Night Vision rifle scope

      Brendan ,     Tell me about your night vision scope. Did you buy it here in Aust , Generation 1 , 2 or 3 and if it's gen 3 are you game to say how much it cost ? I have a gen 2 monocular and it's not bad on a moonlit night but fairly hopeless if I have to use the infra red feature , the beam is much too narrow and only good for about 60 m. I have used a British Army gen 4 sight and they are fantastic , moonlight or not, just like daylight only green and can see a Km away , but unbuyable unless you know a Iraq war veteran who steals things .Even then they want about $8000 .Are you totally happy with it ?  Speak to the mauserman.

There is no way I would purchase nightvision from anyone in Australia, the cost of the product here over double if not triple the cost of direct import from the US.

Here have a look at this item, it is almost exactly the one I have except mine is a Gen 2+.  I think from memory it cost me around $1,600USD about four years ago.

http://www.opticsplus.net/NightVision/RifleScopes/AriesMK440RifleScope45xMag2ndGen

You only able to get generation 1 and generation 2 in Australia (Gen 2+ is the best quality nightvision you can purchase here in Australia or import from the US).  Gen 3 are strictly controlled by America and require a letter of approval from the defence Minister of the United States and Australia. Gen 4 has a full ban and is only available to military personnel and then only available to the friends of the United States. Like us.

when I'm using mine I also use LightForce spotlight that has a clip on infra red cover, so there is no visible light coming from the spotlight at all. It is a fantastic piece of equipment and once you do this type of hunting it is hard to go back to day hunting.  The only thing that stops me from permanently hunting at night is that I don't have night vision goggles, but that is not that far away.

I know what I purchased my infrared cover for my spotlight from the gun shop, I was the only person outside of law enforcement and secret squirrels that the gun owner had ever sold one of these infrared covers to.

This is the type of equipment im looking at.

http://www.opticsplus.net/NightVision/Goggles/ANPVS-7DBNightVisionGoggleGen2SALE

I purchased from this website and I must say the service was excellent, and after a few hiccups I had my nightvision in my hot little hands.

I have posted a picture of some pigs I scored using it. Have a look here:

http://ozhunter.com/media/p/40.aspx

http://ozhunter.com/media/p/39.aspx

When I use that I am normally stationary and either sitting over dam, or some other bait. It is very surprising how close you can actually get to animals in the night using this type of equipment, and to this reason the shots you are generally doing a normally under 40 m.  the nightvision itself when using the spotlight is able to quite easily see out to around 200 m, but as I said this is not normally needed as you can walk straight up to the animals.

as you can see on top of the rifle in the picture, the scope is mounted on Weaver rails, so during the day I switch scopes and don't have the need to re-site each of them in. It is very bloody cool

Very informative , yours is the Aries MK 440 then, big isn't it? I would love to hunt with one of these before buying , I'm sure I'd be hooked. I just have a hang-up about NV service and repairs , my mate in England had to send his to Holland for repairs , it's there or Russia , apparently they are the only two places on earth that do it . Mine was replaced under warranty four years ago rather than repair it. Jade Cleaver from Cleaver Firearms has an IR lens for his spotlight , I must borrow it.

I think mine has to be sent back to the USA if it need service.

I know what you mean, they cost a bomb and then you have to send them to another country.  that is the reason way I went for the ATN vight vision over cheaper Russian one's, also the quality of the USA vight vision is much better.

I will be taking it with my up to QLD on my hunting trip next month, so when you come up and visit you can have a go.

Do you think it is the same for day time scopes. What I mean is do you think that there is more advanced optics being used by the military that we dont have access to yet?????? 

Paul, I really don't know,haven't heard of anything spooky, but I know the latest British army scopes are Schmidt & Bender and the one I looked through seemed ordinary.          Brendan ,  you cant trust the brand name on NV ,mine is a Bushnell whose products used to be made in USA but mine was made in Russia .An authority on NV told me the critical inner lens or photo cells are only made in Russia and Holland and they control the world market and also make the vast majority of NV equipment , anyone else who assembles them must import their inner lens' / cells from them. Maybe that information is out of date now , I don't know.                    

I am in the process of getting a NV scope for my Air rifle......its going to be very interesting.

which one are you getting?

My knowledge of the miltary scopes, is limited and only 2nd hand, but what I know is that their day scopes (depending on who you are in the miltary) are created so they can be converted to night vision scopes without removing the scope and with no loss of point of impact.

This is done by using a addition/cover on the scope that converts it to night vision.

Kinda like this.

http://www.nvt.com.au/Night-Vision/night-vision-rifle-scopes/ATN-PS22-Convert-Day-Scope-to-Night-Vision/

The optics in long range and IR are way beyond what we can use or know of but that is taking the bar some what higher as these optics are normaly mounted on equipment (ie tanks, helos, UAV, etc etc).

Normaly the rifle scopes are the same as what we can buy, in in most cases for most infantry, we get much, much better optics.

http://www.nightvision4less.meridian1.net/default.asp?S=503&A=E&PKV=ATN-MK6800-DEFENDER|0

I am looking at the above. Will be used on my other rifles also. Some experimenting will be done

Dean , don't buy gen1 or 2, they aren't very good,you wont be happy. 2+  as a minimum. 

mauserman:

Dean , don't buy gen1 or 2, they aren't very good,you wont be happy. 2+  as a minimum. 

I agree.  The only problem is that gen 2+ is also the maximum. [:'(]

Here at a look at this url, it has the different version of the gen 2+

http://www.opticsplus.net/NightVision/RifleScopes/AriesMK-6800cDefenderII2ndGeneration

The version differ in clarity.  Think of it as a resolution for your computer screen.  the higher the resolution the clearer the picture.  I would think the Aries MK-600c "Defender II"  Gen 2+ HPT 55-64lp/mm would be a great choice....  The only $2,665 USA$$$$$.

It would make for a great scope and it is a s**t-load smaller and lighter than mine.

Mate if you want a real kickarse scope have a look at this puppy.

http://www.opticsplus.net/ThermalNightVision/ThermalWeaponSights/ELCANSpecterIRSP50B

Nice, very nice....  This is why our SASR can kick some terrorist booty...  If you have this type of equipment you ar miles ahead of the competition.

Thanks guys.

Weight will be a factor, but we dont want to compromise qaulity. The above option you have mentioned Brendo looks good. We might buy that one.

Would only look at Gen2+ ill get the cam adaptor as well. Brendon, can you attache yours to a camera?

Yes I would only get Gen 2+ but I prefer to spend the extra $$$$ to get the best.  If I could purchase Gen 3 I would be over that like a hooker at a bucks night.

I dont have a camera attachachement for mine, but I would like one.  I use mine a bit just for looking at wildlife and taking camping.  To be able to photograph some of the things I have seen would be great.

What are you going to be using it for?  Is it more for hunting or are you going to use it for other things likes looking and filiming wild life?

If I can get a gen 3 then i will, but i thought you couldn't get one.

We will use it to shoot at night, dont mind a bit of a stroll on a quite dark night. I will deff be getting the cam adaptor.

Would be good at night when camping