Video: Enlightening Instruction On Shooting With Night Vision

Whether you realized it or not, shooting with night vision requires some special techniques. Here they are.

Granted, shooting with night vision isn’t a skill set applicable to every shooter. The No. 1 reason, most are short the coin to get into a solid NVS setup. Yet, for those that are already kitted up or have the deep pockets to make this an option, it’s worthwhile nailing down the finer points of utilizing your handgun with your night vision.

As the former special operator and current instructor with 1-Minute Out, Jamie Caldwell, points out in the above video, the man thrust of shooting with night vision is equipment management. Much of this will happen well before you ever have to pull your handgun in live-action. In particular, the type of sighting system determines the particular technique you apply in getting your pistol on target with an NVS.

The easiest way is to invest in a red-dot optic, preferably one with brightness settings tailored to night vision. In addition to their fast target acquisition qualities, these devices require almost no special technique to work in conjunction with an NVS. The dot is visible through the system, in turn, you simply aim and fire with your googles deployed—simple as that.

Things get trickier with iron sights. A workable sight picture with iron sight and night vision don’t go hand in hand, thus you’ve got to find a way around your NVS. Flipping them up takes too much time, therefore Caldwell suggests simply tipping your head back to see underneath the googles. Generally, this technique is used in tandem with a weapons light, flipped on when you’re ready to take the shot.

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This whole peering under the googles raises the question: What about the eye cups? The answer is easy as pie—do away with them. Removing this feature not only allows the quick use of a pistol’s iron sights but also opens up your peripheral vision. A human’s normal field of vision is 200 degrees. Most night vision systems cut this down to 40 degrees, panoramic to 98 degrees. So, yeah, you don’t need the cups.

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