VZ52/57 sniper assistance needed

[Gryphon Energetics]

I just received a nice VZ52/57 sniper that the seller neglected to mention had a badly canted front sight (probably at least 10 degrees). I suspect it was done while installing the SVT type brake which I also plan to remove and replace the correct muzzle nut which came with it. I've tried using a wrench on the brake to see if it would crank over a bit but no dice, and rather than risk damaging it any further I'm looking for suggestions on qualified gunsmiths that can accomplish the work. I would appreciate any suggestions on who could respectfully return this Cold War beauty to its correct alignment.

Also the rifle came with the NSP2 night vision scope but no batteries. My understanding is this scope runs on 6V and I've seen a few rigs where folks have used 6V SLA batteries successfully, but the wires in the battery pack are not marked for polarity at all. Given the era of this technology I'm concerned there isn't any reverse polarity protection. I found this image via Google:

If anyone happens to know if that's the correct orientation of + and - I would be most grateful. Apparently the image quality of these old Gen 0 NV scopes is said to be on par with modern amplified units...

 

[stickhunter]

I worked on getting my NSP2 scope (also from a Vz 52/57 sniper) operational and succeeded using the information from this page: h ttp://kalashnikov.org.uk/nsp2/Page_1x.html

The original voltage is actually 4.5V --- 6V should work, but might overstress the electronics in the long run.

I posted a message on CGN with a bunch of pictures and details of what I had to do with my scope to get it running, but unfortunately that was several years ago and in the Off Topic forum, so I can't search and find it. But I do recall that I was able to quickly verify the operation of the scope by simply putting 3 AA batteries in series and holding the powerpack leads to the terminals.

You should be able to trace the leads in the pictures on the linked site to figure out the polarity.

When/if your scope works, you'll know as there'll be a high frequency oscillation. Make sure you have the scope already connected to the power pack before you attach the batteries --- the leads from the power pack are stepped up to a high voltage and you'll get a spark (possibly damaging) if you connect them while live.

If I find my old post, I'll link it to this thread --- you're right about the image quality... it is surprisingly good. Unfortunately, that scope is a beast to use with a good cheek weld!

From the pictures, it looks like red is positive and black is negative --- I remember verifying this by tracing the leads to the fuse, which has a + marking: