M16A1 fitted with an AN/PAS-13B Thermal Imaging Sight

Posted by Brilliant_Ground1948@reddit | ForgottenWeapons | View on Reddit | 13 comments

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The_Ostrich_you_want@reddit

Even the current thermals are still big and heavy, but thankfully not that bad anymore. And the batteries last longer. Though I still don’t like them on anything other than area weapons like the 240. If you’re doing night work you already have nods so having a thermal is kinda redundant.

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Oubliette_occupant@reddit

Not at all redundant, thermals provide a completely different capability. Thats like saying “binoculars are redundant if you have 20/15 vision already”.

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Aunon@reddit

AN/PAS-13B fitted with an M16A1

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duga404@reddit

How was the resolution on those things? If they were similar to Gen 1 tank thermal sights the resolution would have limited precise long range shooting.

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RentAscout@reddit

I remember it being very good. The problem was it was top heavy, ate batteries, and took forever to turn on.

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duga404@reddit

I’m assuming you actually used one IRL? How short was the battery life? How far away could you reasonably reliably land shots at?

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RentAscout@reddit

Yeah, in Iraq. I remember keeping extra batteries in my pocket because it wouldn't last the entire night. It was great on the 240 to hit area targets, probably 600m. You're a hot mess with that thing on an M4 in real life and never attempted firing it outside of training. It was mostly used as a spotting scope to back up something like the PVS14.

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duga404@reddit

So unlike what video games make it seem, the PAS-13 wasn't really useful as an optical sight for precision sharpshooting?

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HawkCreek@reddit

God, we hated the PAS-13! Battery's didn't last any length of time, everything about it was heavy. They wanted us to use them as NV on our M240's. We tried them on a few ranges but they never lasted long. After the initial burst they'd be "white out" from the heat coming off the bartel.

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