ARs, Night Vision and PEQs, oh my! (with video!)

AR/M4 AR General Discussion
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(Videos below!)

So this past Wednesday night down here in Texas, Iraq Ninja, thopkins22 and myself waited until dark before we headed out to the range so that we could play with some of our battery-powered toys and shoot some steel in the dark. The blasters we shot consisted of my new BCM Mk12 Mod1 Special Purpose Rifle with a PEQ-2A IR laser/illuminator mounted, my BCM 11.5" SBR with a PEQ-15, and Iraq Ninja’s BCM 16" mid-length with PEQ-15. My two were suppressed by my Surefire FA556-212 silencer, and Iraq Ninja’s carbine wore an AAC SPR/M4 can.

Here’s a (crappy) picture of my BCM Mk12:

And here’s my BCM 11.5" SBR:

(I don’t have a pic of Iraq Ninja’s BCM 16" mid-length, but maybe he’ll come along and post one of it.)

All of that means squat though if you can’t see any of it though. I was running my new ITT Night Enforcer PVS-14 night vision monocular that I very recently bought from Victor at TNVC, which is friggin’ awesome and blows away ANY of the beat-to-shit units I ever used in the Marine Corps. I love this thing and it was well worth the money, without a doubt! I used the standard and infamous “Skull Crusher” head harness thingy to wear my PVS-14. It isn’t the most comfortable setup in the world to run, which is implied with its long-ago awarded nickname. But I won’t be running the blasted thing much longer, as I’m just waiting on my new PT Helmets A-Alpha (half-cut for electronic earpro) helmet to be delivered by UPS that I recently ordered from TNVC.

Iraq Ninja’s PVS-14 is still in… shit, where’s that place he’s always going to visit on vacation?:confused: It’s in a dry, hot climate somewhere in the Middle East, the name of which is currently eluding me. Anyways, his PVS-14 is some damn where overseas still, but luckily he had a set of PVS-7 night vision goggles. That’s what I was issued in the Marine Corps back in 2002-2003, and the mere sight of them induced some serious PTSD!:eek: I can’t tell you how many times I busted my ass while wearing those blasted things and humping the mighty hills and fire-breaks of Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton in California. I could just never get used to both of my eyes being covered by the PVS-7s, and MUCH prefer PVS-14s. But they served all of us well for the task at hand that night: standing (or in my case sitting) in one place and banging a steel silhouette plate 100 yards away with extreme prejudice.

thopkins22 didn’t bring any NODs or lasers or super silent suppressors, but he did bring his companionship AND ammo:D, so it was a pleasure to have him there. I met him several months ago at the range I frequent, and we’ve met out there to do some training several times since. He’s a solid shooter and an awesome dude!

A VERY good time was had by all, and hopefully it won’t be too long before we get out there and do it again!

Here’s a couple videos we took of our little night shoot. I hope you all enjoy them, because we had a BLAST making them!:smiley:

Here’s the first video:
View through PVS-14 behind NightForce scope on the Mk12

And the second:
Compilation of night vision and IR shooting videos

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you suck Paul… :smiley:

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That stuff is amazing…NV really is sick…and those IR units are UNREAL in terms of how well they point. Its like a lil sun at the end of the beam.

What are you overall impressions of the SPR/M4 as its on my list:)

Thanks for sharing retreat, you sure know how to rock badass gear:cool:

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That was an interesting night to say the least… mosquitoes and NVGs.
Actually, it was Paul’s Birthday party!

In regards to my SPR/M4, it is worth the money for sure. But, I am not sure if the adjustable POI is useful for me. First of all, it never really adjusted the POI to POA, but moved the groups around.

So, my default setup is to always use the SPR/M4 and the carbine is zeroed with it on. I have to make sure I have it properly aligned when installing it. I have it set on number 1.

In a high stress situation you may have problems if you have to throw it on quickly to make a crucial long range shot, especially at night.

My PVS7 is the somewhat rare Charlie version- the water resistant model. My 3x magnifier doesn’t screw on it (I think it only works on the D model), but worked fine on Paul’s 14. The magnifier works very well, but best used in a hand held mode rather than head mounted.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY PAUL!

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One word, SICK!!! If there is one thing I really miss from the Army aside form riding around in helicopters, it is night live fire exercises.

Sound like it was a hell of a range trip, and an awesome birthday party.

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I won’t be without killer gadgetry for long. I’d always looked at the prices of the stuff and thought, “What can it possibly do for me that justifies that price?” Now I know…a hell of a lot. :cool:

All in all a great trip.

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Thanks bro! And thanks again for the kick ass jacket!!

Other than the BCM Mk12 upper, PVS-14 NODs, and the PEQ-2A I bought for myself for my birthday, the jacket was the BEST gift I got this year!!:p;)

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Hell yeah, man! It’s some really fun stuff to play around with! Next time me and you go out there at night I wanna run some of the CQB drills we normally run during the day at NIGHT with the PEQ-15 and wearing NODs.

:DThat should be interesting, to say the least. Not to mention probably quite challenging.

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Soo jealous those are both amazing rifles.

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Here is my setup for the night shoot…
BCM middy with LMT lower, lots of magpul stuff, and SPR/M4 suppressor.

Too bad my son can’t take it to “show and tell” at school…

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Paul, bring some of that cool shit up here to Amarillo and we can rake it out to our range and shoot house!

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That sucks that when growing up my dad did not have suppressed ARs w. NV and IR units…we did have however a stock 10/22 w. a smoke Eagle 30 rd. banana clip:D You take what you can get I guess, you son is lucky to have a pops that has such cool gear:)

Thanks for the SPR/M4 info, it did kinda deterred me away from it though as I will be using it on two guns built for precision shooting and I need to do some more home work if Ops or somebody else perhaps has a can geared better towards slow firing precision applications…anyway that is neither here nor there, no jacking this awesome thread.

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When are you guys inviting me down? I have PEQ-15s for all. :cool:

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Consider me jealous up here in Dallas. But in all seriousness, awesome stuff guys.

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You know damn well you’re welcome any time, bro… well, once you get a suppressor for your SR-25 you are, anyways. Otherwise you’re worthless to me!:stuck_out_tongue:

:wink:

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Wow that looks like some serious fun right there! Thanks for sharing :smiley:

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Sick, just fuc**** sick.

I gots to have them big 'ol breasteses…I mean NV.

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That is awesome! Great vids.

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I’d kill to get a PEQ-15.

How do they fare against a Laser Devices AR-2A?