Baigish 10 or Ainur 10

This rifle sight, advertised as the Baigish-10, is also supplied as the Ainur-10. It is available from Kalinka Optics in Washington, and other English-speaking customers are also advised to deal with this outlet rather than with the parent company in Russia. Delivery took six weeks and the unit arrived with minimal packaging, having been sent from St.Petersburg. That it survived the trip is itself a tribute; Kalinka have since told me that the packing issue is being looked at.

The unit is big and weighs about 1 Kg. It's a Generation 1 sight, built like a tank, with an anti recoil narrow (11mm) rail mounting which allows it to be used on a high-velocity sporting rifle. It would probably survive use on a spring-piston air rifle. The works float in a sleeve against spring pressure. The windage and elevation adjustments are by set screws which move the mounting rather than an internal reticle, and the slotted screws should be replaced by Allen or hex screws if you want consistent adjustment.The large objective means a high optical axis, comparable with a high-mount scope.

With a 58 mm objective gathering light for a very high quality intensifier unit, the optics are excellent. Magnification is 2.6X (linear), and while there is the usual Gen 1 fisheye effect, there is no speckling at useable light levels, and resolution is good. The eyecup allows use of glasses, if like me your eyes are outside the adjustment range. Glare may be a problem, and a camera lens hood (58mm standard thread, Jessops) will reduce backscatter in the optics from off-axis sources. It uses a standard PP3 battery and just needs a quick burst of power when the image dims in use. On a Webley Raider it provides a bulky but manageable rabbiting system, but a standard gun bag won't fit with the sight attached. Recommended.