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I was invited into a meet up to shoot at night. What I thought to be an exercise of flashlights on rifles and pistols was actually a bunch of guys shooting with night vision. Doh!
They were really cool and let me play with mono and bino night vision gear including visible and IR lasers and illuminators. It was really fun.
After that, I got to thinking, it would be cool to have something like that stuff, but not at 4,000 bucks for a mono, and about 12 grand for a nice white phosphor bino rig.
I went through all my usual junking channels and found this.
ATN Gen 2 commercial night vision monocular. Cool, I have a foundation for this project.
Buying a helmet was challenging. I need it to be an ACH type, so that I can mount the hearing protection I found. I ordered ballistic helmets twice, but had to cancel them due to delivery issues, and also one merchant who was difficult to deal with. I ended up settling on an FMA bump helmet.
The rest of the stuff is a milsurp mounting system, a 3M Tactical 6S earpro that I converted with a 3M Comtact mount. That saved me at least 300 bucks. Lastly an FMA counter weight kit.
When I got everything, I realized a major mistake. The ATN NVD has the right mounting system, but it was not mil-spec. I couldnt adjust the goggle to eye level no matter what I did.
I explored many different available options, but nothing worked out. I even considered buying a new night vision device, but that would have negated the objective of this project, a budget NVD rig.
At the end of the day, I settled on fabricating a bracket. I taught myself how to anneal aluminum to bend it, and I watched a few videos online on bracket making with thick bar stock.
Here is the result. An L bracket adapter for the ATN NVD to attach to a standard USGI J-Arm. When I paint it black and buy black bolts, I think it would hardly be noticeable.
Flame suit on. Yeah, I know buy once, cry one. You do you. I just wanna play in the dark!
The NVD is actually very clear and has a perfect image. Any hot spots you see in the picture below is the built it IR lamp that is way too strong to use indoors over a few yards. Outdoors, the IR is really good.
All in, I have a working Gen 2 NVD rig with earpro for a hair above $ 800.00. That includes buying the dummy head which I used as a guide to design the bracket. Its not a small sum of money, but it is a drop in the bucket compared to what it takes to play in the dark. I think its a win.
And no, this isnt a fighting rig. It a range toy.
They were really cool and let me play with mono and bino night vision gear including visible and IR lasers and illuminators. It was really fun.
After that, I got to thinking, it would be cool to have something like that stuff, but not at 4,000 bucks for a mono, and about 12 grand for a nice white phosphor bino rig.
I went through all my usual junking channels and found this.
ATN Gen 2 commercial night vision monocular. Cool, I have a foundation for this project.
Buying a helmet was challenging. I need it to be an ACH type, so that I can mount the hearing protection I found. I ordered ballistic helmets twice, but had to cancel them due to delivery issues, and also one merchant who was difficult to deal with. I ended up settling on an FMA bump helmet.
The rest of the stuff is a milsurp mounting system, a 3M Tactical 6S earpro that I converted with a 3M Comtact mount. That saved me at least 300 bucks. Lastly an FMA counter weight kit.
When I got everything, I realized a major mistake. The ATN NVD has the right mounting system, but it was not mil-spec. I couldnt adjust the goggle to eye level no matter what I did.
I explored many different available options, but nothing worked out. I even considered buying a new night vision device, but that would have negated the objective of this project, a budget NVD rig.
At the end of the day, I settled on fabricating a bracket. I taught myself how to anneal aluminum to bend it, and I watched a few videos online on bracket making with thick bar stock.
Here is the result. An L bracket adapter for the ATN NVD to attach to a standard USGI J-Arm. When I paint it black and buy black bolts, I think it would hardly be noticeable.
Flame suit on. Yeah, I know buy once, cry one. You do you. I just wanna play in the dark!
The NVD is actually very clear and has a perfect image. Any hot spots you see in the picture below is the built it IR lamp that is way too strong to use indoors over a few yards. Outdoors, the IR is really good.
All in, I have a working Gen 2 NVD rig with earpro for a hair above $ 800.00. That includes buying the dummy head which I used as a guide to design the bracket. Its not a small sum of money, but it is a drop in the bucket compared to what it takes to play in the dark. I think its a win.
And no, this isnt a fighting rig. It a range toy.
Even if it breaks after a few outings. However, Im very impressed with its quality. Very happy with this purchase, specially after feeling the weight of a complete rig. I dont think I'd want the extra 2 pounds from a ballistic helmet. 
optic planet here I come.lol
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