night vision

marlin

anyone have experience of using nv equipment and where does it stand
legally in this country
prices of good nv scopes seem to be getting more affordable approaching that of top end scopes now,swaros,s+b,nightforce etc.
I,d love to hear some first hand experience of nv use foxing

am i bovvered?

I don't think there is any legal restriction on nightvision,may have been a Gardai law as opposed to a state law.
Have no experiance of such but as far as i know the range is only about 40 or 50 yards on a generation 1.

meathstevie

illegal when mounted on a firearm I'm afraid, same for laser...

johngalway

I thought NV (not sure about the laser but an IR lamp could be used instead) was like moderators, available on your local Supernintendos permission?

SMERSH

meathstevie wrote:

illegal when mounted on a firearm I'm afraid, same for laser...

Are laser bore sights illegal too?

Sparks

NV Scopes are illegal. Through a quirk, NV goggles (even when shooting while wearing them) aren't.
Laser bore sights aren't sights in the normal use of the word, so they're not covered - but laser sights that mount on a pitacinny rail or similar are.

bullets

I've got Night Vision. I've had several gen1 NV over the
years always Monoculars. (about 250-300 Euros)
Gen 2 I have used but not owned and I dont know if gen3 is
legal or not in Ireland as its used by militery and law enforcement
(goggles and NV on binoculars are
way too expensive)

Not sure If I agree or not with NV rifle scopes being illegal.
It maybe only illegal if you DONT have specific permission from
your local superintendent. (just like a moderator)
if you can convince your local Superintendent you have a vaild
reason and they issue you with permission then happy days!!

Gen1 are totally Crap unless you have an IR illuminater attached
or a separate IR source. This can be visible red light or invisible IR.

Some camcorders are sensitive to IR light so work actually better
that gen1 NV equipment. (you get black and white instead of green)
Green is used as the Human eye can detect the most amount of shades
compared to any other colour (That may not be fact though only what I read)

In Urban areas pretty crap performance
They are very handy however with IR assitance for seeing the
reflection of the eyes of animals. I use mine sometimes to check out
my back garden to see where my cat is.

I dont hunt but I lent my NV to vegeta before who goes Lamping and he
said it was OK for checking out to confirm if there is a fox in the area
Before turning on the Lamp.

~B

E. Fudd

bullets wrote:

he
said it was OK for checking out to confirm if there is a fox in the area
Before turning on the Lamp.

~B

Oooh I likes the sound of that!

bullets

One bad thing. Electronic NV as you look through it will
will ruin your eyes natural night vision. A monocular is better
as if your looking through it only one of your eyes is affected.

The Chemical produced by your eyes (photopigments) are sensitive
to light and the are used up to turn light energy into electic impulses
that stimulate the optic nerve when there is darker conditions
the levels of these get re-generated if you go looking through NV equipment
is will ruin your dark adaptation for that eye and you may have to wait
about a half our or so before it returns to normal.

Also when using NV it works better if your are like panning and scanning
across where you are looking. ie dont focus on one spot as the centre of
your vision has a blind spot at night.

There is some great info here:

About how the eye works at night:
http://www.aoa.org/x5352.xml
Basic NV explained:
http://www.nightvisiongear.co.uk/aboutnve.htm

I'd love to set up a flood light system where I have an array of
invisible IR light out my back garden or a portable device so I would
have an invisible flood light to assist the monocular. Getting led's
with enough output power may be difficult though.
(Talkin bout the actual invisible light now and not the ones
that glow red!)

~B

Sparks

Sparks wrote:

NV Scopes are illegal. Through a quirk, NV goggles (even when shooting while wearing them) aren't.
Laser bore sights aren't sights in the normal use of the word, so they're not covered - but laser sights that mount on a pitacinny rail or similar are.

I should have added "unless your superintendent grants you a licence for it". My bad.

From the 1990 Act, Section 4:

( g ) save where the context otherwise requires, any component part of any article referred to in any of the foregoing paragraphs and, for the purposes of this definition, the following articles shall be deemed to be such component parts as aforesaid.
(i) telescope sights with a light beam, or telescope sights with an electronic light amplification device or an infra-red device, designed to be fitted to a firearm specified in paragraph (a), (b), (c) or (e), and