moved, they all moved. I flicked off the safety and looked for a sow. With the Armasight, it was easy to tell the difference between a sow and boar. A good-sized sow stopped for a moment facing me. They were all moving. I placed the reticle on the hog’s head and pressed the trigger. The shot planted her where she stood as the other pigs scattered.
Conclusion
Hogs are smart and react to hunting pressure, and when the pressure is on the best time to hunt is in the morning and evening. A rifle like the SAINT Victor in .308 Win. is a great choice, especially with a thermal scope like the Armasight Contractor 640. This set-up will completely change the context of the hunt. I know it did for me!
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