Murphy's Law on red dot sights

[Yoder409]

It states : The more you pay for a red dot sight, the less chance you have of it working.

2015:  $275 Weaver red/green dot sight.  Lens shatters while the gun is inside a Pelican case.... in the bed of a pickup truck....somewhere between Pennsylvania and Nebraska.

2018: $275 Weaver red/green dot sight.  The replacement for the above sight.  Shot a Merriam's gobbler in the morning. Sight loses zero sometime between then and the afternoon hunt so bad that I completely missed another gobbler at 35 yards.  Upon closer inspection, the gun was about 5 feet off at that distance.

2022:  $175 Burris FF3.  Mounted on my boy's .410. I go out to get it roughed in with 2 1/2" lead shells.  First shot at 15 yards, I walk up to the target with the gun in hand.  Nearly dead on !!  I look down......there's the shiny battery sitting in the sight.  No battery cover.  Surely I didn't forget to tighten it down !!   Walk back and find the cover.  It won't thread in.  Back into the house where I can work.  Nope.  Won't go.  Got it to go with the battery OUT.  But not in.  Call Burris.  Very nice guy.  "Oh, yeah.  We had a vendor supply us a bunch of batteries that were about .7mm too thick.  Try a Duracell or an Energizer.  It should work a lot better".  20 mile trip and $5 of gas to buy a $3 battery later....... Nope.  Apparently in trying to get the cover to thread, the threads stripped.  Luckily, the guy at Burris is sending me a new cover just in case that very thing happened.  HOWEVER......that doesn't do us a bit of good for youth season this Saturday.

2022:  Free with the purchase of a garbage BSA rifle scope 20 years ago, BSA 30mm red dot.  This sight was on my 3 1/2" Super X2 for around 15 seasons and NEVER lost zero or failed in any way.    It went on top of the .410 this evening and she's roughed in.  Gonna burn a couple TSS 9.5's tomorrow to make sure.

Murphy's a jerk.   

[WV Flopper]

LOLOLOLOL

Sorry Murphy got out of my truck, usually, he rides shotgun with me! Had the same issue with my last FF3. Luckily, it did thread with some forceful help.

[Marc]

My bead always works....

[USMC0331]

Sorry you and Murphy had a falling out. So far 3 years , 2 falls and a drop my little Venom has been solid. Your streak of misfortune is prayfully over and may you bust a bruiser!

Sent from my SM-S908U using Tapatalk

[Snood Life]

I hate that for you.  I think any one who hunts with a red dot worries about that in their back of their head. But we still use them due to the benefits.

Good luck with the new set up!

[Wigsplitter]

I like a scope!!

[Greg Massey]

This year my first experience with the Burris FF3 , was getting it all mounted on the gun etc, now it's time to put a Duracell in the battery department, because everyone said on the forum, they had problems with those cheap batteries. Next you have to be careful not to over tighten the battery cover, well first you have to get it to thread back into place and be careful not to cross thread, so i like to have never got the cover to start threading back. After thinking i had it on I took it to the range and the first time I fired the gun the cover came off the battery. So a guy at the range said you need to get a screwdriver pretty much as big as the slot on the cover to get it to thread back on the red dot battery compartment, so i did and it threaded right on, so after all that it has stayed on the red dot.. I will never own a Burris FF3 again. I will either buy Swampfox or Holosun just because of the battery cover problems.

[Turkeybutt]

That's why I went to a Holosun because it will switch between the battery and the solar cell. A high-quality battery will bring up and power the device for 20,000 Hrs. using the Dot + Circle and 50,000 Hr with just the red dot. I like the fact I have a solar panel as a backup.
I do have a turkey gun or two with a scope which I like as well.

[joey46]

Gone the whole route I think.  Have a 12 ga 870 with three different barrels.  One is a cantilever barrel with a 4x scope.  Put a straight cylinder choke in this and it is a very accurate slug gun (Ohio deer gun).  Discovered long ago that putting a turkey choke in and it becomes a turkey killer. I do find it a bit unwheeledly to carry around if turkey hunting.  Not a runner and gunner. Since went back to it's original barrel with two beads.  It is what will go west with me next month to Merriam land.  Looking for toughness and simplicity on this type of hunt.  It fills both requirements.  Not worried about it flying in the belly of an aircraft getting bounced around.  I would be concerned if I used the scoped barrel or my much lighter .410 that does have a Sig Sauer Romeo 5 red dot.  So far the Romeo seems flawless. My main complaint is needing to change the brightness settings as the daylight increases.  It does not do this automatically.  Everything is a trade off at times.  Sometimes simpler is better.

[RED NECK]

I have been a fiber optic or bead guy until a few years ago, I bought a venom, It was broke out of package, $425 dollars,Vortex replaced it. I bought a truglo red dot, 5 shells from a 20 gauge, longbeard 6's and the insides were busted. I have a handful, of red dots,expensive and modest, they are all working and yes, I always think, are they working? I 110% prefer a set of williams, or truglo fiber optics on my guns but I can see why others like the red dots. I feel for you, that sucks and is very frustrating as I have been there.

I think I am going to try a vortex sparc solar red dot on my next purchase, hope you don't have to burn many tss shells...Goood luck on the youth hunt!!

[btodd00]

I have a cheap tru glo that has been on 2 turkey guns and now my AR and still has the original battery. Have left it on for weeks at a time and it was still on when I picked the gun back up. It does not have a auto off feature. I have a mini reflex made by sight mark on my 410 and although it never loses zero, the battery has died 3 times in 2 years (never while hunting always find it dead the day before a hunt) and the battery cover is also hard to get on like others mentioned about other sights

[guesswho]

My experience in only with Vortex Venom (2) and a Holosun 507 green dot.  All have been rock solid with no issues.   Between the two I prefer the Holosun simply because of the green and multiple reticle settings, along with the built in solar charger.  It will operate without a battery during the daylight.

[cpreeves]

I tried a FF3 last year. I was always scared that I'd bump it on something and throw the zero off. Ended up selling it now I just use the bead. Maybe I'll try it again one day!

[Jbird22]

I've used a FF2 since 2011 and have FULL confidence in them. So much so, that I've purchased 2 more (1 of them being prior to this season) of them even after the FF3 became available. Don't always buy the hype that newer means better. Sure, the sight has to be removed from its base to change the battery, but the battery life is outstanding and I don't replace them but every 3rd or 4th year. I like the simple on/off toggle switch and 1 reticle option. The price is great considering the Burris warranty that comes with it.

[RutnNStrutn]

I started off with beads. Then I put an old pistol scope on the barrel's vent rib. Perfect eye relief. It worked great for years, until it could no longer take the pounding of magnum turkey loads, and gave up the ghost.
Next up was a TruGlo green dot. It patterned great and I really liked it. But sometime during the season it lost it's zero. That cost me a miss on one gobbler and a wounded second gobbler. Fortunately I was able to recover the wounded bird. I sent that TruJunk piece of garbage back to Cabela's and got my money back.
Finally I bought a Trijicon Rugged Miniturized Reflex (RMR) Dual Illumination green dot scope. It works great!!! Never loses it's zero, it's tough as nails, and has both fiber optics and tritium to ensure you have a sight picture without having to worry about battery issues. I liked it so much that I bought another one for my 20 gauge.
They're a little pricey, but they work flawlessly.

Sent from my moto z4 using Tapatalk