sighted in both of my sights, reflex and NcStar Mark III 2-7x32

[Nachtjager]

Okay I had decided to get a reflex sight with the 4 reticle options and while sighting it in at 50 yds I noticed that even though I was able to get about a 3" grouping, the red dot at that range covered most of the 3" Black circle while sighting, so real precision shooting was hard to achieve.
So I ordered a NcStar MarkIII 2-7x32 to see if I could get a tighter group for targets and for things like squirrels and other small varmits at a range of 50 to 75yds. I noticed with the MarkIII 2-7x32 that I could still keep both eyes open with the zoom set anywhere from 2 power to 4 power so shooting at moving targets can still be done quite easily. Shooting with the zoom on 7 power at 50 yds gave me a good view of the bulls eye on the target and I was able to get a nice tight group all within a 3" circle.

The MarkIII is a quick release so I will be able to change them depending of what I will be shooting.

Here is my rifle with the reflex sight. set up to co-witness with the front sight putting the red dot right on top of the front post.


This black circle is 3" in diameter with a 1" circle in the center and the two rings are 1/2"wide. Sighting with the reflex site using CCI standard velocity ammo for this, the final grouping on the target at 50 yds, it started hitting high to the right and I adjusted with each shot until the 6th shot which (by luck) hit directly on the center bulls eye.



Here is my rifle with the NcStar MarkIII 2-7x32 set-up and a few of the shot groups at 50 yds


This black circle is 3" in diameter with a 1" circle in the center and the two rings are 1/2"wide, I used CCI standard velocity ammo
Shooting and adjusting with each shot, took 14 shots with the last 5 hitting the 1" diameter center circle.



I took 8 shots at 50 yds at this one and 5 are in the 1" circle in the middle with all the shots hitting well withing he 3" diameter circle


Now I felt it was sighted in pretty good so I shot 14 more rapid fire shots and had 6 of them hit the center 1" diameter circle, the other 8 hitting within the whole 3" circle.
So here are the last 14 shots fired pretty rapidly with all of them hitting well within the 3" diameter circle. In fact all the shots are within or touching the first inside ring which is 1 1/2" in diameter. That makes all rapid fired 14 shots hitting within a 1 1/2" cirlce, not bad for me.


I get much more accuracy with the scope opposed to the reflex but I do like the reflex for not having to look into a tube but being able to just keep both eyes open and having a full field of view. So guess for large targets and large moving targets the reflex sights work well but for precision shooting I will definitely stick with the scope.

[reelman]

What is the point of having only the front sight on your rifle?

[rgkitchen]

What about combining the two?

This is what I am planning to do as soon as I'm able. My son and I created several combinations of sights and grips, and this is what we settled on.

[grimreaper21]

^ I believe that one actually gets 3x-9x magnification, 42mm objective size

[Scuds03]

I had that exact same Barska reflex sight on my rifle and hated it. I could not get it to hold zero worth beans and each click for adjusting it was not uniform. It seemed like some clicks wouldnt move the recticle at all while others would move it by like 3 MOA. I returned it after one trip to the range. You having any of the problems I had? Mabe I just got a bad one? After transporting the gun in your case is it still on zero when you shoot it again?

What ammo did you make those groups with? Not bad! Sorry fo all the questions haha.

[monk]

Scuds I have a NCStar reflex sight, same as the Barska. It acts the same as you describe. Won't hold zero and the adjustment is very touchy. It was cheap, so I gues you get what you pay for.

[myeye22]

Originally Posted by rgkitchen

What about combining the two?

This is what I am planning to do as soon as I'm able. My son and I created several combinations of sights and grips, and this is what we settled on.

I put that same NC Star 3-9x combo on my 15-22 last week. Only major complaint I have is the red dot, which didn't have enough elevation adjustment to zero it at any range. Ended up having to shim the housing. Given the dot size, it's not usable beyond 25yd or so for me. I'm much happier with the scope. Holds zero through the mag range and not bad (or about par for polymer rails) when re-mounting. Although the BDC detents are calibrated for a .223 round, I'm thinking with some range time and perhaps a white Sharpie I can make the BDC useful for 22LR.

[Nachtjager]

I have looked at the NcStar reflex, the Barska reflex and the Sightmark reflex and they are all made in China and look to me to be made by the same company as they are exactly the same in everyway. Yes I did have the same problem with the adjustments, I would get close to the center of the target then make and adjustment and it would hit totally outside the rings, then make a change and hit back into the rings. Probably the main reason I went to the scope before I pay up for a quality reflex site.

@Reelman, I left front sight on to co-witness with the reflex to make sure I had the rifle lined up straight while sighting in, trying to sight in while just shooting at a red dot can be difficult trying to get consistantly the same alignment. So I sighted it in aligning the red dot right on top of the front post to make sure the rifle was aligned up straight for every shot.

@rgkitchen
I have been thinking of using that set up, been looking around online to find the best price for the NcStar red dot to see if I can get it any cheaper than RRAGES.COM has it.
However after using this scope I am thinking it many serve all my needs as is. I can shoot with both eyes open from the 2 power to the 4 power easily and the cross hairs don't cover up the target too much at 50 yds to 75 yds like the red dots do.
When I try to shoot at the 3" circle at 50 to 75yds with a reddot it completely covers the black circle on the target so I cannot even see the center of the target. I would imagine it would more than completely cover a squirrel's head at that range too so it would be hard to get a dead on head shot. Because the dot covers so much of the target at these ranges, precise, tight grouped shots are difficult, so I prefer just the scope for the precision.
I think the red dots work fine for big and moving targets like military type targets but for my needs I am sure using only the scope will work best.


As far as ammo goes I have found that CCI is the most consistant . Too bad you can't get the deal for 500 rounds like with the Federal but the CCI is of much higher quality. For targets and precision shooting I will go with the quality ammo and for plinking and those 500 round days something cheaper.
I have used CCI mini mags and had real consistant and tight groups and for these photos above I used the CCI Standard Velocity and was pretty happy with the consistancy.
So for most of my shooting at targets or for sighting in scopes and for hunting I will use CCI ammo.

About the NcStar MarkIII, I read all of the reviews on here about the scope and decided that since the company had great customer service that if I did have any problems it was still a safe bet.
I got it on Ebay from a shooting supplies company for $76 with free shipping and I asked them to check out it's alignment before they sent it, when I received it it was still in the sealed plastic bag, so I guess they did not check it out but luckily there were no problems. It mounted to the rail easily and the quick release works very well. The lighted reticle does cause a glare on the lenses so I don't imagine I will be using that feature but the reticle when unlit worked pretty good as is. I have not attempted to use the bullet drop compensator and the only issue I have so far is the windage adjustment on the right side is also the setting for the crosshair when sighting in so there is no way to lock it in and screw on a cap over the adjustment so if the windage dial were to move unknowingly it will knock off the sighted in scope. I don't imagine I will be adjusting windage on a 22LR at 50 yds so it really is not needed.

About the Magpul XTM rail covers. I found them to be great and easy to use. They grip to the rail really well with no slippage and are actually easy to remove. I used two phillips head screw drivers for removal and found if I stick the tips of the screw drivers into the opposing holes while making sure that I put them in straight and parallel to the rail, not aiming downwards, then put a light downwards pressure on them, they seperated really easily.
One thing I did notice is that they seemed to add, what seemed like, quite a bit of weight to the front of the rifle. I used 16 of them, 6 to cover each side on four on the bottom. I thought that the plastic would not add much weight but I guess with 16 of them, if they each weighed an ounce that would be adding a whole pound to the rifle, which weighs only 5.5 pounds to begin with. I am going to try the ladder rail covers that I used on my top rail on all the rails to see how they feel. Then I will decide which I want to use, the Magpul XTMs or the Ladder Rail covers. The ladders that I use are from RRAGES and are the ones with the scalloped tops and they cover the top and sides of the rail very well and look like they will do a good job of protecting the rails from damage.