Near-Complete Failure: Delta CAR-15 at Midnight Brutality 2023
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 16 ก.ค. 2024
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Thanks to the 1 Shepherd cadre for making Midnight Brutality possible! And thanks to our excellent match sponsors:
Tactical Night Vision Company (TNVC)
B.E. Meyers Advanced Photonics
Live Q or Die
Varusteleka
Midnight Brutality was a 6-stage all-nighttime match held at the Echo Valley Training Center. It was designed to test gear and skills in a dark environment, and it was both tremendously fun and very educational. This particular night for me, more educational than fun...
This is my run through the match in Infantry division, meaning that I was using an infrared laser and infrared light. Specifically, I was using a clone of a 1980s or early 1990s Delta Force CAR-15 carbine setup. It is set up with an Aimpoint 5000 red dot, an AN/PAQ-4A infrared pulsing laser, and a Surefire 6P with an infrared filter. It also has a collar for an Ops Inc telescoped suppressor, but I didn't have one of those on it for the match. The upper assembly was generously loaned to me by Augie Kim of TNVC (Tactical Night Vision Company), who was also our primary match sponsor.
This sort of carbine setup would be fantastic for kicking doors and clearing rooms...but it did not work well for me against small targets at long (by night standards) ranges in minimum ambient light, to put it mildly. One could also say I crashed harder than a Blackhawk over Mogadishu. The problems I had were twofold; the flashlight just didn't give enough light for targets on the open range, and the laser dot was larger than any of the targets I had to engage.
Filming was done with a Sionyx OPSIN digital NV monocular/camera. I also used a Grec recorder on one of my PVS14 tubes to get a first-person view. The OPSIN struggled in the early stages before the moon rose and the clouds cleared a bit, but it was massively aided by my IR light. Actually, the OPSIN did a better job with the flashlight than my PVS-14s did. My test runs with the rig before the match had all been under significantly better lighting (lots of stars and some moon), and didn't give me a proper appreciation for the setup's strengths and weaknesses.
I completed four of the six stages, and avoided being dead last only because a couple other people also failed to complete all the stages, and one person DQ'd. It was educational, but frustrating. If I could go back knowing what I do now, I would not have chosen to use it in the match. That said, I initially tried to find a way to bring an M3 Snooper M1 Carbine with Korean-War era NV scope, and I'm very glad that didn't work out! That rig would have been even worse...
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40 year old night vision equipment vs. modern gear, really no surprise it was this bad. But back then when no one had this tech, it was revolutionary.
If this setup didn't work well out there, imagine how badly iron sights would do.
Add that when most of that gear was in use, the NVGs were PVS-5s.
@@Ghatbkk ...or AN/PVS-7 (1988) and monocular
@@classifiedad1 How bad they are, in Ukraine every day.
@@classifiedad1 really if you were In a team environment with powerful white lights you would get more hits than with that laser. Just gotta master that momentary switch and SMCS.
That size laser with today's technology is a great way to set your enemies hideout on fire.
LMAO except it doesn't have half the power to weight ratio needed to actually do it!
Sounds like GI Joe stuff ;)
Phased plasma rifle in the forty watt range?
sshhhh we dont talk about the existence of laser weaponry
@@yungweezer th-cam.com/video/PV3jfR-FUFc/w-d-xo.html 🤫
Might not have been the most effective but its drip or drown out there and Ian is swimming.
Swimming? Ian is in a speedboat
@@Sam-ge9bm Gun Jesus has such drip he's walking on the water.
The water refuses to soak the drip.
His drip is dripping with more drip
Hey I actually work with lasers, and in my opinion, the pulsing comes down to the age of the technology. First lasers were pulse lasers since they are easier to make.
You basically pump the active media with a strobe light and selectivity let the photons out towards the target once the strobe light interacts with the active media enough (grossly simplified).
Also, pulsing a laser generates a higher peak power, so a brighter beam, which is easier for a soldier to see. A continuous IR laser beam in the 90s was probably too expensive and would probably generate a very weak/dim beam.
Also, today's lasers are diode lasers. Which have a better efficiency, around 50% of pump energy gets converted to light as opposed to 90s lasers which have a efficiency of around 2%-10% , so you don't dump energy into heat as much as a non diode laser.
Lasers improved massively in the last 20 years.
My take on the pulsing laser, tho my opinion and I might be wrong.
it looks like it would have been more useful though to have he laser pulse faster - would that have been more problematic to make or use?
Ian says that the thing works best at close range with moving targets, but that's where I see the most need to have a faster pulse.
Believe it or not the AN/PAQ-4A is a diode based device. It doesn't seem to be using an external cavity so I doubt it's Q-switched, so it's probably either for battery life or diode life, and since it's rated for 50,000 10 second pulses I'm thinking diode life.
@@Ass_of_Amalek it pulses pretty fast already though, think with some practice you could interpolate between flashes
@Fletcher Reder interesting, I really couldn't find any useful information about this?
If that's the case, maybe pulsing the laser is still due to the peak power. You do still gain a higher intensity at the target by pulsing the laser. Are there any other time period alternatives that weren't pulsed?
As for the faster pulsing. You do lose some peak power at higher repetition frequency, assuming you are using the same source.
As for the battery vs diode life I would probably lean more towards the battery life, in reality it's probably a mix of both.
@@JankoTuta not an electronics guy, but couldn't it be that the flashes are made brighter than a continuous beam by powering the laser through a capacitor that's charged by the battery between flashes? basically like a camera flash.
Ian might have got on the midnight struggle bus with such a setup in the modern era.
But everyone else back then it would have be bumbling through some kind of hellish existence in the dark getting their arses shot off by some spec forces ninja out of nowhere. So it was a great look at the technology and overall improvisation to get a weapon system and its accessories working together to the point someone was willing to trust their life to it
Based on Ukrainian reports out of Russia, this level of night vision is *still* a huge force multiplier
@@gregorysteffensen3279 Where are these reports?
@@MacEwanMouse they were in the leaked reports from the pentagon, ya know, the reports that contradict what the lamestream media is saying about the Ukro's winning.
@@MacEwanMouse I mean, even informal word from as early as March/April last year has always been that Russian conscripts have extremely minimal night fighting capacity - the big anecdote I'm thinking of was a guy in the foreign volunteer service who almost felt bad for how outgunned the Russians were in any kind of night op, basically reduced to calling out in the dark for their squadmates
@@gregorysteffensen3279 source: my ass
“Karl is gone man, I’ll be outside”
Doesn't matter how bad you do. You are officially the coolest guy at the range with that gun
Having just finished reading Black Hawk Down, it's positively fascinating seeing another visual representation of what those guys brought into battle.
Tech be wild
Have you already seen the movie adaptation?
@@ShooterQ I have the deluxe edition of the movie, it's got a couple documentaries on the event and the making of the film along with interviews and commentary from guys who were there. It's definitely worth getting if you're interested in the whole Mogadishu incident. Funnily enough, some of general Aidid's kids were going to the same elementary school in London Ontario Canada as me at the time of everything happening.
There's a reason the IR Spotlight was a pretty "standard issue" modification that people would jury rig up whenever they could nab one for their tanks, emplacements, etc if it didnt come with one. Illumination is everything when lasers diffuse in your muzzle smoke and fog. Glad to see you were still able to pull some enjoyment out of a less than ideal setup, and hopefully next year is kinder!
That size of IR light on a tank does nothing more than paint you a target. You don't shoot 50 feet in front of you with tanks, which is about how far that gives sufficient lighting.
@@anteshell still could be nice to see where you are going....
@@anteshell I was referring to the the spotlights, not a flashlight with an IR Cap on it. They'd illuminate out hundreds of yards and occasionally had scopes to match. Things like the an/vss-3.
Now I am far from being an expert on tactical gear, and when I was in Vietnam I spent most of my time in the rear with the gear, as I was a field Communicator. Back in 1970 I had the duty, guard duty on our small base just a few miles outside Cam Rahn Bay at Dong Ba Thin, now a Vietnamese naval station. We had 60 foot steel guard towers and bunkers on the perimeter, I drew a tall tower. I was equipped with my M-16A1, and we had an M-60 as well on the tower. For night vision we had a starlight scope. It was huge by today's standards, but if my memory serves, it gave a MUCH better view in total darkness then your setup. Perhaps your setup was made for a different purpose.
Mounting to a helmet really constrains the design, if you don’t want neck injuries
Well, in any optic, the more light you can get into the system, the better it will perform, generally speaking. Those initial starlight scopes were light amplifiers, so the more light you could get to work with, the better it would run.
The reason they were called starlight scopes is that they were supposed to be able to work with just starlight, although i have no first hand knowledge of that, it's just something i have heard. But based on the electronics, it makes sense. Although moonlight would be better.
But i am in every way a noob to night vision, other than having a basic understanding of the electronics behind how it works.
My friend, Vietnam veteran and Judo sensei, named his third daughter Cam Rahn. He didn't share many stories, but what hi did share was funny as hell. Wish I remembered more of his stories.
I’m a Vietnam vet also. We used a starlight scope somewhen we were south of Tuy Hoa on highway 1. The scope helped some where we had a lot of open area. Say rice paddies. Actually on a clear night a pair of binoculars worked just as well. In the jungles of the central highlands the scope was useless. To big to deal with, and I don’t ever recall using one after we moved to the highlands west of Pleiku. I also carried the first one of the car-15, (XM177E1). Recon platoon 4Th ID 66/67
It is worth noting that this match was DARK. I shot the same night as Ian did and it was pretty much complete overcast until the final stage of the match. Any light amplification tube would struggle in these conditions. If you were on a base, it is very possible there was supplemental lighting around and/or if it was a clear sky visibility would be great, for a Starlight or a modern PVS-14. Meanwhile, this match was in the middle of the woods far away from any town with zero moon or starlight until later in the night.
It was seriously like night and day when the clouds broke and allowed moonlight in on the final stage. We went from *requiring* illumination from your weapon or helmet mounted light to being able to see clearly for hundreds of yards without any light coming from your kit.
Another consideration when comparing old tech vs new is the fact that the the things delta and other branches were shooting were moving. Movement is way easier to pick up compared to static targets.
I would agree BUT he had a lot of difficulty with the spinner. Of course that zippy do dah laser was getting in the way. That thing is a clear example of 'man that sounds cool, it's gonna be great!' which turned out counterproductive.
Moving *and* shooting back.
My limited experience with ir is that things that hold still are hard to find. When things move it's easier to see what needs to be shot at.
I know that Delta/CAG was at the time of the Mogadishu debacle using NVGs that were designed for pilots because they were considerably better. It would be interesting to see a comparison between the standard issue and those optics from back then.
The tubes themselves were the same in both the AN/PVS-7 and the ANVIS 6/9 units. Dual tube is just obviously better but the technology and picture quality is exactly the same.
@@kilroy5166 not quite. Aviation tubes for OMNI III were better than ground tubes, both in SNR and EBI. They were made on the same assembly line, and the ANVIS units were simply upselected, so you could get ground tubes as good as ANVIS, but it was not the norm.
Even though you struggled with the setup, I love the way you use some historical firearm or kit in these matches. It really shows how things have changed versus modern arms and equipment. I'm sorry you struggled but I still loved the effort you put into this. Thanks Ian, and good luck on the next match.
We stand on the shoulders of giants. Operators back in the day really revolutionized how we set up fighting rifles today.
They walked (hose clamp flashlight) so we could run (duct taped dollar store laser pointer)
@@pcarrierorange Ah, a fellow tactical dollar store enjoyer. Greetings brother.
We'll never know all the bleeding edge tech and stone age field mods various operators have used. Even dollar store tactical gear only goes so far.
We did NightFire training for several Air Force units (Pararescue and Forward Combat Controllers) back in the 90's using Infared lasers and PVS-7's. It was interesting experience in total darkness. They would engage pop up targets at night and the only way we could see what they were doing (other than muzzle flashes) was with our PVS-4 scopes or PVS-7 headsets. As you noted there were limitations, and it took lots of practice with the PVS-7's (and just a hint of moonlight) for the system to work well. When you wore the night vision goggles it was a veritable laser night show, without them you saw nothing (that was the point).
This is really meant for MOUT inside of buildings. This is a specific load out for a specific scenario. This was also used by teams with a lot of experience with the benefits and limitations of what they had.
I was in a special operations unit in the late 1970s and we were given some laser sights to play with. Our conclusion was that they were too bulky to ever be practical. I don't think any of us imagined how tiny they would eventually become.
Well, the old gas lasers were way, way too big to be usable.
Modern diode lasers are tiny.
Dude, you were using 40yr old electronics! I can't think of any 40yr old electronics that can touch what we have now. I wouldn't say you failed at all. What you accomplished with it was impressive.
Yes, the shoot house with that old gear would have been awesome! I found myself thinking of Vickers in his prime.
Yes indeed!
It would be awesome if Delta/CAG invited Ian to their training facilities. I bet it could be done without security concerns if they were careful about what was filmed.
@@chemistryofquestionablequa6252 But Delta aren't like the SEALs unfortunately.
@@MrPolicekarim yeah, they're certainly more secretive, which is understandable. With today's recruitment problems having someone like Ian make a video with them would be smart.
An interview with LAV or someone else from that period would be interesting regarding their memories of this kit.
It’s cool he loaned you what’s basically a museum piece.
ah the CAR-15 one of my favorite carbines
Hi Ian, I’ve contacted you before, I served in SVN with the Australian SASR. My patrol Sgt had a “real” CAR 15, I can’t recall precisely, but I think he got it while we were on exchange with Seal Team 2. One of the numerous funny memories I have is of my Sgt cursing a blue stroke in the middle of a contact on the Song Ri River, because his CAR 15 had numerous stoppages, he was incandescent. He never went bush with the CAR 15 again. You may recall, I used a cut down SLR/FN 7.62 mm. Btw, I’ve been in Arizona for the past 2 months, love it, I’ve been experimenting with pistols, the people I stay with have about 60 acres with a nice little shooting range out the back. The CAR 15, in my opinion, needed a different buffer.
A third possibility (albeit since this is a He-Ne excited laser, duty cycle and thermal control also make sense) would be improved visibility of a pulsing dot under adverse conditions. However, because it is gas laser, the pulse may also be a natural artefact of the underlying laser technology.
I wonder if the pulse can be modified? I know pulse IR lasers are used for laser-guided missiles. The pulse acts as a signature for the missile to lock onto; they will only lock on to specify pulses to avoid it locking on to random lasers.
@@vhscopyofseinfeld For a diode laser, absolutely. Gas lasers probably could do it through the use of shutters or, possibly, electronics. However, He-Ne laser tubes are similar to fluorescent bulbs In that they need an initial pulse of electricity to get them going, I don't know how much that dwell time can be adjusted.
@@detritus23 They are basically fired by a xenon flash tube...almost exactly like a camera flash. The dwell time can be adjusted to a point by changing out the capacitors in the circuit to reduce the charge time...but only by so much once the battery starts to lose charge, as it will take longer and longer to reach firing charge.
@@transtubular Solid-state lasers, like ruby lasers are definitely fired like that. The gas lasers I am familiar with, specifically He/Ne bench lasers, have the electrodes in the sealed gas tube, they directly excite the gas to get it to lase. Unfortunately, I cannot find a description of this laser other than it is a He-Ne laser. There definitely has to be more than a gas tube in the emitter, because something has to step down the beam from vis/red to infrared.
@detritus23 Yeah I forgot that these are not optically pumped. My bad.
I find it hard to trust people who can't talk about their failures; Or that pretend they don't have any. I think one of the reasons people like you see you struggle is that it's very human, it's real, it's realistic it's relatable.
It's hard to express fully. Regardless, it's awesome to see that you're comfortable enough with your abilities that you can post a video of yourself having what looks like a miserable time of things and come away from it without injury to your ego. I think we need more of that in the world.
I normally absolutely love watching you run vintage/period guns and gear but boy oh boy was that painful to witness. Kudos to you for sticking to it as long as you did.
Absolutely Incredible Seeing this gear used. Never would I have thought I’d get to see this setup in action, i was glued the whole way through!
I was in the 11th ACR patrolling the Inter-German border just after Eagle Claw [from 82-84]. The ACRs at the time were on the higher end of the US procurement scale [say top quarter] and we occasionally got some very nice gear. Much of it, however, was hand-me-down stuff the Airborne didn't like. For example:
Obviously, when were patrolling we needed more night vision than that offered by our Abrams sights, so each vehicle also got a set of AN/PVS 5 'night vision binoculars'. Jesus, Mary, and Joseph were those things lousy!!! For one thing the range wasn't all that great. For another, no matter how well you tightened them, the entire weight of the SOBs sat on the bridge of your nose. Lastly the light frequency broadcast into your eyes were guaranteed to give you a splitting headache.
Comparatively speaking, the unsatisfactory product you've reviewed here was Gucci gear!
Can't speak for anyone else but wearing NODs when I was in a few years ago still gave me a splitting headache. I hated driving with the more than anything
Were you guys at that time, aware of capabilities of the oppositions NVD's? Were they better, worse or equal to what you had?
@@themischeifguide At the time, all we had were intell briefings. And to be honest, there was a large slice bullshit in them.
We were told by DIA sources that the Soviets NVG capability was low... the T64s and 72s had IR sights that relied on a headlight fixture next to the main gun [as a tanker, what the bad guy tanks had was a major concern]. Category A divisions [the very best the Pact had to offer] had handheld NVGs at the platoon level, usually carried by the platoon leader, that was based on Starlite scopes captured in Vietnam.
@@themischeifguide Everyone else has always had less issuance of, and shittier NODs. Like comically so. Soviets NODs were awful, Russian NODs are still bad, Chinese NODs are laughable like the whole PLA
@@bower31 Well, the problem with the PLA is twofold:
a] They're **believers** ... they've been indoctrinated since the womb to believe in that Mao shit, and
b] There's a metric crap-load of them. As Zhukov said, "Quantity has a quality all it's own."
It was a lot of fun shooting in your squad! I wish your gear worked better for you, but such is Brutality!
That opsin is really neat in that it has auto shut off when you deactivate your illuminator. That + the quad battery pack must be how they get a fifth of the battery life a pvs14 gets with a single AA
Thanks for being open to posting this. It really is too bad about the shoot house as that would be closer to the capabilities of your rifle.
For anyone interested-magpul makes flight gloves like the ones Ian is wearing. I love mine. I use them when riding a motorcycle.
Don't blame you at all for calling it and saving the ammo. Sometimes you just have to accept the failure and take your lessons from it before wasting time and resources. Awesome video anyway! Loved seeing the difference between the kits and the digital camera.
Exactly, realize that you're not ready, and rescue the hostages in Iran another time, another way.
Love seeing Varusteleka getting all this attention lately.
Can't wait until they set up their NA branch.. here's hoping for eventual physical stores here in the states 🙏
Ayyy AUGEE!!! He helped me get my 727 together that came from puerto rican surplus. Great guy for sure and dude has unlimited knowledge of colt ars
I'm developing a nostalgic fondness these days for all the wack mounting solutions specops used for their accessories before the advent of picitinny rails. Running the full gambit from 'just duct tape it to the handguard" to the uber-specific prorietary mounting system which only fit this specific accessory to this specific rifle and nothing else.
It's fascinating watching you compete with these historical loadouts. It gives such a great perspective on where we've come from technologically and even culturally. Any chance of doing a Brutality with one of those occluded-eye dot sights?
I think that using the historic equipment, while frustrating for Ian, was very interesting to get an insight to many of their limitations.
Hats off to those guys who ran around with this kit when it came out!
God Ild love to do this with a STG44 and a Vampir sight the whole retro kit idea is a real breath of fresh air in competitive shooting, we love the vids Ian!
This video puts the strident fandom for this AR15 set up into historical perspective. It's not OP, nor is it especially bad. However, it is mission specific. Thank you, Ian, for a very educational video.
It is very interesting how 20-30 years later when I was running around Iraq and Afghanistan the gear setup was better but not that different. An M4 with a receiver mounted Comp M2, PEQ-2 mounted to quad rail handguard, and a Surefire Scout light with IR cover isn’t too terribly different, just better on the batteries.
Old gear like this is extremely aesthetically pleasing. Old-school ar-15 platform guns are just something else man
you mean like how they haphazardly fixed the light to the plastic handguard? xD
Its what we grew up seeing in all the movies and the toys. It's what we were first introduced to as "modern" even though it's outdated by today. Today looks foreign to us.
@@diktatoralexander88 i am very young (still in high school)) and i just think they look awesome. way cooler than modern stuff in my opinion
@@Ass_of_Amalek pretty crazy that picatinny rails on ARs took a while to gain popularity. Even an aluminum national match handguard would have been a better option to mount stuff on.
Hey Ian, on the Ops Inc M4 suppressor, unless there was some variance with the originals, they are a direct thread and designed to reflex over a 14.5" barrel. Also that collar was originally a 2 piece aluminum collar whereas the modern ones made by Ron Allen are 3 piece: an aluminum outer collar with a stainless insert and I believe that's what that rifle has. I have a new Opsinc/Allen engineering M4 suppressor from Ron Allen currently in NFA jail. Interesting rifle, similar to how I'd like to set up my A2 carbine.
I wonder if the reason your flashlight is becoming "dark" under your PVS-14's is due to the strength of the full-power laser causing the 14's to auto-dim. You'll notice as you turn on the flashlight, it's visible, but then as the laser is pulsing, the flashlight slowly darkens to nothing.
However, the digital NV is probably not auto-dimming, or at least not to the same effect.
Phenomenol Ian. It's really nice to see when TH-camrs can be honest about challenges and failures. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't, but it's so refreshing to hear when things go poorly - it happens to all of us and so many people won't admit when things go wrong with no excuses.
I served with Augee for a few years in 118IN. Good dude. I thought I was a GearDo til I met him, oh boy… Glad he’s doin well!
You know, there are not many things that _really_ make me feel old, but hearing 14.5 inches being referred to as a "relatively long barrel by today's standards" gave me arthritic pain.
It's in context though
In the context of special sneaky boys that is old fashioned
For standard battlefield meat, I recall it still being a standard barrel length?
This just makes one appreciate the modern stuff we have now. That looks really hard to do.
I just built a retro style! Unfortunately I couldn’t find an a1 style upper and had to settle for a a2….mine looks very similiar to the blood diamond carbine now except I have a 13.9 inch barrel. It is sweet! I didn’t think I would like the aim point sitting up that high off the rifle but I like it better than any modern style I’ve ever owned/shot!
Just watched Blood Diamond. USP and CAR-15 are an undefeatable duo.
Thanks, you guys are constantly pushing the envelope and coming out the other side with cool insights and a great attitude. Very interesting.
everyone’s favorite SF carbine, the 723 a1 fixed carryhandle and a1 carbine collapseble buttstock with m4 govt notch barrel!
I was in Bco 3/505 pir 82nd Abn, 2nd platoon, in Desert Storm. We got issued the an/paq-4 while we where there and continued to use them when we got back to brag. You mentioned the laser flashed. I remember it flashed like three time, but I only remember it being ir, and only able to be seen with our pvs-7 nvgs. It came in a case with the manual, and it attached to the carry handle, we didn't have the red dots on our a2 rifles. Pretty cool and brought back some memories. Side note our pl was a e7 in A squadron before going to ocs, and becoming our pl. Thank you for the walk down memory lane.
Sorry for the typo Ft.Bragg
From an Australian that has no hope in hell of owning most of the stuff in use here... live the good life Ian, you rock! I hope you have a lot of fun, you deserve it. Its always good to watch. Cheers!
Curious if they ban the ownership of NV there too. I mean only criminals are our after dark so no one NEEDS night vision gear right?
Man I hate protecionists
Build slam fire shotguns
@@flecktards3126 we're not that bad off. Basically just California without the semiauto longarms. As for longarms with a barrel under 16"? Fahgeddaboudit!!
Just build whatever you want, be the change you wish to see in the world...
@@boingkster That's tragically pathetic.
Thanks Ian, despite the frustrating time you had it helped me learn a lot about night shooting without having to go broke. Very informative on the progression of night capability over the years.
TNVC is my favorite site to browse for shit I can't afford but desperately need.
Thanks for going there with this equipment. You gave us something we have never seen before but have only read about.
Saving up for my Colt XM-177e2 retro carbine. Can’t wait; don’t tell the wife.
Unless you gotta have the Colt roll-mark, get the Troy.
I carried a CAR15 third tour in RVN. Worked well for me.
The gun wasn't the problem. And the fancy old optics. Didn't work well for him. Sad 😢.
Very entertaining episode, and thanks TNVC , they did a great job illuminating how much better todays tech is.
Imagine ordinary grunts struggling without any night vision aids.
Not much fun in 1983. But at least Americans have more than the other guy.
Near suicide in 2023, as the Russian mobiks could tell you...
... a generation after the Americans began working out the bugs in night vision.
Believe it or not, many highly intelligent and informed people referred to the Russian Federation as a "near-peer competitor" to the United States as late as February, 2022.
That's why night fighting wasn't really much of a thing prior to about twenty years ago. The U.S. sof really developed (and capitalized on) the idea of infantry combat at night.
We had those exact same Paq-4a plus the ground command pointer in conjuction with the PVS-5 and pvs-4 in the weapons squad, we used them for C2 of fires etc....well that was back in 1986 and served 28 years so got to see those devices and technology evolve nice to see a video on it most excellent.
Great information! Thanks, as always, Ian!
Respect Ian for willingness to document failure.
It kind of looks like the Opsyn makes better use of the IR flashlight, but the PVS-14 does a bit better when the light is off.
With that specific oddball IR light*
The filter is probably emitting higher up in the NIR spectrum where the opsin is more sensitive. But don’t take that to mean the opsin makes better use of IR light in general. As basically all IR weapon lights and lasers that are made for consumption are tailored to the spectrum of NIR that gen 3 performs best with.
It looked like someone said screw it and called in an airstrike on the shoot house.
Fun to see how difficult some of the first generation equipment is to use. Looks like a great time.
Awesome video. It was probably more educational (and entertaining too) to showcase the gear’s shortcomings. Thank you for posting Ian🙏👌🤙
Good try. I have used 2nd gen Starlight scopes in the Army reserve as a 19D scout trainer. The fun system was the TOW system with AN-TAS 4A thermal 4X and 12X with the ability to see a 1 degree change in temperature at 3,000 meters. I did a double rotation at Ft. Bliss and Donna Anna Range camp. From the training area at Logan Heights at Ft. Bliss I was able to count rivets on the B-52Ds landing after their last training flight before being taken to the Bone Yard at DM. Red black view fully adjustable and for the time very expensive at around $40,00.00. Donna Anna range was our regular summer camp with standard M113A1 APC with M2 Brownings mounted we did 50 mile drives at night and plenty of range time.
Such a cool event you guys put on, can't wait for the next!
Great video, thank you Ian!
I'd agree with the pulsing being a duty-cycle thing primarily, but given how inefficient lasers were back then, it also has the benefit of longer battery life.
Really interesting to see the early iterations of the laser and other kit. Aesthetically those carbines look very cool.
That Weaver style rail mount for the optic is the best. Most retro builder can hardly find one like that.
How is Ian ageing backwards. It's so unfair this guy somehow looks younger now, there's no justice!!!
A good diet and exercise work wonders
He's doing what he loves.
Makes a big difference.
@@spinnirack3645 he is Gun Jesus .. his diet of Cordite , whisky and Tacos is the real elixir of life.
Well he recently found a new gun to shoot French long out of and a good cartridge to reload with.
@@thatguybrody4819 haha I was on his squad and he told me about the new French precision rifle he got. I was like, of course you did lol.
I’m from Scotland so my firearm knowledge is so basic, but I have an unhealthy obsession with the M4. That car rifle looks so badass kitted out and the “blackhawkdown” clothing gear looks quality
Thank you for an interesting look at the gear that ushered in the modern Era.
Love your content, Ian. I can't wait to see more brutality content!
The lens cap with only tiny hole is to protect the image intensifier in bright light---take it off at night !
In order to properly appreciate where we are technology wise, you have to understand where we started.
Last time I did a night shoot, I was using an AR-15 carbine, with a L3 ATPIAL, and PVS-15s. That worked really well. That was up at GUNSITE. Wish this shoot was closer.
I remember my dad bringing home the AP 2000 and my mom having a medium sized cow over the price. Late 80's magnaport N frame 44 mag. His bear upgrade "back in the day". Brought me back Ian. Thanks!
Still awsome to see you run what is now an ancient tactical set up !
Interesting note (to me anyway) The Ops Inc/Allen Engineering "M4" suppressors that would work with that collar and a 14.5 barrel were usually direct thread according to Mr. Allen. ("usually" because they were all custom).
It makes sense when you think about the relocation of the muzzle in the suppressor body. If you are going to get a similarly efficient baffled volume, getting rid of the muzzle device saves you fair amount of space. It also saves space to have the smaller threaded interface.
👍 Ahhh…this episode brought back some memories ! I give you high marks for your efforts !
Watching this the Sunday after the time change. Night vision season is truly upon us.
Laser tech has come a long long way since then. I cannot believe the divergences on that old IR Laser unit, massive!
I love watching these matches. I wish I could I could go, but alas I'm too old and feeble to do these kind of things anymore.
Nice looking kit👍
A pulsing laser easier to spot when you’re using it off the shoulder, especially at (relatively) longer ranges. Obviously you don’t use a laser at the ranges they do in the movies but you know what I mean @Forgotten Weapons
Thank you , Ian .
🐺
So, an excellent acquisition by Elbonia in persperctive!
Nothing says you mean business like walking around with a Cat 3+ laser on your rifle.
Ian, you have provided an excellent demonstration of the challenges faced by troops of the past on the modern battlefield. It also shows the importance of a military providing proper equipment.
Made for a very entertaining and informative episode 👍
Varusteleka: Official Finns of Forgotten Weapons.
When my dad was trialing some pistol lasers in the late 90s they did this pulsing thing, and notably the two different lasers pulsed at different rates. The sales guy said it was for differentiating between different beans, but that always sounded like baloney to me. The idea of it being for reducing strain on the device makes more sense to me.
Thanks Ian
Yes. The MAWL is very nice
Laser pulse is for battery life and duty cycle longevity. My laser has the same feature (double tap)
Would love to see you have a conversation with Vickers about this