Got my first NV/Thermal experience a couple weeks ago on a laye coyote hunt. Not sure if they were NV or Thermal, nor what brands [think one was a Sightmark], but it was definitely neat & had my interest piqued.

The Sightmark equipped rifle was good to about 100yds before it was too dark beyond to see.

quote:

Originally posted by P220 Smudge:
My big problem is my astigmatism is making dots into starry banana shapes. I keep hearing Eotechs don’t do that. I need to actually look through one I guess.

If I’m going to pony up all the way to the DIRV, I’ll probably get the one from Arisaka. The button is whatever, but the metal clamp seems worth it to me.

Got a lead on some local groups that do night shoots. Gonna try and get in touch and see if I can make some friends.

That starry banana is a FEATURE, not a problem.

You should definitely pony up for the DIRV. It’s great. I sold my MAWL-C1+ when I got the DIRV. Arisaka is definitely the place to buy it.

quote:

Originally posted by KSGM:
A brief take-away from a familiarization event last night, for a friend who just got a PVS14:

An optic having night vision settings does not mean that it's actually night vision capable. My friend's Sig Romeo5 XDR has absolutely horrible light transmission. Sure, you can turn the reticle down to a somewhat appropriate brightness, but you can't see the target to put the reticle on it. If a shooter wants a red dot or holo that will have good passive performance, it seems he'll have to cough up around $700, or use an open emitter.

I have experimented with fully passive aiming, and it is a chore.

An IR laser and/or an IR illuminator is required for it to work really well. Thermal is better still for warm targets.

quote:

Originally posted by P250UA5:
Got my first NV/Thermal experience a couple weeks ago on a laye coyote hunt. Not sure if they were NV or Thermal, nor what brands [think one was a Sightmark], but it was definitely neat & had my interest piqued.

The Sightmark equipped rifle was good to about 100yds before it was too dark beyond to see.

100 yards is just getting started. With thermal I can see animals at half a mile and ID them as a coyote or deer at 3/400. Killed a coyote last night at 250.

quote:

Originally posted by IndianaBoy:

quote:

Originally posted by P250UA5:
Got my first NV/Thermal experience a couple weeks ago on a laye coyote hunt. Not sure if they were NV or Thermal, nor what brands [think one was a Sightmark], but it was definitely neat & had my interest piqued.

The Sightmark equipped rifle was good to about 100yds before it was too dark beyond to see.

100 yards is just getting started. With thermal I can see animals at half a mile and ID them as a coyote or deer at 3/400. Killed a coyote last night at 250.

I don't know what brand the other was, but it had a much clearer/sharper image & further reach. IIRC, owner said it was in the $1800 range, on a 6.5Grendel AR.

quote:

Originally posted by JoshNC:
That starry banana is a FEATURE, not a problem.

Ha!

quote:

Originally posted by JoshNC:
You should definitely pony up for the DIRV. It’s great. I sold my MAWL-C1+ when I got the DIRV. Arisaka is definitely the place to buy it.

It's a big pill to swallow, but I have to say that with all the looking I'm doing, it's starting to look like the one to beat.

Another point from the other night, which I neglected to mention, concerns passive aiming. After the planned event was complete, we were BSing, and I asked one friend why he doesn't prioritize passive aiming, in the way he sets up his optic. He has an Eotech on his rifle, and uses it to aim passively on occasion, but he doesn't bother to put a riser under it, and is forced to make huge compromises when he does aim passively. When I asked him why he doesn't make his setup more conducive to passive, he said "because the laser is faster anyway". So, I prompted him to go through the stage a couple times with my gun, and didn't allow him to decline; I even let him burn my ammo. He came off his first run, and said "wow; that's fast". He ran it again, and ultimately had his opinion fundamentally changed. If you don't have a high mount, a passive-capable optic will not reveal it's full potential.

Hey guys, meteor shower next week. You know what to do.

https://sigforum.com/eve/forum...0601935/m/2940061505


I've been thinking I need to try a riser next. LAM is still a good ways off, I've been buying tax stamps.

Has anyone tried a Designate IR-V?

quote:

thinking I need to try a riser next.

Two friends have this under an EXPS3-0; it is an excellent setup.
https://www.admmfg.com/picatinny-riser-mount
Their part number is AD-170-VPG-TALL-3LUG-STD, for the tall one that's in stock (three notches).

quote:

Has anyone tried a Designate IR-V?

JoshNC has one, and is a staunch advocate. He discusses it quite a bit in the preceding few pages of this thread.

quote:

Originally posted by Voshterkoff:
Has anyone tried a Designate IR-V?

Curious as well, vsel and form look great, Arisaka did a bit better on the mount.

Between this and a D2.

Picture thread do I don’t get called out like I did for the Garand thread

quote:

Originally posted by P220 Smudge:
Hey guys, meteor shower next week. You know what to do.

https://sigforum.com/eve/forum...0601935/m/2940061505

I've been thinking I need to try a riser next. LAM is still a good ways off, I've been buying tax stamps.

I’ll mount the eotech tonight with and without and get you some comparison photos if you’d like.

quote:

Originally posted by Voshterkoff:
Has anyone tried a Designate IR-V?

I'm seeing nothing but positive reviews of the newer versions. The original had a plastic mount that some people had crack. The newer one comes with an aluminum insert. I saw something on Reddit to the effect that the upgrades they were doing for the Arisaka version are now standard. It's what I'll be saving up for next, I'm just gonna skip straight to it.

quote:

Originally posted by KSGM:
Two friends have this under an EXPS3-0; it is an excellent setup.

Thanks, that's a good price. I'm thinking I might want to go a bit taller, I dunno. I keep seeing 1.92" and 2.26" being talked about. I need to try some stuff out. Might just buy the Chinese Amazon Unity ripoff to try it out and then return it. I know it's shitty, but I figure if they're just going to rip off American designs and Amazon's going to just knowingly sell it, it's fair game. Fuck it.

quote:

Originally posted by OttoSig:
Curious as well, vsel and form look great, Arisaka did a bit better on the mount.

Between this and a D2.

The D2 has a really good illuminator, but it's a pig. And it's a Steiner. And pricing is all over the map with them being only a few hundred cheaper than the DIR-V at worst or $1,200 on clearance from PSA at the best. Guys have been buying them up to flip them for a few hundred. I dunno, I was looking at the D2 because the illuminator is so good, but Steiner pissed me off and they don't have the best reputation to begin with, so I'm just going to skip them.

quote:

I keep seeing 1.92" and 2.26" being talked about

Is that riser height or optical centerline above the receiver? I don't know either of those measurements, for my setup; but I did measure the optical centerline's height-over-bore (as best I could), and came up with about 4.5". I am referring to the setup in that image I had sent to you a little while back.

If you didn't select the tall option, in the link I posted, then you didn't see the one that the part number I wrote refers to; it is 1.2" tall. Add the meat under the Eotech window to that, and you're going to end up with a optical centerline above the receiver of probably over 2.5".

quote:

Might just buy the Chinese Amazon Unity ripoff

That, IMO, isn't high enough. I had a Unity under my EXPS3-0, on top of another 5/8" riser, before I got the riser I have now. You gotta go "GBRS tall".

Oh, yeah I don't have an Eotech yet, so that makes sense. My Holosun is basically a T2 in profile, so that will at least give me some standard measurements to work with. So the Hydra is 2.65" and the Unity I looked at was 2.26". I guess I'll order a Unity and Goobers knockoff each, and see which I like better.

Ah, I forgot you were working with a dot. You said Unity riser, and my mind went to their Eotech riser, which I wasn't satisfied with. I don't have experience with any dot/riser setups.

A friend and I did some shooting on Tuesday night. No real notable take-aways, other than the fact that I found myself having to re-engage, on three different occasions, when using the laser.

We did some runs passive, and some runs with laser/illuminator. It's no doubt due to me having less practice with the laser than I really ought to, but I found it more difficult to land confident hits with the laser, than when shooting passive. It was especially true for a moving target.

It seems, to me, that it may have something to do with your body position and "weld" being the same as what you're used to during the day, when shooting passively; but you're more prone to move the gun independently of your body, when using the laser, which could lead to jerkier movements. When I missed, I knew it, and I gave it another shot; upon target inspection, you could see the miss.

Ok, I ordered a Chinese Unity clone, 2.26" height. Tried it out for about an hour in the back yard. I think 2.26" is plenty, maybe the 2.33" of the Overbore Night Height at the most. I don't see a need to go 3" with a Hydra. I do have to admit, the weight of the LAM being further back over the receiver instead of forward, freeing up rail estate, and slaving the laser and dot zero to one mount are all potentially nice features. I could get there with a T2 on a Unity FAST and an HRF Skiff, though. Downside is I'd be limiting myself to pressure pads. It's all tradeoffs - gain one thing, lose another. The heads up posture was much easier to get a dot up and on target quickly without clunking the objective off the rail, so that's nice. I think I'm sold.

I did some star gazing, too. It's super clear out tonight, no moon, less light pollution where I live now. Amongst the stars, I found a cloudy, undefined spot that was much too large to be a star. It dawned on my that I was looking at a nebula or a galaxy, so I pulled out the phone and started checking Night Sky. I'm pretty sure I found Andromeda. I love this.

Going to need to start taking the unit off the helmet for stargazing, though. The amount of counterweight I'm using is just enough to keep everything from sliding forward, but also enough to give me a sore neck after staring straight up for a half hour.

Primary arms has the unity for around 120$ right now. 145$ on sale plus save 12 stacks.

It’s all coming together.