ATN MK390 Paladin 4x Gen 1+ scope

Was looking through the gun shop...

$40 a box 9mm... no way

$600 used Glocks... not a chance

$1 plus a round 5.56... bitch please

Then I saw it, a really fat scope n the case that looked out of place. Night Vision? You betcha!

$300 in like new condition. Had batteries in it, and it powered up no problem. Built like a rock, heavy at 3.5 pounds.

Yes, I know the limits of Gen 1, I had some Gen 1 monoculars and they served their purpose until I could get some Gen 2+ and 3 stuff and I sold them.  I just don’t have the coin to drop on a gen 2 or better rifle scope or clip on. I figure I’ll do the same thing here, use this until I can afford or find a deal on something better. I’m sure I can always unload it for what I bought it for or relatively close.

I know ATN has a bad rep, but I’m guessing they didn’t build this, it’s probably Eastern European surplus. It’s also not one of their digital units so less to go wrong.

In any event, did I F’ up?

A buddy was really excited when he purchased a Gen 1 Russian monocular and he came to show it to me. When I looked through it my first thought was it was like looking through skim milk.
I showed him Gen 3 and it was as if the life left his body.

The reality is we all have budgets or a price point at which we cannot justify going beyond so buy what works for you and if you are happy that is all that counts. If you do not already have one you might want to pick up an IR illuminator to aid the Gen 1.

It came with an external IR illumination, but I have better already to pair with it.

I know this is not my long term solution... but with the way things are going it’s better than nothing in terms of dedicated rifle night vision. I have a PVS-7 and a Mum.

I figure performance has to at least be on par with the early starlight units.

Decent price,and better than nothing.

Somewhere I have a a Photo digital scope, but the battery life on that thing was dreadful. This is supposed to get up to 40 hours on one CR123.

Don’t want to freak the neighbors so I didn’t take it outside to play with, but I did turn out all the lights and lifted the shades to point down the road. Whereas with the naked eye I could make out shadows in the trees between branches and clusters of leaves, at around 30 yards I could make out individual leaves on the branches without using an illuminator.

Like you said, better than nothing and the price was decent. Does make the rifle heavy as fuck!

Brother Hiram, your thread is lacking in pictures

Forgive me for I have sinned...

While the scope doesn't look super heavy. That rifle looks light as fuck.

Gen 1 is still useful under moonlight, just not as useful for all the hours of the night that gen 3 is

I have a ton of cold war Soviet Gen 1 and 2 units, and used to have a gen 2 Zeiss Orion NATO scope. From a fixed position under decent conditions they are reasonably useful and I've been out hunting a bunch of times with them. I wouldn't want to stake my life on them especially compared to gen 3, but there are situations where they can be useful. $300 is not a lot of money to risk to try something different and see how it all works