NVS Problems

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12 years 10 months ago - 12 years 10 months ago #10843 by JustMe
NVS Problems was created by JustMe
I bought 3 night vision scopes to down some hogs and none of them will hold a zero. My AR-10T shoots a sub-half inch group at 100 yds with a Leupold scope. I torqued the NVSs to 30 and 50 inch lbs. At the range, the rifle was mounted in a vise on a super stable shooting table.

The 1st was an ATN 350 ($450) Gen 1+. I both boresighted and laser boresighted it before firing the first shot. The first 5 rounds were taken at 35 yards and I couldn't hit the entire target board (2 ft x 2 ft) after re-laser boresighting it twice at 35 yards. Moved up to 10 yds and barely could keep it on the board. The scope would flash constantly and then you would see the reticle move 6 inches or more off the bullseye at 10 yards (no, not 100 yds) and then gradually it would creep back towards the bull. I also didn't like the ergonomics of this ATN scope. It mounted very low and covered the charge handle, you needed two hands (one on each side of the charging handle) to charge the rifle which I considered dangerous. Sent it back for a refund.

The second and 3rd NVSs were Yukon 2.5 x 50 Titanium, Gen 1+. The ergonomics were much improved, still a little hard to reach the charging handle, but it was doable with one hand. These drifted all over the place at 10 yards (again not 100 yds). When you turned the scope off and then back on after about 30 seconds in a vice, the crosshair moved off the bull about 3 inches left and 6 inch down, but when fired, the bullet was all over the paper. Also, the windage and elevation worked backwards. Called Yukon and they said it adjusted point-of-aim rather than point-of-impact. Sent both of these back. Went to the Yukon web site and noticed this Titanium scope had been discontinued and appeared to be replaced by a Yukon Tactical 2.5 x 50. So, I ordered this one at about $600 which won't be in until the end of March.

My buddy has a Yukon 1 x 50 Titanium on a .223 that he hasn't had any problems with for 3 years. He also went through 3 scopes initially, a used russian military surplus that was faulty, an ATN 350 he didn't like, and finally his Yukon. The Yukon 1 x 50 he has is discontinued.

Do any of you have any experience with these ATN and Yukon scopes? Would you recommend any other brand? I don't want to invest in a $2K-$15K scope just to shoot a few hogs at 50 yards or less.

Thanks, Jer
Last edit: 12 years 10 months ago by JustMe.

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12 years 10 months ago #10846 by Charlie
Replied by Charlie on topic Re: NVS Problems
Holy Cow! That's worse than useless!

A friend who just returned from Afgh told me the weapon mounted night vision scopes were not very robust. They don't like .223 recoil (I can imagine how they'd feel about .308!). He prefers night vision goggles and an EoTech Holo or a Trijicon ACOG (I forget which models he used).

Our application is hogs, and I'm still collecting data.

Charlie

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12 years 10 months ago #10847 by 13fcolt
Replied by 13fcolt on topic Re: NVS Problems
My experience with night vision has been similar. My platoon went through a dozen 6X nvs (M-something raptors I think they were) and none of them held zero for long. Our best success was with the PVS-14 mounted inline with an acog,aimpioint,or eotech. We messed around with some of the couplers that would supposedly attach the '14 to the ocular on the leupolds but that had issues as well.

I'm not sure whats up with manufacturers and what seems like an inability to make a half decent NVS. I would think if you can build night vision, repeatable adjustments would be the easier task, but I guess not. I suggest keeping them separated. It should give you the flexibility to use much better optics, and possibly keep the cost within your threshold. For the distance you are shooting you could even go for a head mount and ir laser for the tacticool hog hunt.

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12 years 10 months ago #10848 by Charlie
Replied by Charlie on topic Re: NVS Problems

13fcolt wrote: My experience with night vision has been similar. My platoon went through a dozen 6X nvs (M-something raptors I think they were) and none of them held zero for long. Our best success was with the PVS-14 mounted inline with an acog,aimpioint,or eotech. We messed around with some of the couplers that would supposedly attach the '14 to the ocular on the leupolds but that had issues as well.

I'm not sure whats up with manufacturers and what seems like an inability to make a half decent NVS. I would think if you can build night vision, repeatable adjustments would be the easier task, but I guess not. I suggest keeping them separated. It should give you the flexibility to use much better optics, and possibly keep the cost within your threshold. For the distance you are shooting you could even go for a head mount and ir laser for the tacticool hog hunt.


My buddy said exactly the same thing. I'm going to take a closer look at IR.

Charlie

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12 years 10 months ago #10852 by JustMe
Replied by JustMe on topic Re: NVS Problems
Thanks guys. If this next scope doesn't work, I'll try the goggles. The night vision (PS-22 or PVS-22/14) that attaches to a regular scope costs more than I'm willing to spend until I see how much night hog hunting I will be doing in the future. My buddy is getting impatient with my lack of success with NVSs.

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12 years 10 months ago #10854 by foxhunter
Replied by foxhunter on topic Re: NVS Problems
I have a gen 2 d740 4x from TNVC ( www.tnvc.com ) that I routinely take off my ar104a and use as a monocular, then reattach to the gun and it holds its zero perfectly. They run near $2900, but should last the rest of your life. I am shooting mine on the .308 with no issues.

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12 years 10 months ago #10858 by JustMe
Replied by JustMe on topic Re: NVS Problems
Fox thanks. Maybe it takes $3K to buy a dependable NVS. I hope not. Jer

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12 years 10 months ago - 12 years 10 months ago #10865 by JeffSavannah
Replied by JeffSavannah on topic Re: NVS Problems
This first group is here in Georgia and they know a lot about thermal and night vision hog hunting. They use $14,000 scopes mounted on DPMS LR308's (I know! Right? why not Armalite AR's??? lol), so "using what they use" is not an option, obviously. But contact them, even just on their comments on youtube or go to their website/email to contact them... they seem like really with it and nice guys and would probably be glad to help you find the best thing you can do within your budget. Since you are shooting at such short ranges, the advice you have been given already may indeed be what you need to do. But always helps to get good input for expensive purchases like this, and with a friend getting antsy... good luck and keep us updated. This is something I want to move myself into doing eventually.



Last edit: 12 years 10 months ago by JeffSavannah.

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12 years 10 months ago #10867 by Charlie
Replied by Charlie on topic Re: NVS Problems
That's what I'm talking about! Thanks for the vids!

Charlie

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12 years 10 months ago #10874 by JustMe
Replied by JustMe on topic Re: NVS Problems
Thanks Jeff. I was doing some more web surfing and read a review from a guy having sighting-in problems with the Yukon 2.5x50 Tactical. Looks like I may be setting myself up for another disappointment when I ordered this scope. I sure like the Thermal Imager in the video. I'll try contacting Georgia Hog Hunting to see what they suggest.

Jer

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