Accuracy using red dot on a rifle?

I tried a 2 moa dot for a while. It's as accurate as the rifle it is attached to. And as other's have said, so long as you either use a reference to center a target or imagine centering the animal's vitals, you should be accurate. Want to try something really cool and help with your hold, back the red dot up with laser sight on the rail. That will really show up how much movement on target you have!

Wordplay341 said:

Shot sparrows at 15 yards and got a starling at 30. I'd say accurate to 50 max

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Yes at the power that you over here shoot them. 6ftlbs is not a lot to play with.

Sig Red Dots on all my rifles. Squirrel head accurate to 50 yards, target needs to be bigger beyond that for consistant hits.(with my eyes) Hunting in the thick North GA woods, one rarely gets a shot at game farther than 50 yards out. My Airforce Escape UL wears a Sig Romeo 4H with Quadplex reticle. With .5 moa hold over dots, I can reliably reach out a bit farther. The Sig red dot reticles are supported by Strelok Pro which will show holdovers at range. (If you can get Strelok Pro anymore)

Sub 1/2 MOA at 100 yards.

While sighting in my Laseraim Illusion 1" tube red-dot scoped Valmet 412 combo-gun for deer season, I was very happy with the 1.15" c-t-c five-shot group at 50 yards, and almost didn't bother taking it 100. But (of course) my curiosity got the best of me, and I moved to the rifle range.

Per the attached chapter from Custom Classic and Otherwise AWESOME AIR PISTOLS, I realized results would relate directly to how perfect a sight picture I could obtain (notice the difference in the two target types). I got lucky that my optic's red dot fit perfectly in the black; by that, I mean the black cast a perfectly THIN halo around the optic's red dot.

I was hoping to achieve a 2" group, but would have been satisfied with 3" if it was centered in or around the red bullseye. And my ideal would be 3/4" to 1" high.

WHOOP, there it is! Utter red-dot sight PERFECTION!

Out of respect for AGN parameters I'm not posting a photo of the Valmet 412 combo gun. Google it or PM me for information.

Here's the aforementioned chapter, titled Air Pistol Sights, Insights and Incites-

View attachment AP SIghts pdf.pdf

Elgreco said:

What is the best accuracy you have achieved on a rifle ( not pistol), traditional or pcp, using just a red dot sight, at ranges 20 yards and beyond? What were your best groups and at what distance?

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At 25 yatds with my Smith 41 off bags it will hold the NRA 25 yd pistol target xring. It will do the same thing at 50 yds. My 75 year old eyes like red dots

I have a jkhan .22 that came with a lothar walther barrel. I run a 2 moa red dot and at 50 yards it’s nickel sized groups with 23 gran swagged slugs. The red dot has 4 reticles and the cross with the 1 moa in the center is the most accurate.

beerthief said:

I found you cannot shoot any smaller groups than the dot IE: if it is a 4 moa dot that is as good as you can reliably hope for . 4MOA is 4 inches @ 100 yards so the dot covers that area on the target .

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Yeah, with practice you can generally shoot the dot size or better. A magnifier definitely helps.

I keep a power tuned single shot Leshiy around for coyotes with a little Burris Fastfire 3. I can mount my PVS-14 behind it at night and hit almost anything to about 70y.

My favorite setup of all is the EOTech with the EXPS3-4 ballistic reticle and G33 magnifier. Although not technically a red dot, that setup can hit 4" steel at 140m consistently with 50gr JSBs. It's a lot of fun to shoot with the Midwest Elite high cap mags.

In the first instance I am going to scope my eagerly awaited Kral Empire X. I have a nice little Bushnell waiting for it. However due to lack of garden length to make it a bit more fun I intend to regularly stick a red dot on top. I already have a 3MOA red dot but this time due to the size of the Dot I shall get a 2MOA. Funds are limited so can anybody suggest a red dot that would allow for my astigmatism and not break the bank.

Hawke came out with this scope line with a lot of different reticles. Very interesting.

wonder if you can turn center dot off ? the problem with red dot is it blocks the poi , maybe if the dot was a smaller circle ?

Since I've gotten into air guns I seem to automatically pay more attention to scopes on weapons in movies. I saw a gun that had a sight(I thought)behind the red dot. I now know it was probably a 3X magnifier. Do you guys use one and would it improve the grouping at 100yds?

Beer Nap said:

Since I've gotten into air guns I seem to automatically pay more attention to scopes on weapons in movies. I saw a gun that had a sight(I thought)behind the red dot. I now know it was probably a 3X magnifier. Do you guys use one and would it improve the grouping at 100yds?

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Imo, a magnifier is unnecessary for Airguns. You’ll only get about 3x the magnification, so it doesn’t make sense over a dedicated lpvo scope.

Even on rifles such as an ar15, I’d rather have an lpvo than a dot and magnifier. If I wanted a dot, I could put it on an offset mount.

Also as mentioned, dots are not really for shooting moa with. They are for fast target acquisition on moving and stationary targets. The magnifier, if people choose them, are for reaching out to further distances in combat (or ringing steel) say up to 300-400 yards.

Just a thought, will a red dot work better if sighted in with the dot located at 6oclock of target?

beerthief said:

I found you cannot shoot any smaller groups than the dot IE: if it is a 4 moa dot that is as good as you can reliably hope for . 4MOA is 4 inches @ 100 yards so the dot covers that area on the target .

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"If that were true, the service rifle shooters, using an iron front sight that is 0.070"-10 moa wide would never compete.
reticle MOA does not limit rifle accuracy that way.

A dot, chevron, crosshair is simply an aiming reference. The basis fundamentals still apply.

Iron sight = poa /poi sits on top of front site so it does not cover poi
A red dot is not that sharp of a edge so your guessing a bit , or at least any dot i have used .

I have a 2 moa dot on a prod, 30 yrds is my zero . Critters dont seem to mind .

Harv24 said:

"If that were true, the service rifle shooters, using an iron front sight that is 0.070"-10 moa wide would never compete.
reticle MOA does not limit rifle accuracy that way.

A dot, chevron, crosshair is simply an aiming reference. The basis fundamentals still apply.

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You're right, Harv. The accuracy possible is not a matter of the dot or sight size. Rather, how precisely the dot or sight can be aligned with what you're shooting at. This .46" group at 100 yards was shot with 4 MOA dot sight despite the dot obscuring ALMOST the whole 5.5" black aiming reference because that black circle formed a perfectly THIN halo around the scope's red dot; making a very precise SIGHT-PICTURE.

beerthief said:

Iron sight = poa /poi sits on top of front site so it does not cover poi
A red dot is not that sharp of a edge so your guessing a bit , or at least any dot i have used .

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The. you never shot a center hold.
You can intersect a dot to shoot at tgts well past 300 meters and get good hits.

If anything, dots are easier to align as the human eye likes circles, which is why front and rear aperture sights are used in 10m competitions.

i have only used dots @ 50 meters , 2 moa dot is larger than bull on target . maybe shooting pests or gongs it is ok ? never shot that .
so i guess i just never used a dot as intended .

For those with astigmatism, green dots are more friendly.
I use dots a lot on AR’s. But they’re zeroed at 36 yards. With 55 grain ammo, the spread is about the size of a cd from 25-300 yards. None of those guns would be “target” shooters or precision guns. The only thing I want for Airguns is precision so they have scopes on em. If I wind up with a shorty, I’d put a dot on it for anything inside of 50 yards and be relatively confident with it.