Ir lasers, any one have experience?

slim_shady

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A friend who I've hunted with a few times has gen 3 NV gear, and prefers a laser. However as he puts it. The one he has washes out past 50 yards. Any one have experience with them to recommend one?
 

wigwamitus

LSB Active Member
I have 5 ir-lasers
2 x laser max (about $150 onAmazon)
1 x Steiner CQBL (about $700- $800)
1 x PAQ-4c (about $400 on ebay)
1x AIM2000 (took in trade)

The laser max lasers I have still work, but both pressure pads died. I will probably replace the pressure padd. One of these is 3.5 years old, the other 2 years old. These might be the ones your friend says "wash out" at 50yds. BUT, what are you trying to do with them? I go after mice, rats, opossum and coons with them and they work fine. Though these shots are almost all under 100yds. I practice on 8 inch still at 100yds.
You can mitigate the washout, a.k.a. bloom by turning on an ir-illuminator (i have ir-illuminators on my helmets primarily for this purpose). I also have a cover that reduces bloom.
How far out max are you going to shoot standing unsupported with an ir-laser? For me the answer is 150yds and all of the above lasers work fine for that.

If you want a "good one" ... then I would recommend the CQBL-1 ... it is 8 ounces IIRC. It also has a viz red laser as well as the ir-laser. I use the red laser to aid in zeroing the ir-laser.

Here is .22lr with laser max ir-laser on 12 o'clock.

xecOelyh.jpg


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Here are the 5.56 carbines ...

IM3a8xTh.jpg


from top to bottom, 5.56(14.5) with AIM2000

5.56(10.3) with steiner cqbl

5.56(10.5) with pqa-4c

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moosberg 930T with laser max

AdTJoWmh.jpg

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For those who have never used them, I would say it takes some practice. So if you want to "try it out" first, then I would recommend the lower cost laser-max

https://www.amazon.com/LaserMax-LMS-UNI-IR-Multiple-Platform-Infrared/dp/B005FSRDJI

And once you I ready to step up I would recommend the CQBL-1 ... a number of dealers sell those.

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Also, there are two methods of zeroing "convergent" and "parallel". The US Army uses parallel. That is a little more complex to do, but that puts the line of the laser beam parallel to the barrel, so if the laser is pointing at something the barrel is pointing real close to it (like 1-2 inches), regardless of distance.
For convergent zero, you co-witness the laser to the center of the reticle after zeroing at a particular distance. So if you zero at 100yds, then convergent zero will work fine for all practical hunting purposes.

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One advantage of using the ir-illuminators and ir-lasers is ability to see the eyes of the critter. I've gotten a number of rats I could not have seen with the pvs-14 alone, without the illumination. But I will have to say, once I got thermals, I don't use the ir-lasers much. I consider them to be the "backup" aiming systems now. I practiced with them a lot 2 years ago, but ought to practice more with them now.
 

wigwamitus

LSB Active Member
Oh, one more detail on the ir-laser max lasers. They are not water proof. So eventually, when changing the batteries, I also started cleaning the contacts for the switches. Use a brush and a dab of isopropyl. Before I started doing that, I was having erratic behavior with the switches. Sometimes would not switch on, sometimes would not switch off. Since adding the contact cleaning routing, those issues have not recurred.
 

Shooter

Bedford, Texas
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what he said^^

I have several but the best for me is the CQBL-1. Vis and IR laser. No illuminator, Both lasers are sighted at the same time. I sight in at 50 yards.

If you need an illuminator also DBAL works.

Neither are cheap, but both hold up well
 

znztivguy

LSB Member
If price is not a factor get a milspec PEQ15...they can be had now on the secondary market for around 1500-2000
 

lilMAC

New Member
I have a CQBL and a DBAL D2. I’ll echo the comments above about the CQBL. Nice unit. I like having IR illumination as it helps prevent laser bloom at the target.


The DBAL D2 is awesome. Yes, it’s a fat pig (heavy and bulky), but dang if it don’t work. Amazing IR Illum built in and nicely designed switchology.
 

deltav

LSB Member
Crimson trace rail master IR. Compact and light weight. Plenty bright...actually too bright. I run a filter on mine and have no bloom. Perfect small bloomless dot.
 

theblakester

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I use the Steiner CQBL-1. Though I do like the idea of having the on board Ir illuminator in one package. This new product by Holosun caught my eye for about half the price of the DBAL D2. It's got an IR laser, visible laser and IR illuminator for about $750. Here's MrGunsngear YouTube review of it.
 

wigwamitus

LSB Active Member
The problem with the integrated packages with the civilian illuminators, is the illuminators aren't worth their weight much less their cost.

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For hunting out to 150yds, I'd say any ir-laser will do. If you have a bit of bloom, use a helmet mounted ir-illuminator. Even fairly crappy ir-illuminators will work for bloom reduction. I call it "washing out the washout" ... a.k.a. "washing out the bloom". Useful when zeroing. I don't see bothersome amounts of bloom on the critters as they aren't as smooth as the targets.

Here's my current night carbine/laser setup ..

hVgeChIh.jpg


Got a few opossums and coons with it ... you can see the illuminator on the helmet, but I haven't been using it for the critters. It does help if the critters run in to a bush or if rats run into a wood pile, as the illuminator can find the eyes.

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For intermediate distance, where you need a more powerful illuminator, the mil-spec 15s work and can be had as above poster says. Or you can get a Luna ELIR-3 and "tune" it up. Then you'll get 600yds or so.
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So for me, any laser, a small ir-illum on the helmet for zeroing and occasional short distance eye lighting up ... and the Luna ELIR-3 on the rifle beside the PVS-30 for intermediate distance.

The laser-max laser package runs about $150 on Amazon
The ELIR-3 were $318 last time I looked on OP
 
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