Zero for 50 and 200 Yards From Just 10.

thefirearmblog.com ^ | 2/16/2015 | Nathan S.

[smokingfrog]

I wear glasses with multi-focal lenses. I have to mount my red dot as far away as possible from my eye or it gets too fuzzy, as you describe.

[smokingfrog]

With the higher priced units, I think you are mainly paying for the durability. Trijicons, Aimpoints, Elcans and EOTecs have been used by the military and will hold up to a lot of abuse. Of course they're not cheap either. Mako group recently came out with a red dot that is a lot like the EOTech, but about $100 less.

The size of the red dot (expressed in MOA) is also important to some people. For precision shooting, you'd want a small dot. For close quarters work you might prefer a larger dot, chevron, circle or donut for shooting "man-sized targets" at closer ranges.

The Aimpoints are noted for having extremely long battery life. Trijicons have a tritium light source, so can work at night without batteries. Some red dots are compatible with night vision equipment, but others are not. This may not be an issue for you.

As always, you usually get what you pay for, but there seems to be some pretty decent stuff out there now in the $200 or less range that is more than good enough for the average shooter. Primary Arms, Vortex, Bushnell, Burris, Leupold, Redfield and others have some acceptable units that won't break the bank.

I have a sight similar to this one, and love it. The only negative thing I can say about it is that the battery life is not that great. Of course, you'd always want to be sure to have a couple of spare batteries on hand regardless.

[Roos_Girl]

I hope y’all don’t mind me asking another question. The red dots you’re talking about, are these strictly red dots that you attach to the rail and manually center in using the stock sights or are they a combo optics and red dot? I’ve been shooting pistols for about 20 years, shotguns a little less than that, and just recently have developed an interest in rifle shooting.

[smokingfrog]

The red dot sight will typically mount on a picatinny rail and have its’ own adjusting screws so you can zero-in the sight.

Most red dots made for the AR platform (like the EOTech) will usually co-witness with your iron sights, so if it fails, you can still continue to use your gun without doing anything. The Trijicon ACOG is probably the Cadillac of red dot sights, but it has to be removed in order to use your iron sights.

Most red dots don’t have magnification but some do. Typically upt to 3x or 4x power. The EOTech has a 3x magnifier that you have to purchase and mount separately, so requires a lot of rail space and a rear sight that will flip down.

If you already have a BB gun or pellet rifle, you can buy a cheap $10-$15 reflex sight for it in order to try it out and see how you like it.

http://www.amazon.com/Daisy-Electric-Airsoft-Point-Sight/dp/B000N8KHQG

[TurboZamboni]

http://www.amazon.com/M16A2-25-Meter-Zeroing-Target/dp/B007BXCQ3I

[gundog]

Dot, or laser?

[Billthedrill]

I'm running a Burris Fastfire II on my AR at the moment. One thing with these - depending on the height of the thing and whether you want it to co-witness with the irons, you may need to purchase a riser to raise it up a bit.

I think 'frog's got the right idea - there are some very reasonable red-dot optics out there that you might not want to use on your go-to gun for reasons of durability but are fine to play with.

[MHGinTN]

Green for both. Best seen in all lights.

[gundog]

I’ve got a red dot that filters out a whole lot of ambient red light to make the dot brighter. Plays Hell with red lasers. In this circumstance, a green laser is better. Also easy to differentiate between the two if both are on.