Probably Finland SF.

while it was never issued, it was available for sale at the Special Forces bookstore up on Smoke Bomb Hill...i bought one as a back-up before i started Phase I...being in Uwharrie with a busted compass was not a good thing...

proficiency has nothing to do with night vision...

Is it tritium? I've found the word "luminous" used to connote different things, sometimes more properly called flourescent or phosphorescent.

Bug juice probably did that.

:)

Exactly.

That stuff would melt all plastic except for the bottle it came in.

TR

as long as it's not a carcenogin...okay, as long as it isn't an acute-onset, die-next-week carcenogin...

it never really worked on bugs, but it was good to mark LZ/DZ with, when mixed with a little C-Rat peanut butter...

and it was an excellent cleaning solvent...

"it never really worked on bugs, but it was good to mark LZ/DZ with, when mixed with a little C-Rat peanut butter..."

??? I need splainin'

Also, the question above still stands. Anyone know if the illumination is, in fact, tritium? I need to get a compass and this is one under consideration.

TIA

once upon a time, military rations came in cans...peanut butter came in a can about two inches in diameter, maybe half an inch thick...it is a decent burning medium, but needs something to get it lit...bug juice burns readily...now, to mark a drop zone for a night drop (and there was a time when the only jumps we made were night combat equipment jumps, as it should be), one needed something that could be seen from the air...a field expedient method (since bonfires are not clandestine and a small fire isn't guaranteed to be contained) was either to add bug juice to the peanut butter in the PB's original container, or to put some peanut butter in a larger can, say a Pecan Nut Loaf can and light it at the points on the day-letter code in order to allow the pilot/navigator to both authenticate the drop zone and to define a release point...

i checked the website...it used the term luminous...i doubt that tritium is involved...i could be wrong, but i doubt it...

Thanks! I'd almost figured it out, but was missing a piece or two.

I looked at the site, too, and noted the absence of the word tritium. So, am guessing it's simply glow in the dark paint. Tecnically this is NOT luminous, but the word is so regularly misused, it's probably unreasonable to expect that it be used properly. There is, apparently, a Suunto w/ the right features that is tritium, it's described in the LightFighter thread referenced above, and is probably what I'll get.

Thanks again.

"If" was the key word. Id bet money its not tritium.

Cammenga is selling military lensatics with tritium for almost a c-note at

www.cammenga.com

I also found a couple of Silvas on the web that have tritium but I havent been able to locate them on the current Silva site.

The Silva Ranger Ultra 530 has "luminous points" but I havent been able to determine if the are tritium or not. A call to Silva on monday should confirm that.

The Silva Ranger comes highly recommended by senior members here.

The Silvas pictured below are the Expidition 4 and the 54/6400B-

In the FWIW department, its been my experience that in the US, 'luminous' refers to photoluminescence, wherein the material stores the energy it receives from visible light waves and emits a portion of it over time, even after the light source is removed. Marketers generally use the term 'self-luminescent' or specifically say the item contains tritium or a 'radioactive' light source to indicate the source doesn't require 'charging' before it glows.

Razor,

Thanks for that info I appreciate it.

I held of on the Ranger purchase this weekend even though I would buy one on the recommendations made here. I will call Silva tomorrow to find out if the points are self-luminescent or not.

If they arent I guess I would have to buy another compass that does have self-luminescent points for night nav, do light shots on the Ranger (risky), or just go with another compass all together-

Thanks

I called Silva today at 1-800-572-8822, the woman who answered did not know at first. Upon further query she came back to me to inform me that the Ranger luminous points do need an outside light source.

Can any of the BTDTs who use the Ranger comment on this, and how to night nav with it?

Thanks

[QUOTE=ccrnThe Silva Ranger comes highly recommended by senior members here.

[/QUOTE]

Thanks for such a high praise CCRN. :rolleyes: I guess it doesn't mean much if you're still hunting for a compass.

Team Sergeant
(Still owns a Silva Ranger after 20 some years....)

take a flashlight...preferably a military flashlight, with elbow and all...cover the backside, place the flashlight over the bezel...use a patrol cap or something to shield the light...turn the light on, leave it on for a minute or so...this activates the luminous material painted on the face and bezel...that should charge what you need to see for a couple of hours, maybe more...do this as often as necessary...the elephant rubber bags that used to be sold at Ranger Joe's work well for this...problem is, i'm not sure they still make those bags...