Vulcan with "Scopeless" Near IR Night Vision Project

Here is the Vulcan dressed in a new black stock and ready for use in the dark. Largely followed the Rolaids “scopeless” build, but put mine on a low riser instead of directly on the Vulcan’s rail. This lets me easily swap between my optical scope and night vision setup. For the distances I shoot at (<50 yards), zero holds just fine when I swap scopes. This scopeless setup also works during daylight if I close the lens iris. It’s not for field target nor dragging through the woods, but it does its intended job well.

With the camera lens zoomed out (and locked) at 100 mm, I get the equivalent to about 7-8 power magnification when viewing from normal cheek weld. Field of view at 50 yards is abut 2 1/4 feet. One flip of a switch and I can switch between wide angle spotter and targeting cameras.

The laser line generator projects an invisible, horizontal line. It is a 5 mw IR laser into which I installed a line generator lens. The line generator lens also disperses the IR so it is less hazardous. You don’t ever want a pin point, nearly invisible 850 nm IR laser shining into your eye. You’ll burn your retina even at low energies because you won’t blink. Short bursts + line generator dispersion helps keep things eye safe. Still, I wouldn’t go staring into an IR laser or point at specular reflectors. I have the generator mounted 1″ above the barrel. This lets me use it as in instant rangefinder and holdover solution. Zeroed it vertically for 13 & 33 yards. As you sweep the scope farther/closer in distance, the horizontal laser line appears on the display screen. Its intersection with the vertical reticle line indicates the proper holdover for 1/2″ sized targets from 9 yards out to 37 yards. One brief press of the laser button and I instantly range and get proper holdover for those ranges. Actually, anything between 27 and 45 yards, I can simply aim dead center of the cross hairs.

I tried an add-on NV setup behind my Hawke, but that was too heavy and performed far worse in terms of light gathering. Scopeless built upon a removable riser rail gives me the best of both worlds.

Because there isn’t room on the Vulcan’s rail, I added an accessor rail on the left side of the action. That holds the IR laser line generator and will eventually have a zero conformation laser. That will be a tiny unit used to check zeroes are holding when scopes are swapped.

Right side of completed setup

Left view showing additional Picatinny rail & laser line generator.