Red Dots vs Scopes

[SINNER]

I also have a slight astigmatism in my dominant eye. Sucks. Trijicon reticles in their magnified optics are by far the best for me. The only dot type sight that does not cause the dreaded blooming of the dot is the SRS. Eotech is by far the worst. The brighter I run the T1's and H1's the worse it gets. That makes transitioning from darker areas to well lit areas an issue.

[Jerry R]

That's because they're old.

Ouch ! I resemble that remark !

Interesting thread ... interesting ideas and points of view

[Hmac]

I categorize HWS and RDS the same and see no practical difference between them in concept. Relative to the two models on the market, battery life appears to be the major practical difference between Eotech and Aimpoint. For my needs for my rifles, battery life is irrelevant...a mere convenience. I have both Eotechs and Aimpoints, two of each on four rifles with an Eotech G33 that I switch between them as needed.

[Thompson]

It causes the dot to look like a comet, with a tail. At least for me.

Hmmm, I'll have to try and take a look at that the next time I shoot someone's red dot. Most of the time I shoot with contacts, cause I hate when my glasses droop down below my sight picture

LASIKS is something I'd like to do one day; should the funds and means become available.

[Hmac]

Hmmm, I'll have to try and take a look at that the next time I shoot someone's red dot. Most of the time I shoot with contacts, cause I hate when my glasses droop down below my sight picture

LASIKS is something I'd like to do one day; should the funds and means become available.

LASIK can correct astigmatism ver well if done by a good ophthalmologist using state-of-the-art equipment. Only problem with LASIK is potential life-long problems with the corneal flap. I'd recommend PRK over LASIK for people with an "active lifestyle".

[Slippers]

Hmmm, I'll have to try and take a look at that the next time I shoot someone's red dot. Most of the time I shoot with contacts, cause I hate when my glasses droop down below my sight picture

LASIKS is something I'd like to do one day; should the funds and means become available.

Contacts should correct it, depending on the severity.

[Hmac]

Contacts should correct it, depending on the severity.

Toric contact lenses might correct astigmatism if it's axiial astigmatism and not due to cornieal irregularity, but they are more expensive, harder to fit, and may require more trial and error to fit comfortably and optimally correct astigmatism. Best to have good corneal mapping and very accurate refraction. Not necessarily the kind of thing you want done by your WalMart optometrist.

[Former11B]

Alamo, I bet your school teachers just loooooooooved you lol

[alamo5000]

Alamo, I bet your school teachers just loooooooooved you lol

HAHAAAA! Why whatever do you mean???

You have no idea.

I challenge a lot if stuff and drive some people up a wall with my questions... but at the end of the day I am passionate about learning which is the main point.

On the first time I went up to be expelled from university it was because I called out a professor for his 'bullshit' right in front of everyone. I ended up having all these meetings with the head of the department, the dean, and even the VP of the entire university (like 40,000 students)....

They thought I was going to be all scared but I went o the VP's office and demanded a refund of my tuition money. He was pretty taken back but I certainly didn't back down. I think a quote was something like 'what kind of second rate organization are you running here? I want my money back.' Right before launching into him about all the bullshit and all the wrongs..."I mean seriously, you run an organization like THAT and then want to charge me money for it??? I WANT MY MONEY BACK."

[CarbonScoring]

Toric contact lenses might correct astigmatism if it's axiial astigmatism and not due to cornieal irregularity, but they are more expensive, harder to fit, and may require more trial and error to fit comfortably and optimally correct astigmatism. Best to have good corneal mapping and very accurate refraction. Not necessarily the kind of thing you want done by your WalMart optometrist.

This has been my experience. My contacts took more trial and error to fit correctly, but now that I've got a decent fitting they work pretty well at correcting my astigmatism. Pretty well, but not perfect. I do still get some blooming at brighter settings, and at lower settings the dot is a bit oval, but for my style of shooting it's still fine enough for me to be precise.

I've got an Eotech as well, and it is much sharper than my Aimpoints. There's still a bit of fuzziness, but that's normal as far as I know for HWS.

The Trijicon TR24G is always sharp, so that's going on my main rifle. I doubt I'll be shooting my SBR past 100 yards.

[alamo5000]

Is there an optometrist in the house?

[WHSmithIV]

I'll chip in a bit with this. I'm cross dominant. I find red dots much easier to use because with the unlimited eye relief and not having magnification it's both eyes open shooting. I have had difficulty using scopes with my right eye though the fixed 4x scope I had on my Marlin 30/30 was comfortable enough to use. I sold my 3x9x 40 scope. It was just to uncomfortable for me to use. The Vortex flip to side 3x magnifier I do like with the Strikefire II. When have it flipped in I have to switch to my weak eye but the red dot does compensate plenty sufficiently for the weakness of my right eye. I am a both eyes open shooter and I like iron sights. I do like red dots because with the unlimited eye relief they are still both eyes open sights.

[DutyUse]

They all have their place. There is this theory that a unicorn exists. A short barreled, .5 MOA sniper rifle you can CQB and then take to 600 yards. It's light but stable under heavy strings of fire. A "one gun" to rule them all thing. If there is I haven't seen it it.

I'm with Carbon on this one, IF I had to use an AR to protect my family, my farm or whatever it's not going to be at 200y, it's going to be 50 and in. That's why the aimpoint pro and SRS are my top picks atm. But variable scopes certainly have their place

[Jerry R]

I agree with DutyUse on this. But, if you are considering a rifle scope, think about QD mounts for it. I put a Leupold on the Colt in a LaRue. Zero has been very repeatable (no POI change) with multiple removals.



Having said that, the Colt's current configuration is an AimPoint PRO with an EOTech 3x behind it - the most "useful" configuration as a go-to rifle; zeroed 50/200. But everything is on QD. The EOTech 3x is easily moved from rifle to rifle as it does not affect POI. I have not had a chance to test POI shift with the PRO when removed/remounted. Put it back in the same slot, turn the knob till it clicks and hope the torque is the same. We'll see.