School me on Red dots

[oremike]

I'm thinking of adding a red dot sight to my wifes S&W Victory .22 pistol. It came with a Picante rail so that's how I want to mount it. Back in the day I ran a 2x Nikon scope and others ran an Ultra dot in bullseye competition. So that's my only personal experience. Lately I've shot a couple other peoples guns with a non tube type sight and thought they were pretty neat-o but they all had cut slides for the mounting plates. The picante sights I've looked at appear to be for AR type rifles and mount way higher than would work for random close range pistol shots. Thanks for you help and guidance.

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[MikeInOr]

I GREATLY prefer the red (or green) dot sights that have the red circle with the red dot in the middle. It makes acquiring the red dot MUCH faster because the circle appears first which directs you to the the dot. I will never buy a red dot site without a circle again.

Most all of the pistol reflex (tubeless) style sights I have seen have options for very low profile picatinny mounting bases available for them.

Automatic shut off is a must if you don't enjoy changing a bunch of batteries.

I would NEVER buy a red dot sight that did NOT have a replaceable battery. All internally sealed rechargeable batteries have a finite rechargeable life span, are you supposed to throw the sight away when the battery will no longer recharge?

 

[Joe13]

I have one on my Ruger hunter (the vortex 3moa so it's low) and mounted on a rail that came with the gun.

It is taking me a lot to get used to it and it certainly shows how much minuscule movement happens when I think I'm holding it steady.

For what I use the gun for it's good and I would like one on a 45 degree mount on my scoped AR but I probably wouldn't put one on any of my other guns. To many years of irons.

 

[solv3nt]

Just make sure you don't have an astigmatism, otherwise your dot is a star.

 

[NeoBlackdog]

I don't think you're going to get much of anything to hold on that Picante rail. You might want to replace it with a Picatinny rail... Jus' sayin'.

 

[MikeInOr]

I don't think you're going to get much of anything to hold on that Picante rail. You might want to replace it with a Picatinny rail... Jus' sayin'.
View attachment 1909047

Why do you think the sides of the jar are tapered in towards the middle?

 

[bcp]

picante--picatinny

Blam spel chock adn not proo freading aftre po sting.

Bruce

 

[lucusloc]

picante--picatinny

Blam spel chock adn not proo freading aftre po sting.

Bruce

I have this problem. A lot. Mostly I just try to get the red squiggles to go away, and sometimes the default replacement choice is not exactly what I was getting at. . .

 

[Joe13]

Just make sure you don't have an astigmatism, otherwise your dot is a star.

Looks like a heartbeat monitor to me without my glasses

 

[solv3nt]

Looks like a heartbeat monitor to me without my glasses

Holo sights look like a Picasso to me.

 

[ilikegunspdx]

Depends if you want co witness with the iron sights or not. If you do you have to be selective about what dot to use. If you don't care about that any good red dot will work. I posted 3 great inexpensive red dots in the great deals sections Fe (probably classifieds great deal section, some may be in the new great deals section though I can't recall). All of those posted have been excellent. 2 moa, shake awake, auto shutoff, about 11 brightness settings.

 

[lucusloc]

Oh yeah, red dots.

I like em, use em on carbines and pistols and such. 100% agree that an auto-on/off feature is a must. Reticle is a matter of taste and use case. Bigger dots are faster and closer, smaller dots are for further away work. If you can find a good holo they have a tendency to be much sharper, but they are also much more expensive than the simple reflex options. I am not sure there are any holo sights that are not the size of a brick though, so that may not be applicable for a pistol setup, unless you like large optics.

Personally I just stick with a 2 or 3 MOA dot for pistols. They are fast and precise enough for most applications, and there are a plethora of them on the market.

 

[Indy62]

What do you guys suggest for a quality sub $300 red dot for ar's? I know $=better, but the wallet isn't that fat..

 

[oremike]

picante--picatinny

Blam spel chock adn not proo freading aftre po sting.

Bruce

I canoe what I was doin' just thought picante was clever.

 

[ilikegunspdx]

What do you guys suggest for a quality sub $300 red dot for ar's? I know $=better, but the wallet isn't that fat..

Some of the ones I mentioned above I've shot a lot of .308 on and they are doing perfect.

 

[oremike]

Just make sure you don't have an astigmatism, otherwise your dot is a star.

I do have an astigmatism that is corrected by my glasses.

 

[JRuby]

Compare a 3x prism to a red dot sight. I have been using the burris ar 332 sight and feel very comfortable with them. Is there any advantage to a red dot?

 

[Nosferatu]

Holo sights look like a Picasso to me.

Looks like a heartbeat monitor to me without my glasses

They look like someone dripped picante on the glass to me.

 

[oremike]

Part of this struggle for me is I've been shooting with irons or scopes for a very long time and so I'm used to focusing on the target point of impact and then setting the sights to this point. With the electronic sights I focus on the dot and then look for the point of impact. I know this isn't a very clear explanation but that it part of my confusion. That I have to look for the dot first and then the target is counter-intuitive to me.

 

[ilikegunspdx]

Part of this struggle for me is I've been shooting with irons or scopes for a very long time and so I'm used to focusing on the target point of impact and then setting the sights to this point. With the electronic sights I focus on the dot and then look for the point of impact. I know this isn't a very clear explanation but that it part of my confusion. That I have to look for the dot first and then the target is counter-intuitive to me.

Just buy one and try it they are like $25. You'll find out in about 5 seconds why it's better. You only focus on the target, not the dot.