Red dots

R

RoyalWe

New member
Hello all and any! I'm in the market for a red dot to slap on my rifle (trying to keep it as low cost as possible, I'm poor) and I see a lot of red dots advertised as crossbow sights. Will these work equally well on a rifle? I figure a little dot hovering in the glass shouldn't matter what platform it's on really. My concern though is that they probably aren't designed with the recoil of a rifle in mind as far as holding the zero is concerned. Any bits of advice would be helpful or if you have any suggested products too, let's set a ceiling of $180 just to be arbitrary. Thanks!
 
Those sights for crossbows have already been calibrated for a significant amount of drop at typical crossbow distances. You need a red dot for a firearm. If you're at $180 and squeeze a little more out, take a look at the Burris FF3 dot sight. I have one for my Win 1886 levergun and it will allow me to shoot pretty small groups at a measured 114 yards (my deck at camp to the target line). By small, I'm talking 1.3-1.8" five shot groups shot off bags. The dot size is 4moa at 100yds. I simply center it in a large bulls eye. This particular red dot has almost no parallax and almost all of the cheaper ones have a lot of parallax.
 
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Your budget is reasonable

I see a lot of red dots advertised as crossbow sights.
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Not sure why you are finding this particular one, of interest and I suspect it has to do with price. As far as your dollar limit, you should not have a problem finding a standard one. I have used a variety and have never had a problem with the Tasco pro-points and even Simmons. Some have been in service, on my slug-gun for years. I would even take a chance on a Center-Point..... ;)

Now, until last week, I could say that I had never met a RedDot, I did not like. A buddy of mine, gave me a BSA with integral clamps. It's good on short range but when going out, the point of impact, really goes bad or not logical. .. :(

Be Safe !!!
 
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Now, until last week, I could say that I had never met a RedDot, I did not like. A buddy of mine, gave me a BSA with integral clamps. It's good on short range but when going out, the point of impact, really goes bad or not logical. ..
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Pahoo, that's probably due to the parallax I keep telling everyone about. Very easy to check for it. Put the sight on a table and turn it on. Put the dot on a target out at fifty yards or so and then move you head around. Every one of the cheaper ones I've done this with will move all over the place. That's why they don't shoot good groups at farther distances.
 
The proof is in the pudding !!!

Pahoo, that's probably due to the parallax I keep telling everyone about.
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Oh, don't think your past post, didn't come to mind. Before this, I have never seen a RedDot perform this way. I own many mid-priced and a few higher end RedDots and none have ever acted this goofy. ..... :(


Thanks and;
Be Safe !!!
 
If you're poor, don't waste your time. If you can't get an Aimpoint, Trijicon, Zeiss, Leupold, Eotech, or similar, you're MUCH better off getting a scope, espec. for most rifles - what type rifle is it? Even if you can get one of those, you're *still* probably better off with a scope of some kind, than an ESD (electronic dot sight).

But, standard Bushnell TRS-25 recommendation too, I suppose - not bad for $100, if you must.

But listen to spacemanspiff - cheap ESDs suck. I'm saving for a Trijicon RMR-DI 12 MOA triangle myself at the moment.
 
I like the sightmark utra-shot QD, I have two, one with the housing and the regular reflex sight, which us the same without the quick-detach and the metal housing. they are under 100$ and I love them. not great when it's super bright out, but still usable.

http://www.sightmark.com/sm14000.html

they also have a magnifier for it that is very reasonable.
 
It's going on an old Colombian Mauser. The iron sights were legitimately off center so I decided rather than have a gunsmith tweak them (smiths are very expensive up here!) I'm putting a red dot on it. I've purchased a UTG for about $40 online, should be getting here today. I'll let yinz know with a range report.
 
*update* I just mounted the UTG red dot/green dot. Basically it's junk, what you'd expect for $40. The dot it all blurry and star bursting like crazy and makes seeing the target almost impossible. I'll see how it does at the range Sunday!
 
The 2 lower priced red-dots that you should consider are the Bushnell TRS-25 and the Primary Arms Micro. They both go for about $80 and then another $10-$50 depending on how fancy you get with the mount. Reviews on both of these are very favorable in general, and fairly exceptional when you consider the price. They will both do exactly what you want.

Moving up in price and features, the Vortex Sparc. Vortex just released their Gen2 Sparc, and I think I've seen a couple sales on the Gen1 for around $150. Their Strikefire model is about the same price but a different design, a much larger and heavier Aimpoint Pro Clone.

Moving up in price and quality, you should be able to find an Aimpoint Pro or Eotech (I forget which model is the "lower end") for around $350 on sale, perhaps a pinch more after shipping. However, if you're going to spend that much, there are tons of quality scopes at that pricerange with illuminated reticles.

Also, you've got the major holiday sales about to start, pre-Thanksgiving stuff is just around the corner, and then the Black Friday ads, etc... So if you could hold out for a month, you should see some savings and deals.

I know I've seen that Bushnell TRS-25 for $59 before.

On the other hand, you are talking about a hefty centerfire bolt-action... are you sure you want a red-dot on that old classic? Sounds kinda blasphemous.
 
SamNavy said:
On the other hand, you are talking about a hefty centerfire bolt-action... are you sure you want a red-dot on that old classic? Sounds kinda blasphemous.
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It probably is, but it's already been sporterized by a previous owner to the point that I can do anything to it without caring really, so now I'm just looking for something functional and fun. The reason I didn't go with the bushnell was because it's so small it would have looked too stupid on my rifle lol.
 
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