Night Vision Recommendations for clip on NVG for .308

[Scottso]

Hello
Already have a PVS14 and IR laser set up, would like to mount a clip on device in front of scope. Want something capable of handling recoil of .308, not gonna beat my 14 to death. Primarily on a bolt gun, but love to be able to se without fear on my M1As. Was looking at the L3 CDVN as possible option as it is rated for .308, but is the recoil from M1A gonna beat it up?
Rather buy once cry once if I can lol, seen some used pieces in exchange for fair prices, just love some knowledge before plunging in
Appreciate any info

 

[TheHorta]

Lots of great deals on PVS-27's out there now. Under $4K for full kits. It's a bit bulky, but there's nothing better for the dollar right now. It's a pretty amazing clip-on. They're rated to .50 BMG.

 

[car16smg]

Pvs27s are great for the price, but it’s tough to beat the image of a WP CNVD LR!

 

[Victor-TNVC]

Lots of great deals on PVS-27's out there now. Under $4K for full kits. It's a bit bulky, but there's nothing better for the dollar right now. It's a pretty amazing clip-on. They're rated to .50 BMG.

Also the best glass out there with an f/stop of 1.0! I still have 3 of them in my collection.

 

[Mongoose0311]

Definitely keep your eyes on ebay. PVS22, 27, and 30's have been under 4k for the past 4-5 months. I picked up a brand new OSTI PVS22 for 3k.

 

[Scottso]

Will be patient then, thanks for info

 

[cake5150]

I've spent a lot of time behind PVS-9s, 27s, and 30s. The PVS-27 is my favorite, hands down. It isn't light, but long distance shooting is usually done from a supported position. The placement of the focus adjustment on the 27 makes using it much easier than the 30. I wish I would have picked up a 27 many years ago, it is an incredible tool.

 

[TheHorta]

A 27 with 80lp 2500+ FOM L3 WP would be awesome.

Vic?

 

[Victor-TNVC]

A 27 with 80lp 2500+ FOM L3 WP would be awesome.

Vic?

You not getting my 3000+ FOM 27!!

 

[TheHorta]

You not getting my 3000+ FOM 27!!

I know where you live...

 

[Scottso]

How’s about a 2500+ lol

 

[cake5150]

A 3000+ FOM PVS-27 w/ that big beautiful objective lens, holy shit I just can't even imagine...

 

[Victor-TNVC]

I know where you live...

Not anymore! LoL

 

[Victor-TNVC]

A 3000+ FOM PVS-27 w/ that big beautiful objective lens, holy shit I just can't even imagine...

I'm always conservative on my magnification sweet spots...But for sure 15x with no scintillation using S&B and US Optics glass. My lower spec 27's get me down to 12x. High FOM and low EBI is the most important juice for Clip-ons IMHO. Obviously this is without any IR Lum and no moon.

 

[cake5150]

I'm always conservative on my magnification sweet spots...But for sure 15x with no scintillation using S&B and US Optics glass. My lower spec 27's get me down to 12x. High FOM and low EBI is the most important juice for Clip-ons IMHO. Obviously this is without any IR Lum and no moon.

Yep, I believe that. Mine has a nice tube and I can get to 15x but not without some scintillation. 12x no problem. That said, I typically prefer shooting around 8-10x for the wider FOV. The 27 has definitely spent too much time at the buffet, but wow does it ever get things done

 

[WillHugh]

I've been playing with a loaner white phos cnvd-lr for the past few months, and the resolution is unreal. If you've got the money they're probably the best thing going for long range clipons at the moment. That being said, my buddy picked up a lightly used pvs 27 for slightly under $4k and it keeps right up with the cnvd - might even have slightly better light gathering ability with the larger lens, but image quality at long distance isn't as good. We're easily seeing targets at 800 yards with either unit.

I'm certainly not the most qualified person in this discussion, but as alluded to above, the quality of the tube is probably going to make the biggest difference. Most of the 27s and 30s floating around for good prices are thin filmed green, vs the unfilmed white you'd likely get in a new cnvd.

At the end of the day it's a question of how much money you want to sink into a clip on. A used 27 or 30 should serve you well for most purposes, and for likely half the cost. Another consideration is that clipons aren't easily serviced like a pvs 14 or set of goggles. If the tube goes bad the whole center section of the unit likely ends up getting replaced (big $$).

 

[WillHugh]

Doesn't really do them justice, but targets are at 500 yards, no illuminator. Cnvd-lr and pvs 27.

 

[cake5150]

Great contribution and pics, I know firsthand how hard it is to get good pics like that. Out of curiosity, what is the day optic from those shots and what magnification? I remember being positively shocked the first time I got to shoot beyond 500 yd at night w/ a quality gen 3 clip-on, it made the seemingly impossible appear relatively easy... just expensive And then there are laser illuminators...

 

[WillHugh]

Great contribution and pics, I know firsthand how hard it is to get good pics like that. Out of curiosity, what is the day optic from those shots and what magnification? I remember being positively shocked the first time I got to shoot beyond 500 yd at night w/ a quality gen 3 clip-on, it made the seemingly impossible appear relatively easy... just expensive And then there are laser illuminators...

Happy to share my experiences! Truly amazing what these things can do. Those pictures are through a Bushnell lrts 4.5-18. As we've played with the clipons more I feel like I want a lot less magnification than I do in the day (probably something to do with the tunnel vision effect). Not sure what power that was taken at, but I'll try to get some more pics this weekend, hopefully one through my S&B.

And one more pic for good measure. Tree line is 1,000 yards away.

 

[NHPiper]

@WillHugh threw up the pics already and did a great job capturing the difference. The one thing that made me lean towards the pvs27 or pvs30 was the ability to handle recoil. If you ever want to put the clip on on a 300WM or similar, the CNVD is out of the picture. Also, I had ZERO point of impact shift with my pvs27 on a handful of different rifles. The CNVD was very picky about scope ring height and that seemed to affect the POI. If you don’t want to have to catalogue the POI for each rifle and spend hours confirming at night, the pvs27 is the way to go.

I managed to snag a brand new pvs27 on here for 4K. I have seen used ones for 3500. I will say that the anytime you add a clip on to the rifle, you realize that you now have to adjust how your rifle is set up. For example, a pvs27 makes it more difficult to mount an IR illuminator at 3pm or 9pm on the rifle next to the clip on. Fortunately, I havent had any issues from IR spill moving my Perst 3 back slightly.

Also - i have been able to easily see things at 900 yards with the Perst 3 and no other ambient light. Below is a picture of a party boat on a lake at 903 yards through a SHITTY BUSHNELL SPACEMASTER spotting scope at x15 zoom!

Shooting this past weekend, @WillHugh and I were easily able to see windows on a church cupola at 1946 yards under the full moon without an illuminator. And with incredible clarity, it wasn’t grainy at all. That was through a Leupold Mk6 around 10-12x magnification.

Also was able to range that distance with a SilencerCo Radius. Farthest we got a read on a non-reflective target at night was 2205 yards (trees). That range finder seems good on non-reflective targets to around 900ish during a bright day.

 

[Killswitch Engage]

Doesn't really do them justice, but targets are at 500 yards, no illuminator. Cnvd-lr and pvs 27.View attachment 7365316View attachment 7365317

27 image looks better to my eye in these pics

 

[WillHugh]

27 image looks better to my eye in these pics

I agree, in that picture they are very similar, with perhaps a slight edge to the 27. In actual use the cnvd looks better, but not enough that I'd shell out the difference.

As I mentioned above, service ability is a serious concern with clipons, as they're significantly more complicated optically than something like a pvs 14. While the pvs 27 is heavier, I think it would survive a fall down the stairs. The cnvd on the other hand is lighter, but more sensitive and supposedly prone to coming out of alignment, and once either unit has a problem you're looking at big money to fix it. For that reason I would probably stick to a 27 or 30 if it's for personal use and not being bankrolled by a big budget. I don't work on them personally, so this is second hand advice I received from someone in the industry.

 

[NHPiper]

Here are two pictures of a bird feeder at 100 yards with limited ambient light through an Athlon Cronus UHD Tactical 7-42 spotting scope.


First pic is on 7x zoom and second pic is on 20x zoom.

Photos through an old Galaxy 6.

@WillHugh