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Loomis

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I've been looking for a pair of binoculars that would come in handy for my bug out bag. Ones that are not too heavy with good optics. The Germany Army has been cleaning out there closet so a lot of them are showing up on Ebay. Anyway I picked up a Hensoldt-Wetzlar Zeiss DF 8x30 for $100 bucks. Date of manufacture is anwhere between 1959-1963. There are a lot of nice (and pricy) German Optics being made available to the public. I'll post a pic when I get them.
I saw some nice East German optics as well as Russian optics but the prices are much higher. This is my first decent binocular in my lifetime.
I was also looking at Steiner Fero D12 Binoculars 8x30 German Military for around a $100, but the coating didn't hold up and the German Army switched back to Zeiss. Anyway you can get a bargin if your careful.
I really want the Zeiss Jena 7x40 EDF but the prices are anywhere from $500-$1795. Maybe I will.....someday.
 
i got one at harbor freight 2-3 years ago....thier gordon 10x50 field6 105m/1000m..dont remember the price.and im wanting to say they costed me just over $20.00 with tax..but thier bigger the i care for when it comes to a b.o.b....so i'll be looking for some smaller ones for it..
 
i got one at harbor freight 2-3 years ago....thier gordon 10x50 field6 105m/1000m..dont remember the price.and im wanting to say they costed me just over $20.00 with tax..but thier bigger the i care for when it comes to a b.o.b....so i'll be looking for some smaller ones for it..
The 10x50 are big. I have a Selsi 7x50 but the prolem is they are so heavy I can't hold them for too long without shaking. Hence my quest for a smaller size but good optics. I think a 7x40 or 7x45 would be a good weight. The other problem with large binos is the field gets narrower, unless you can get ones with a wide view.
 
i need a pair greater then 10x50 for longer distance.but thats only because my eye sight.up close im good to go.but the long distance is a new ball game..but i need a smaller size and wth the power im looking for
 
I have bushnell perma focus binocs. I have the 10x42 for the truck and 8x35 for bow hunting and keep in my BOB the rest of the year. They are not over expensive so if they get lost or stolen I am not out a lot. They have good glass and work well. I like the the auto focus feature. With or without glasses you eyes adjust to them and they are clear instantly without having to take time to adjust a focus knob.
My son has the 12x50's. They are really nice but way to big to pack around with. Nice to use from the house checking out deer though.
 
thats the reason i got mine tobign with.deer,coyotes and all at a distance
 
what aout this?
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005V10WFG/ref=oh_details_o01_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
i got this for around 13 bucks and they work great. not the best built quality but they do the job.

Anything is better than nothing. Those are fine becasue it gives you an advantage. They are 15x32 Roof Prism. They are affordable, light weight, have mirror coated objective which is good for bright sunlight. Not to be put at the bottom of bug out bag. If you lived in the 13th century you would have been king of the hill if you had them. We tend to forget just how far we have come in optics. You just have to take care of them a little more.
 
Ok here they are: Hensoldt Wetzlar Zeiss 8x30
Manufactured between 1959-1963. These are West German Militay. You can see from the pic that one side is different, most likly a referb by the militay. The optics in these are something else. Anyway this is my pick for a bugout bino.
Hensoldt Wetzlar Zeiss 8x30.jpg
 
I'll be updating this soon. I bought another pair of binoculars and an monocular. As soon as I field test them I'll write something up here.
 
Well I bit the bullet and got this 1983 East German Carl Zeiss Jena (Checkpoint Charlie-Berlin Wall) 7x40 Roof Prism binoculars. I will never buy low end optics again. They are fixed focus with each ocular adjustable. The image is unreal even after all these years. There is a slight yellow tint but not enough to make a big difference. They give my 4" Catadioptic telescope competition. They are that good. They weigh in at 2.7 lbs (1.22 kg). They focus after about 60' (18.288 Meters) and are set at infinity. Just unreal. The lenses are said to be able to withstand a nuclear blast, but they didn't say the person holding them would.
EDF 7X40 VEB JENA 005.jpg
 
Does anyone know what brand and power of binoculars the British SAS soldiers use?
 
Last edited:
http://ukarmedforcescommentary.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/the-infantry-of-army-2020-lethality.html

Sights and Night Vision


Following a variety of UORs which brought into service a wide range of day and night sights, from the ACOGs to the MaxiKite, the Synergistic Individual Surveillance Target & Acquisition (SISTA) UOR brought into service a number of VIPIR2+ night thermal weapon sights, which had already been preceeded by 300 hand-held VIPIR-S surveillance sights ordered in March 2006 and by a further 450 ordered in January 2007.


VIPIR2+ sights installed on a GPMG and SA80. Now that FIST STA solved the problem of providing night sights to the dismounts, it is likely that the VIPIR2s will more and more frequently be seen on support weapons, from GPMG to HMG and GMG

The Army was finally able to move onwards with FIST STA in 2009, and place a coherent order for the complete re-equipping of pretty much the whole army.
In fact, the initial order, signed in September 2009 was for delivery and in-service support of 95 Infantry Company ‘packs’, but in December 2010 a follow-on order of 51 further packs brought the total to 146 Companies, enough for whole (or almost) of RAF Regiment, Royal Marines and British Army. The first 95 Company Packs will all be delivered by 2014, with the rest to follow.

FIST STA includes:

Lightweight Day Sight ELCAN Specter OS4X each man in the Section gets one. It is the intended replacement for the SUSAT, with the (still evolving) plan predicting a gradual retirement of the SUSAT, to be complete by 2025. The ELCAN is a 4x sight, and is fitted as backup for close range engagement with the Shield-produced Mini Sight Reflex Red-Dot, said to be the smallest and most compact red-dot sight in the world.



The introduction in service of the L129A1 rises an interesting question, as the sharpshooter in the Section envisaged by FIST was to employ the L86A2 LSW, with the 4x sight. As we have said, the L129A1 is using a 6x ACOG sight, and it would be a retrograde step to reduce the magnification available to the marksmen. As I write, it is currently unclear what the long term solution will be. Perhaps bringing into FIST the ACOG 6x, or adding a dedicate procurement of the ELCAN 6x…?



Fist Thermal Sight (FTS) a high performance un-cooled Thermal Weapon Sight that provides the User with 24hr target detection, acquisition & engagement capabilities out to extended ranges, in every weather conditions and even in total absence of any external light source. The FTS is equipped with a 640x480 format un-cooled thermal core, and is powered from AA batteries.
The FTS has an integrated Infra Red Laser Aimer (IRLA) for enhanced target identification, along with the integrated fall-back Close Quarter Battlesight (CQB) red dot sight from Shield, as we said earlier.
The FTS also has the ability to be controlled remotely via the weapon hand guard, again demonstrating an enhancement in the wider integration context.



In each 4-man Fire Team, the FTS is assigned to the Leader and to the LMG Gunner.

Common Weapon Sight the Pilkington Kite night sight is a Generation III Image Intensification (II) night sight capable to use starlight or moonlight to provide night vision. In the Army is known as Common Weapon Sight, and has been around for some time. Under FIST STA, the sight is upgraded and fitted with the Shield red dot, and then re-issued. It is used by the Grenadier and provides 4x magnification. It weights 990g excluding the 2 batteries and offers night detection of a standing man out to 500 meters with sole starlight available.

MaxiKite 2 is the big brother of the CWS, and just as CWS it was already in service prior to FIST STA contract. Like the CWS, it gets upgraded and fitted with the red-dot before being re-issued. The Maxikite offers 6x magnification and allows targeting at night over long range (a standing man will be seen at 750 meters) and will be issued to the Sharpshooter. It weights 1.36 kg and can operate for 70 hours with a couple of batteries.


Grenadier UGL Fire Control System the SA80A2 with UGL is fitted with a UGL sight provided as a UOR by Istec Services of Hertfordshire, coupled with the FIST-specific Rapid Acquisition Aiming Module fire control system jointly developed by Vectronix of Switzerland and Wilcox Industries. RAAM instantly calculates the distance, angle of declination or inclination, and adjusts the point of aim accordingly.
The combined solution is valid day and night, and reduces the Circular Error Probable to 5 meters over a 300 meters range.




MOSKITO Commander’s Target Locator a binocular day/night target acquisition system, weighting less than 1.2 kg and offering 5x daylight and 3x night magnification with a 24 hours of night vision observation duration with a set of batteries. MOSKITO measures range, azimuth and vertical angle, locating NATO standard targets up to 4 km away.

Ruggerized Digital Camera a sturdy, highly resistant digital camera to take photos or short videos valuable for intelligence examination. Issued one per Section. This commercial off-the-shelf camera produced by Olympus was specified for FIST due to its ability to transmit and receive images from patrols. Weighing only 200 grams (6.4 oz.), it is designed for harsh conditions. The camera reportedly operates even after being immersed in 10 meters (33 ft.) of water or dropped 2 meters.

Lightweight Infantry Periscope produced by Uniscope, Israel, this foldable periscope is issued one per Section and enables soldier to look past a corner without exposing themselves. It is seen as an interim solution: cameras integrated in the rifle sight relaying imagery to a head mounted display were trialed, but judged not yet mature enough. Besides, with the freezing of the “C4I” elements of FIST, there is currently no data architecture and no selected display to use in such a system, which features, instead, in Soldier Systems such as Italy’s Soldato Futuro, France’s FELIN, the various US projects and so along. This architecture makes it possible to fire accurately exposing only the weapon past the cover, something that with the LIP is not possible.
The LIP offers a 12-deg. field of view and 3X magnification.


Overview of the FIST STA items, and how they fit into a 4-man fireteam as of 2011. Note that on operations, the L129A1 is used in the Sharpshooter role, one per Section. Since a Section has 2 fireteams, in the future one of the two Sharpshooters might continue to use the LSW. The LIP (Lightweight Infantry Periscope) is issued one per Section, as is the Ruggerized Digital Camera (RDC). The MOSKITO Commander's Target Locating System (CTLS) is issued to each fireteam leader, so 2 per Section. Everyone gets the Light Laser Marker and the HMNVS night vision.

While not procured under FIST STA, the Light Laser Marker (LLM) is an important component of the Lethality package. Issued in measure of one per soldier, the LLM-01, a design by Oerlikon Contraves, is a small unit mounted on the personal weapon and combining Visible Red Laser Beam Marker; Invisible IR laser marker for use with night vision equipment; IR illuminator, again for facilitating use of Night Vision equipment and II weapon sights and a Lamp Head (Visible Light torch) or Laser Head available in Marker and Illuminating variants.


LLM unit: (1) Visible Red Light Laser (2) Invisible IR laser (3) IR illuminator provides invisible light for use with NVG (4) Visible Lamp Light or IR Invisible Lamp Light
In the same role, the Special Forces favor the AN/PEQ-2, which is standard issue of the US forces.


This well known photo of a squad from the Special Forces Support Group (1 PARA) shows an H&K 417 sharpshooter rifle (second man knelling from the left) and SA80 rifles all very evidently fitted with the AN/PEQ-2

Also not directly a FIST STA component, the Head-Mounted Night Vision System (HMNVS) AN/PVS-14 is fundamental. This monocular sight, used extensively by the US forces as well, is now the standard night sight for the british armed forces, with 32.000 units in inventory as of 2011 and some 10.000 more planned, enough to give night vision to all deployed soldiers, in each section. An additional order (for all of the 10.000 planned?) has been placed in early april this year, with deliveries to be completed by 2016.


AN/PVS-14 can also be used hand-held or rifle mounted

The British Armed Forces also use the LUCIE sight, and will use it at least out to 2023 according to current plans. LUCIE is an image intensified (II) night vision goggle.
In this area, in 10 years, the British Army made huge leaps, as this historic figure from a 2003 Written Answer show: back then, Night Vision was pretty much stuff for special forces, with available numbers of sights for the PBI (Poor Bloody Infantryman) low or extremely low.

In the future, FIST envisages a Head Mounted Sight (a function of a multirole Head Mounted Display, I believe, like in other Soldier Modernization programmes) and a new kind of “all-doing” weapon sight combining optical, Image Intensifier and Thermal Imaging modes to provide a day/night all-weather system.
Research and development should start in 2014/15, and proceed towards a FIST 2 capability which will start delivering from 2018. FIST 1 is the current FIST package in delivery: it had to comprise Increment 1A (the weapon sights as listed above) and a Situational Awareness/C4I package under Increment 1B.
Increment 1B was cancelled, and FIST restructured in “epochs” (1, 2 and 3). Epoch 2 will be particularly important as it is a bridge, comprising the many UORs moving into Core post-Afghanistan, towards the targets of the full FIST platform for the 2030.

Another Surveillance and Target Acquisition instrument available to the Army at Team level and above is the Thales Surveillance System And Range Finder (SSARF), 707 of which have been procured with deliveries completed in 2011. The SSARF is similar in concept to the MOSKITO, but features an un-cooled thermal sight element, and is used by Fire Support Teams to detect targets for subsequent mortar, artillery or air attack.


Observing with SSARF

Again, the British Army ordered in March 2012 a significant number of Sagem (Safran group) JIM LR (Long Range) multifunction infrared binoculars for the “Long Range Thermal Imager” requirement. The JIM LR offers day/night (infrared) vision, rangefinding, laser pointer, North seeker, GPS and data transmission. The British Army variant also provides Image Fusion between the infrared and visible channels, to penetrate camouflage during the day, and to provide true all-weather vision (through smoke, etc.). It will also be able to record imagery on USB supports.
VIPIR-S, SSARF and JIM LR should more than make up for the soon to come retirement of the old LION short range and SOPHIE Medium Range thermal imagers, by providing greatly increased Short, Medium and Long range thermal imaging and surveillance capability.
 
http://www.quicktest.co.uk/acatalog/6X30-NATO-bin_nato_6X30.html#SID=345 IIRC

But Avimo L12A1 7 X 42 were common. Many UK front like troops bought their own pocket binos because the British army standard issue rifles comes with a large 4x scope mount as standard.

You may find this interesting

http://www.cloudynights.com/topic/205734-i-got-the-sas-dob-rod/

I just saw that this morning. I was just wondering after seeing the picture No man left behind on TV last night.
There are still some high end optics on the market from days gone by at a very reasonable price (like under $100). I just picked this one up. It's a Steiner 6x30. They weren't very popular and Steiner discontinued them. They are very wide field. But really decent optics. Waterproof, fog proof, reticle. They say the Steiner 8x30 was more popular due to it's higher magnifying power but narrower FOV. Steiner has Civilian ones but people say they are not as sharp as the Military ones.Steiner 6x30 007.JPG
 
Now I see what they are doing by putting them on the rifles and use them as monocular and supply a tripod. I have a 15x70 also but I wouldn't qualify that as a bug out bino. It's just too big.
 

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