Posted on 02/16/2015 7:59:57 AM PST by rktman
Like many of our readers, I am now limited to my closest ranges being indoor. Drives me nuts when I have to zero a rifle for 3-gun and the longest range I can get too quickly is a scant 15 yards. (I can drive 45 minutes to some good long-ranges, but getting at least three hours free can be difficult).
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All the driving ranges up here have been closed due to the snow and cold. I’m not the best shot but come warm weather, I like to at least hit it straight and long when I get out on the course. So long as I don’t embarrass myself on the first shot, I can just lob it onto the green from there and take four or five strokes, if I need them, to finish the hole.
I zero my AR15 at 25 yards which also zeros at 200. Still gives me a tight head shot at 100 yards. Good enough for an old guy using a good red dot.
With the AK, I use iron sights and am content to keep 100% of shots inside an 8” target at 100 yards.
Before anyone poo poos this, realize that I am not shooting from a bench.
How does one go about finding a good red dot for an AR?
Ha, ha!
There are plenty of good ones out there. I all depends on how much you want to spend. The military and law enforcement typically use Aimpoints or EOTechs.
From my breakfast porch through the kitchen and laundry room, out into the garage, I can get fifteen yards to the rubber mulch 4 x 5 bin I built for an indoor shooting range backstop. A cat litter plastic bucket filled with rubber mulch laid length-wise holds the targets. That eighteen inches of mulch will stop anything up to but not as much as a 5.56. I calibrate using a twenty-two LR conversion kit.
Here’s a ballistic calculator that well help figure what you need at 15 yards
http://www.handloads.com/calc/index.html
These are good without being expensive:
http://www.ultradotwest.com/
I have the Pan AV on a Kel-Tec SU-16A
Perhaps I worded my question wrong. What makes a good red dot? What does one look for in a good red dot? Let’s say I went to Cabelas and was looking at red dots, what would make me choose one over the other, besides the price, although that is a consideration also.
Two things for sure to look for: MOA (minute of angle, the precision of the optic aim-point) and shock resistence. A good red dot for a rimfire will not necessary work on an AR or a shotgun. I have found that good red dots for pellet rifles that use the spring action will work just fine on an AR or shotgun. My cheapest red dots go on my rimfires.
I’m sure Frog will be able to give you a better explanation.
And for the money, I would go with a green dot, now.
I’ve been quite satisfied with my Vortex Sparc:
http://www.vortexoptics.com/product/vortex-sparc-2-red-dot-with-bright-red-dot/specs
$200 on Amazon. Recommended to me by a one of our SWAT team cops. Said it was as good as the ones they were using for tactical operations.
Unlimited Lifetime guarantee
2 MOA dot
parallax free
unlimited eye relief
I have a Bushnell TRS-25 on my Marlin 30-30. Works well, much lower cost, about $80 on Amazon. Red or green dot variable setting. Slightly larger dot than the Vortex, quite satisfactory for the range of that rifle. But for an AR15 I think the extra cost of the Vortex is worth it. And you can’t beat the warranty.
One thing that impressed me was watching a couple of youtube videos on the Vortex. It is capable of taking a lot of abuse. And then you have the unlimited warranty.
I can't say about others, but my battery life on the Sparc has been noticeably shorter than predicted by the specs. Not a big deal, but for it, like some of the red dots, the button cell battery is impossible to find in a store. So I order 2 at a time from Amazon.
Something I didn’t know about until after I got my first red dot. If you have astigmatism it will affect the appearance of the dot. It will be a little less crisp on the edges, starry sort of.
Now and then I have occasion to wear contacts (mid range correction) and then glasses that correct to distance. This combo has the effect of completely correcting the astigmatism, making the dot smaller and crisper. At 100 yards and out, that matters.
Oh, that is interesting. I have mild astigmatism, but in my non-dominant eye. Thank you (and everyone else) for all the info.
Worth a try ping
I’ve been using one of the SiteLite laser boresighters. You enter info such as caliber, bullet weight (and ballistic coefficient if you have it), velocity, and distance at which you want it zeroed. It tells you how far away to place a small target and then you crank the sights until the laser dot and crosshairs are in the same spot. Works great.
Even used it to sight in a Sharps in .45-70 with vernier sights. First time out it grouped 1.5” at 100 yards.
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