Night Vision How important is rail position for clip-on thermal use?

[mikefraz]

I have a clip-on thermal that I take on and off my day rifle as needed. I collimated the thermal to align with my day optic’s zero and everything works as it should. How important is it to make sure the thermal is mounted on the same picatinny rail position each time I remount it? Is it critical? What happens if it’s 1-2 rail spaces forward from where I zero/collimated it?

Assuming that the answer above is “it really matters a lot”, what do you guys use to make sure that you are installing your clip on on the same rail spot each time you remount your clip-on? I’m picturing having some sort of physical marker/object or something that lets me know, “bump my thermal up against this thing and then I know that it’s in the right position”.

 

[SkyScrapin]

Depends.

Factory collimated or manual digital collimation?

The bigger issue is having dayscope cant going into a 0moa clipon. Generally you want same height and cant. Rail spacing isn’t a huge issue, but I advocate you test it to know for sure given varying tolerances and forgiveness between devices.

 

[mikefraz]

Depends.

Factory collimated or manual digital collimation?

The bigger issue is having dayscope cant going into a 0moa clipon. Generally you want same height and cant. Rail spacing isn’t a huge issue, but I advocate you test it to know for sure given varying tolerances and forgiveness between devices.

It’s manually (as in, X and Y coordinate are changed on the screen to “zero” the thermal.

Good to know that it may not be an issue if it’s 1-2 rail spaces different. Obviously I’ll have to test it out and see.

 

[roostercogburn98]

I set mine on the 10.5 inch 300 blackout and haven’t had to mess with it sense. I don’t take forever to make sure it is in the same t slot every time. As long as it is close, I think you should be ok since that is not changing up/down position.

 

[mikefraz]

I’m mainly asking just because putting it on the rail at night while it’s dark doesn’t give me a high degree of confidence that it’s always going in the same spot each time. I’m not talking about moving it 10 rails slots up the rail or anything.

Half of the draw to the StingIR (and RH25 for that matter) is the ability to scan with it handheld or helmet mounted and then be able to mount it up on the rail and switch it to clip on mode. I just didn’t know how sensitive the alignment was.

 

[cake5150]

I haven't noticed the AN/PAS-13G or Steiner C35 to be too picky in that regard. That said, when I want to have something to index on for rails I just put a rail ladder or something comparable over the slots that I don't want it on.

 

[NCgreentick]

I use rail ladders with section cut that is the footprint of my thermal. Remove that section when the thermal goes on and it can only go in the proper place.
An index clip for the front and back is another way you can do it if you don't use ladders.

 

[Conqueror]

You can also just put a stripe of paint marker on the rail around the thermal footprint.

 

[mikefraz]

You can also just put a stripe of paint marker on the rail around the thermal footprint.

The issue isn’t necessarily not remembering what slot the thermal goes onto, it’s being able to reliably be able to switch between handholding the thermal and weapons mounting it while in the dark. Like mentioned above, I’m currently using some Larue index clips in front of and behind my thermal to help make sure I’m seating it in the same rail slots each time. It’s working alright, but it’s still not as idiot proof as I’d like.

 

[Conqueror]

That's fair. I haven't ever done the "use one unit for handheld scanning and clip-on" thing so I don't always think about what's useful in that scenario. I always felt like it's clumsy and potentially noisy to reattach in the dark and that can cost you a shooting opportunity so I ran separate units for spotting and shooting (with the obvious downside of cost). One could also get around this by using a thermal unit with a dovetail mount instead of a picatinny clamp. That is a lot easier to mount in the dark and it only goes in one way.

 

[CrazyDoc]

I use the dovetail Wilcox FTS and the ADM on my RH25 (had to mod the rail to fit the FTS) and both of those stay on the rifle so placing them back in the same spot is easy because it just goes back into the mount. If I am swapping the mount to another rifle, a index clip is my preferred "marker", used behind the mount so it can't be placed any further back.

Some nights I only take my SBR and RH25, it's VERY easy to quickly mount the RH25 and do so without making noise with practice. If your worried about being able to do it, either sit in a dark room, close your eyes whatever works and just practice doing it over and over. You'll learn what it feels like when it's seated in the mount and when it's not pretty quickly.

Same for the controls on the RH25, everyone bitches about how hard they are to use. If you use it, you'll be able to scroll through the settings at speed without thinking about them. Not saying they couldn't be better, but like all things if you actually use the unit you'll run through everything like champ.

 

[Crewdog135]

I put an MKM ARD on the day scope, so I can use my finger as a feeler gauge as I put the thermal on. Works pretty well.

 

[st1650]

I use the dovetail Wilcox FTS and the ADM on my RH25 (had to mod the rail to fit the FTS) and both of those stay on the rifle so placing them back in the same spot is easy because it just goes back into the mount. If I am swapping the mount to another rifle, a index clip is my preferred "marker", used behind the mount so it can't be placed any further back.

Some nights I only take my SBR and RH25, it's VERY easy to quickly mount the RH25 and do so without making noise with practice. If your worried about being able to do it, either sit in a dark room, close your eyes whatever works and just practice doing it over and over. You'll learn what it feels like when it's seated in the mount and when it's not pretty quickly.

Same for the controls on the RH25, everyone bitches about how hard they are to use. If you use it, you'll be able to scroll through the settings at speed without thinking about them. Not saying they couldn't be better, but like all things if you actually use the unit you'll run through everything like champ.

That’s exactly how I run my Rh25