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Hello All,
I haven't seen these discussed here on our local level yet, so for those interested in such things I'm going to start a thread on early Russian night vision rifle scopes, specifically the 1pn34.
The 1pn34 is a triple tubed cascade Gen 1 starlight amplifier of early 1970s design. My example was made in 1986, originally manufactured in Siberia, shipped to East Germany, then sold to the Finish Defense Forces. Finland began surplusing them out a few years ago, which is how I got mine. When received it was in brand new, unissued condition. It is equipped with many accessories including several types of eyecups, a daytime filter used for zeroing, a red filter used for nighttime contrast, ballistic cams for different categories of weapon platforms, three original wet cell batteries, a load bearing vest pouch, an instruction manual (in Russian) and a big padded metal toolbox to carry it all in. The exporter kindly included an additional set of instructions in English and German. The price has gone up on these somewhat since they first started widely appearing about a year ago. I'm not sure how longer they will be available.
These scopes are very primitive, but very rugged, user friendly, and with a surprisingly bright and clear image. I would honestly rate it as good as an early Gen 2 amplifyer because of the cascaded tubes...performance is much better than the modern single tube Gen 1 goggles and monoculars available commercially.
The scope is nominally ranged for 300 to 1000 meters, with adjustable windage, elevation and a variable intensity illuminated range finding reticule. Shorter or longer shots require the user to compensate for shot placement based on experience, although as with nearly all full-sized .30 caliber class ammunition, a 250m zero is also roughly zeroed at 25m, so compensation is measured in just a few inches of elevation.
The universal mount will allow the device to fit on nearly any rifle equipped with a ComBloc type sidemount...AK, PSL, SVD, etc. Pictured is the unit on a WASR AK. As you can probably imagine, once mounted the assembled unit becomes somewhat cumbersome and the rifle should probably be fired from a supported position if intended to be used for long periods of time. Kinda cool in a Duke Nukem way, but you'll also need big biceps to be really convincing
.
The scope was originally powered by rechargable wet cell batteries, but it is recommended that they be kept for collector's purposes only and instead the user use two 1.2v NiMH AA rechargable batteries.
We have been extensively discussing these scopes for several months over on Gunboards...for further information just head on over there, do a search on PSL 1pn34 and read away.
Good night to you all.
Keith
I haven't seen these discussed here on our local level yet, so for those interested in such things I'm going to start a thread on early Russian night vision rifle scopes, specifically the 1pn34.
The 1pn34 is a triple tubed cascade Gen 1 starlight amplifier of early 1970s design. My example was made in 1986, originally manufactured in Siberia, shipped to East Germany, then sold to the Finish Defense Forces. Finland began surplusing them out a few years ago, which is how I got mine. When received it was in brand new, unissued condition. It is equipped with many accessories including several types of eyecups, a daytime filter used for zeroing, a red filter used for nighttime contrast, ballistic cams for different categories of weapon platforms, three original wet cell batteries, a load bearing vest pouch, an instruction manual (in Russian) and a big padded metal toolbox to carry it all in. The exporter kindly included an additional set of instructions in English and German. The price has gone up on these somewhat since they first started widely appearing about a year ago. I'm not sure how longer they will be available.
These scopes are very primitive, but very rugged, user friendly, and with a surprisingly bright and clear image. I would honestly rate it as good as an early Gen 2 amplifyer because of the cascaded tubes...performance is much better than the modern single tube Gen 1 goggles and monoculars available commercially.
The scope is nominally ranged for 300 to 1000 meters, with adjustable windage, elevation and a variable intensity illuminated range finding reticule. Shorter or longer shots require the user to compensate for shot placement based on experience, although as with nearly all full-sized .30 caliber class ammunition, a 250m zero is also roughly zeroed at 25m, so compensation is measured in just a few inches of elevation.
The universal mount will allow the device to fit on nearly any rifle equipped with a ComBloc type sidemount...AK, PSL, SVD, etc. Pictured is the unit on a WASR AK. As you can probably imagine, once mounted the assembled unit becomes somewhat cumbersome and the rifle should probably be fired from a supported position if intended to be used for long periods of time. Kinda cool in a Duke Nukem way, but you'll also need big biceps to be really convincing
. The scope was originally powered by rechargable wet cell batteries, but it is recommended that they be kept for collector's purposes only and instead the user use two 1.2v NiMH AA rechargable batteries.
We have been extensively discussing these scopes for several months over on Gunboards...for further information just head on over there, do a search on PSL 1pn34 and read away.
Good night to you all.
Keith
