I prefer to spend money on C&Rs but they have been scarce the last 2 years.so backand fouth  to night visionI go

Long story short,this idea  began in 2007. on new years 05 I scored a D300 gen2+  for $800  I mounted it on a pgst kevlar helmet & OIF 1 era rhino mount  I got off ebay for $60 total.   yes it is heavy but it is identical in manipulation to the pvs14s I used in the army from 1999-20004. You'd be surprised how many real world hours I have under nods. in both south Korea & Iraq

until recently  the good IR lasers were either wanting or too expensive for me. .

I have tried the following IR lasers since 2015 except the Cherokee I bought in 2006.ALL I grabbed used off thEE


the ir Cherokee laser it  is not a perfect circle making it impossible to mount the only mounts I found that worked were WARNE QD low rings but even then I could not change the batts without taking it off. & since this wasa  pre class 1 lasers the run time was about 15  min.I never liked it much since it is now illegal it has been disposed of.

IR LASER MAX = not water proof it uses an impossibly tiny Allen wrench to zero you cannot do it in the dark without great difficulty.

next the CT railmaster it uses a tap on/tap off button switch in ir with no nods it is impossible to tell if it is on or off and again  it uses an impassibly tiny Allen wrench to zero you cannot zero it in the dark without great difficulty

for 2 years I gave up on a ir equipped long gun and just focused on a handgun.  and purchased a surefire 952V to play with.

that's how I found I really like the stream light tlr series.

I tried the tlr2 with a white light and IR illum the ir iluminator had a bulls eye shape and was  dimmer than sure fire's V series, so it got sold

then stream light offered the tlr-2 eye Safe AN IR led WITH A CLASS 1 IR LASER  AT $500 IT WAS STILL STEEP FOR ME BUT i bought one now the only ars I have are quasi mil clone with the FSB that was in the way. the way .

he tlr-2  eyesafe located the adjustment screws it needs to be at 12:00 for ease of adjustments.

Attached File


Last year  i got an aim point T1 off the EE  I  finally had a NIGHT VISION  COMPATIBLE OPTIC

I decided I needed white light so added a tlr1hl and began using a 45 degree mount and tape switches. It almost works but injuries to my left hand make activation hard. especially in the dark I have no feeling in my left hand.
I simply could not make it perfect

I am using a tlr1hl 800 lumens as my white light it out performed my m952 with a 1000 lumen drop  in & is lighter

NOTE. the dual  surefireplug&  ITT stiner switch will work in tlr remote tail caps. so I tried that for a while and may go that route.

I am using the stream light tlr2 eye safe like the laser max it is very hard to zero using small allen wrenches. you cannot mount it at 6:00without skill & patience. but it offers good ir illum better than the surefire Vseries.200-250 yards range with no moon. in my gen2+.    & a class I  laser I can see out  to 700 yards with my gen 2 + mono

so here  I have tried 50 ways to mount the kit none are perfect so I bought a PSA MLOK pencil barrel upper .no FSB full  13"rail on the12:00

My goal is too create  near perfect moonlit night patrol rifle so light weight and streamlining are key. I hope to upgrade to a dbal in the future. but it maybe awhile.or never.

any advice on paint or furniture color or where to place tape switches (I will try not to use any ) and MLOK accessories I need would be helpful.

thank youfor reading this post and  for any experience or advice you have

Here's my night rifle as it sits today:


18" barrel to minimize muzzle flash, can to minimize flash and recoil.
Dbal-i2 IR/IR
Generic 10x mil/mil scope from Bushnell.

It works fine for me, out to 100yd in the dark. I fully suggest going that route, with an integrated sighting laser and illuminator. There's a reason it's made and sells so well.


Through-optic night aiming sucks without a clip-on. Just plain sucks...


Get a clip-on pvs-26 or CO-X, or something of the like. TNVC sells one, called the WASP, I think. I can't seem to find it on their site right now though.


My goal is to eventually get a clip-on like a CO-X or a pvs-26, because while laser aiming is good, it's only good if you can see out that far, lol.

I've wondered about the TLR-2IR myself. I wish Streamlight would weather seal it better and offer a low setting for the laser.

After reading Augees's comments in another thread about raised optics instead of lasers, I am seriously considering going that route with the Eotech 552 on my patrol rifle. Would need to raise the irons too because absolute cowitness is non-negotiable with me.

If you don't have silencers, night vision will make you realize that you need silencers.
So don't pin anything to a 14.5" barrel that isn't a silencer adapter

The WASP isn't a thing, no matter how badly I wish it was.

thank you , the upper I purchased for this build is a 16" pencil barrel is so it can take a suppressor But since I do a lot of traveling have to wait until HPA passes to get really serious about a suppressor.

I am not overly excited about getting into night scopes. I am only just getting into locations where I can shoot at night on demand. I lost my quarry in S. Florida to an astronomy club

I m excited about being able engage targets at night this. seriously.

I have no way to post photos I have tried the phone pic technique I read in here with limited success.

For a night rifle I like them as compact and quiet as I can get them. You need a SBR and a can

Right now my go-to night hunting rifle is a 10.5" 300blk with a AAC Cyclone with ATN (gasp!) ThorHD thermal and I dumped my OTAL IR laser in favor of the weight savings of the unimax IR laser. I have a few T20 built IR lights (800, 850, 940nm) I use for different activities on QD mounts.

If your going to camo a rifle for nightime use others need to chime in on that. I like tan, seems to hide well in most areas I hunt. Anything but black.

What does traveling have to do with it? There's only a couple states with laws making cans illegal to possess.

arn't seppressor stamps likeSBRstamps  you are to report them to every state you travel through? I don't mess in the class 2 or 3 world so this is just my understanding.

Suppressors are exempt from that requirement. As long as you're not traveling in or through states that explicitly ban them, you're completely legal.

And you don't report to the state for SBRs, SBSs, and MGs, its a form to the ATF, 5320.20, that notifies them that the firearm is being transported across state lines. You don't have to tell anyone else.

OP: this mount will mount your TLR to the front of your sight tower at 12:00, is very stable, quality machined/annoed, and only 29.00
https://www.botach.com/kley-zion-ar15-m16-sight-tower-combo-mount-snap-hook-tactical-light/


Yup black sticks out like a sore thumb. Rattle can with camo colors works great. Cover it with a matte clear for longer wear of your spay can pattern.
I love hunting at night with NODs, animals get so freaked out when you start shooting. They have no idea where it's coming from and can't figure out which way to run.

Quoted:
OP: this mount will mount your TLR to the front of your sight tower at 12:00, is very stable, quality machined/annoed, and only 29.00
https://www.botach.com/kley-zion-ar15-m16-sight-tower-combo-mount-snap-hook-tactical-light/

I tried those they work with the tlr series until you put the momentary remote battery cover on then there is not enough length.Minor thing except my injured left hand cannot find the toggle in the dark

@SD307

I'm somewhat curious as to what difficulties you had zeroing the UNI-IR, as I found it extremely easy to zero.  

What zeroing technique are you using?  Using a collimation technique (moving the laser aim point onto the day sight aim point), I found it an extremely easy and trouble free procedure, though I could see where, if you were trying the adjust the sight during a live-fire zero, the lack of any kind of positive adjustment measure (clicks, etc.) could make it much more difficult.  

A little "tip," perhaps--but as far as the tiny Allen wrench goes, the newer mounts for the otherwise (IMHO) horrible Surefire helmet light come with a small Allen wrench, and a slot to stow it (I forget if the older style mounts have them) for securing the small set screws.  For the UNI-IR, I kept one of those mounts around, long after I retired the light (it broke), as it provided an easy and convenient way to carry the Allen wrench around without losing it.

~Augee

uses a proprietary allen key that is about 1 inch long & easily disappears adjustment turrets are recessed and are nearly impossible to find especially in low light.  

the small batteries used by the uni also seemed to get stuck and become a real pain to replace,  all have thier problems, the rail master IR is far worse than the uni in these areas. & the TLR-2 IR is too tall to use a a DEDICATED LASER. AT 12:00

   i AM NOT LOOKING FOR PERFECTION i AM JUST LOOKING FOR SOMETHING THAT FUNCTIONS IN A way that I will find enjoyable.

   Most of my problems will/are  be caused by my medical history & disabilities.

Proprietary Allen key is actually .050". This is small, and not included in all wrench sets, but it is standard.

The battery stuff I agree with.

I'm trying my best not to be a hardass but "losing the wrench in the dark and having trouble finding the adjustment turrets" is the kind of stuff we are always going to suffer. You need to keep your shit wired tight at night. That means knowing your equipment inside-out and having your tools organized and stowed. I agree, they should have put some bumps on the housing as indicators but I have some high end lasers with the same issue. I spend a lot of time with gear during the day imagining what it will be like in the dark. It's second nature to me.

The provided wrench and "storage system" is definitely a pain, which is why I say the HL-1 helmet mount works as a good "caddy" for it to prevent it from getting lost in the sauce, it's a simple "trick," but it makes dealing with the wrench infinitely easier, and it's hard to mistake the HL-1 mount for anything else, so you don't have to worry about "looking for it," there's only one.  

Besides that it's just a matter of "feel" getting the wrench into the adjuster.

For azimuth, I would just feel with the tip of my finger for the attachment screw, and move up from there until the wrench slotted in, and the elevation I just slid the wrench inside the rail slot until I caught it with the wrench.  Adjusting from there to a day optic aim sight was just "eyeballed," and invariably I would always go the wrong direction first, hahaha.  

~Augee