Just a general question for some of you old salts. I'm not new to shooting, but have always only had iron sights, or traditional scopes on my rifles.

Considering getting a reflex type red dot sight and since I haven't ever had one I was wondering the basic mechanics behind how they work.

Not the electronics or anything like that but rather the shooting mechanics. Let me try and be a bit more specific.

So this reflex sight sits on your rail just in front of where a traditional rear sight would be, yes?

Now, when I bring the rifle up to my shoulder and get the sight picture of the red dot, do I have to *also* include the front sight? In other words, is the red dot just a replacement for a traditional rear sight?

If not, if I don't have to consider the front sight, then how does that work? Wouldn't the red dot just act like the fulcrum on a teeter-totter and allow me to spray a big pattern of rounds around the pivot which is the dot?

Wouldn't this scenario demand an even more exact (repeatable every time) cheek weld and stance to be accurate?

Don't get me wrong, I know they are and have been used successfully for years, its just never having got to try one I'm wondering a thing or two....

Any insight or advice welcome.

Regards

Baldur

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Morte tyranni

Where the dot is, bullet follows.
It takes a little technique to get the dot quickly with a pistol, but it is still easier than finding the bubble of a scope.

It helps your precision if you keep the dot centered, though it's not essential for fast action shots.
Play with it a while and you will learn how and when to love it.

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it just needs more voltage

The reflex sight takes the place of both sights. Some people leave the iron sights on as a backup but they aren't needed. It's similar to zeroing the crosshairs on a scope, once the dot is zeroed, put the dot on where you want to hit and pull the trigger. (assuming it's at the same zero distance). If you're shooting longer or shorter shots then you have to adjust your holdover just like a scope. Where the reflex really shines is on a pistol, you don't have to line up sights and you don't have to focus on the front sight. The dot is projected onto the screen and appears to be at the same distance as the target, leave both eyes open, focus on the target, when the dot appears where you want to hit the target, pull the trigger. My competition days would be over if I had to use iron sights now. I had multiple prescription glasses and never was comfortable. Now all I use is the reflex and my pistol has no iron sights. Have fun, you'll like it.

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Fellas,

Thanks for the reply and the info. Not to be pedantic, but no one has answered the basic question though.... I get that they work, I get that people like them, I see the advantage, etc. etc.

I just dont see "how" they work. Lemme splain.

With iron sight you line up your front and rear sights thus aligning your rifle. The distance between the fron and rear sights, the "sight radius" essentially creates a vector that aligns the barrel.

With a conventional glass scope (tube with multiple lenses) you have essentially the same thing as the sight radius with iron sights because if you miss-align your line of sight with the tube of the scope, then you cant see through it.

But a reflex is a dot on a single plane. If I miss align my line of sight enough while looking at it (like 60 or 70 degrees to the side) eventually I can no longer see the dot. But up to that point I still can, which means my point of aim "should be" off.

This is what I don't get....

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Morte tyranni

the lens is a concave half mirror.
The curve of this lens compensates for misalignment, at least to a large enough degree to keep it a viable system.

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it just needs more voltage

Here are a couple of articles that explain it. Red Dot Sights / Reflex Sights & Holosights Explained

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reflector_sight

of these, the wikipedia link seems to get closer to the explanation you seek.

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it just needs more voltage

On an AR platform, they are typically pushed far forward on the receiver as my pic below. As long as the red dot isn't mounted on something that flexes independently of the barrel, the red dot can be mounted anywhere. Keep in mind that on pistols the red dot is at arms length.

No. To use the red dot does not require alignment with the front and rear sight. Now if you're looking through the rear sight aperture and aligned with the front sight, the dot will be right where the front sight is if both irons and red dot share the same zero. But you can look over the rear sight, move your head to the left or right and the red dot will stay on target while the front sight wanders around.

I made a video to illustrate this. The most inconsistent cheek weld is nowhere near the exaggerated movement done here with the camera. See the red dot stays on target.