Have a red dot question.

[tagkat]

I was able to sight my dot in at 50 yds. However the dot seemed to vary it's distance from the front sight with changes in cheek placement on the stock thus affecting bullet placement. Is there a way to keep a consistent placement so that the dot doesn't vary, or would it be better to utilize just a front and rear manual site?

Thanks!

 

[Dragon88]

It's actually the front sight that is "floating" off target, not the dot. Eye position is irrelevant with a red dot, wherever the dot is the bullet will go. The front sight, on the other hand, is only one half of a sighting system, and must be aligned with the rear sight. Consistent cheek weld and eye placement is very important for shooting with iron sights.

If you are using your red dot, don't worry about where the front sight is. If you want to use the iron sights, turn the red dot off so it doesn't distract you.

 

[chuck s]

Assuming the dot sight is co-witnessed, that is mounted in-line with the iron sights. (A tall mount usually works better.):

Zero the rifle with the iron sights and small aperture at 50 yards. (.22LR trajectory makes this a very useful zero.) If possible do this with the rear sight all the way down and only use the front sight for elevation.

Then just move the dot to the tip of the front sight when looking thru both the iron sights AND the dot sight. Only trick in moving the dot is to turn the adjustments the opposite direction that they're marked. Marking is to move bullet strike. If your rifle is already zeroed you can move the dot in your family room; no shooting is required at this point.

Confirm dot zero by shooting at 50 yards again looking thru both the irons and dot sight. Other than a click or two adjustment at most the dot should be zeroed.

From this point there is no reason to look thru the iron sights unless the dot ain't working. Both eyes open and look slightly over the rear sight. Folding rear sight gets it out of the way but isn't necessary and these ain't cheap. Flipping the rear sight forward to the 0-2 setting will ghost the rear sight as well. And, of course, you can simply remove the sights from this rifle easily but that deprives you of backup sights.

The dot only needs to be visible, not centered when you shoot. If you're shooting with both eyes open, as these sights are designed, you won't even see the sight housing (or the iron sights if mounted).

If you're having problems conceptualizing both eyes open close the front cover and shoot with both eyes open. After very little dry fire you'll just see the dot floating out there. The brain and our binocular vision fills in the blanks.

High quality dot sights cost more than your rifle and are parallax free, meaning the bullet will hit the dot at all ranges. Inexpensive sights may not be but the ranges are short so errors should be small.

-- Chuck

 

[tagkat]

Great explanation thanks!

 

[Aceman58]

That is due to parallax within 50 yards, all less expensive RED DOT have that issue. The only RED DOT that doesn't is Aimpoint MLX series, why, because it has a double lense in the front and eye to dot placement is ture with no parallax at all at any range. Again why it also cost $660 over the less expensive RD optics. Again this isn't as important for under 50yards because 1" off is still in the "Target Zone" of an attacker, for bullseye, it will matter. Vortex Strikfire has no parallax past 50yards, and they state that in the specs. Other RD's don't, you just wonder why your off, now you know... Good hunting.