Pros/Cons of Red Dot Sights

[Hognutz]

Again. Every rule has the exception. I would believe that you would be in the minority.

[Hognutz]

The steady grip would not allow me to use a canting shim with the speed bead so my poi was off.  I adjusted that to poa with the FF3 at 40 yards.  Apparently in my case the difference at 40 yards was substantial enough that at 10 - 15 yards I needed to compensate for that difference. 

I would never have missed either of those shots with my regular stock and shim and with just the bead.

I guess I can understand this scenario, but barely. If the gun was dead nuts at 40 with the FFlll and not close at 10, why would your gun, with a bead, be dead nuts at 40 and also dead nuts at 10?

[Frank G]

Best thing about an open lens red dot sight is the absolute point of aim point of impact.  Doesn't matter if your head is high or low, canted, shooting extreme angle to your left or right, or even holding the gun off your shoulder for some reason, if you can see the dot and the dot is on the turkey you will hit the turkey.  Doesn't matter if the dot is centered in the glass lens or up in a corner of the lens, if the dot is on the turkey the gun is aimed at the turkey.

With barrel sights you have to line up the front sight with the back sight with the front sight on the turkey.  With the red dot just put the dot on the turkey.  If you place the sight as close to your eye and shoot with both eyes open and concentrate on your target, an interesting optical illusion takes place.  The thin frame around the lens blurs out and the dot seems to be floating in the air out there with the target.  This makes fast target acquisition possible, faster than lining up multiple sight points.  This is somewhat impeded if you use a guard around the sight.  Unless you absolutely have to I recommend using the sight without a guard to minimize the frame area around the lens.

It is really interesting that once you get the hang of shooting this way, you can actually cover up the front side of the glass where you can't see thru it and still shoot accurately.  Your left eye sees the target, the right eye sees the dot and your brain puts the two together and you see the dot on the target and can shoot accurately.  Just for fun try it some time.  Put a piece of painters tape in front of the glass and shoot with both eyes open focused on the target.  It really is accurate.  Should mud get on the front of your lens, you could still shoot a turkey!

You get a better view down range with an open red dot sight.  When you are hunkered down lining up barrel sights, the barrel is blocking the birds body, the sight body itself is blocking some of the left and right view, and your probably squinting an eye which limits your peripheral vision.  What if another better bird is coming in from the side or a hen moves into your aiming direction?  With an open lens red dot shooting with both eyes open, you see everything down range and to the sides with a red dot imposed in the view.  I actually prefer to mount the sight up on a picatinny rail than down low on the barrel to enhance the ability to see down range better.

The only real disadvantage of one is the possibility of battery or electronic failure.  Putting a fresh name brand battery in before every season minimizes this problem.  They are very efficient and a battery should easily last a season.

Well stated all bases covered. 100% in agreement. I have them mounted on my ML pistol and 460XVR for deer.

[turkeykiller22]

Can someone post a picture of the speedbeard and the Fastfire 2 on their gun?

Also what about having to turn on the sight? Have you spooked any turkeys doing this? How long is your sight usually on before the bird comes in?

Having to turn the sight on is what I am most leery about when it come to switching to the red dot. Any advice would be great!

[Skeeterbait]

Turn it on when you leave the truck and turn it off when you get back to the truck.  A battery will last for hundreds of hours.  Just put a fresh battery in it at the beginning of each season.

[StruttinGobbler3]

Well, I've been convinced. Last night I ordered a Burris FF3 with a speed bead mount. Very curious to see what makes these sights so popular. Here's another question though- how well does a red dot perform on moving targets? Specifically a running or flying turkey. Not that I make a habit of taking such risky shots, but sometimes you find yourself in odd situations in the turkey woods.

[Frank G]

Turn it on when you leave the truck and turn it off when you get back to the truck.  A battery will last for hundreds of hours.  Just put a fresh battery in it at the beginning of each season.

I have yet to change the battery in any of my Aimpoints. Turn it on when I leave the truck and turn it off when I get back. Now I do remove the battery when I'm not using it, turn it around to store. There is a foam pad inside and all adjustments are double "O" ring sealed. No word of a lie here, I have had the same battery in my 460XVR for 5 years! By the way I do have a spare. These are by no means those cheap "quarter size" typically found in so many, low coat red dots. Check out the AimPoint Webb, the life expectancy of a battery is phenomenal.  I don't have a red dot on my loooooong range Weatherby 300 WSM, a Leupold 4.5 x 14 x 50 with illumination, love the red dot. Once you have tried a good one you will never go back. I have set up a new TK2000 ML SG (trying this season) with a 9000SC. The TK came equipped with Williams sights, very nice, funny thing I set the Aimpoint 0 at 35 yards and can still see the glow sights thru the optics. They are visible in the lower frame no bother at all. Those are dialed in at 15 yards for a close shot. Not that I believe I'll need them, just place the red dot on his neck at close range and on his head at distance. Didn't plan it, just worked out great. Going to verify this weekend with various loads, twink and double check. As AMX states "don't leave home without it". 

[reynolds243]

Can someone post a picture of the speedbeard and the Fastfire 2 on their gun?

Also what about having to turn on the sight? Have you spooked any turkeys doing this? How long is your sight usually on before the bird comes in?

Having to turn the sight on is what I am most leery about when it come to switching to the red dot. Any advice would be great!

FF3 on speedbead mount SBE2

[alloutdoors]

Turn it on when you leave the truck and turn it off when you get back to the truck.  A battery will last for hundreds of hours.  Just put a fresh battery in it at the beginning of each season.

Different retailers list the battery life for the FF3 at either 10,000 or 20,000 hours. 10,000 hours works out to almost 14 months of continuous 24/7 operation.

[spaightlabs]

The steady grip would not allow me to use a canting shim with the speed bead so my poi was off.  I adjusted that to poa with the FF3 at 40 yards.  Apparently in my case the difference at 40 yards was substantial enough that at 10 - 15 yards I needed to compensate for that difference. 

I would never have missed either of those shots with my regular stock and shim and with just the bead.

I guess I can understand this scenario, but barely. If the gun was dead nuts at 40 with the FFlll and not close at 10, why would your gun, with a bead, be dead nuts at 40 and also dead nuts at 10?

I will have to try the SteadyGrip with no shim at 40 on paper to see what the pattern shift is.  All I can think of is that there isn't much or any margin of error at 10 to 15 yards.  Pattern can't be much bigger than a roll of silver dollars so if off by a few inches at 10 that's a clean miss?

I guess the test needs to be to zero it at 40 and the take a head shot at 10 to see where it hits.  Will report back at the end of March...

[beagler]

I have an Aimpoint 9000SC red dot scope on both my Mossberg 835 and Benelli SBE 2. Put the dot on your target and bang. 50,000 hrs battery life and they withstand the heaviest recoil.

[Hognutz]

I have an Aimpoint 9000SC red dot scope on both my Mossberg 835 and Benelli SBE 2. Put the dot on your target and bang. 50,000 hrs battery life and they withstand the heaviest recoil.

^^^^^
This.. X2..

[RutnNStrutn]

Turn it on when you leave the truck and turn it off when you get back to the truck.  A battery will last for hundreds of hours.  Just put a fresh battery in it at the beginning of each season.

No word of a lie here, I have had the same battery in my 460XVR for 5 years!

A battery is a heck of a lot cheaper than a new scope. I would take the battery out in the off season, and go with a brand new battery the next season. But hey, that's just me. I've had a few electronic items ruined by batteries going bad and leaking acid into them.

[allaboutshooting]

My experience indicates that if you want to install a sight for turkey hunting, a "dot" type sight is your best alternative, especially since red, green and blue dots were introduced.

As we age, green and blue dots become much more visible and even for younger shooters the blue dot is much quicker to recognize and pick up on than the other colors.

I put a multi-reticle, multi-color dot sight on one of my guns this past turke season and was frankly amazed at how much help it was.

Thanks,
Clark

[Traindriver]

Which moa, 2or 4 ?