Posted: 7/13/2009 2:57:57 PM EDT
I had a discussion with another ARFCOM member about red dot sights. He seems to thnk magnification is better for all around shooting. We sort of got into a heated conversation about this is better than that. He is my best bud, so we do this a lot.  Question is does a red dot work the same as say, an EOTech. He wants to know since you co-wit your sight, there is no differnce than iron sights. I ask you, if I'm off set from center line, will the bullet hit where the dot is? I have not gone to the range to test this theory, but wondering if this is the way this sight and others (red dots) are designed to work?
should have said we discussed the point of lining up dot then foward sight, then target. he says all he has to do is line up the cross hairs. also talked about ar's with out font sights. sorry for such a newb question, i need answers now sort of thing. he thinks if you are not looking down the line of sight you will not hit the target. i told him if the target is that close, with in 20 yards, you should hit some point of your target. my question seems to be getting more confusing as i type. maybe someone knows what i'm trying to ask. thanks again! jeff |
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Quoted:
I had a discussion with another ARFCOM member about red dot sights. He seems to thnk magnification is better for all around shooting. We sort of got into a heated conversation about this is better than that. He is my best bud, so we do this a lot. Question is does a red dot work the same as say, an EOTech. He wants to know since you co-wit your sight, there is no differnce than iron sights. I ask you, if I'm off set from center line, will the bullet hit where the dot is? I have not gone to the range to test this theory, but wondering if this is the way this sight and others (red dots) are designed to work?
should have said we discussed the point of lining up dot then foward sight, then target. he says all he has to do is line up the cross hairs. also talked about ar's with out font sights. sorry for such a newb question, i need answers now sort of thing. he thinks if you are not looking down the line of sight you will not hit the target. i told him if the target is that close, with in 20 yards, you should hit some point of your target. my question seems to be getting more confusing as i type. maybe someone knows what i'm trying to ask. thanks again! jeff I hope you don't mind, but since your two threads were kind of redundant I just combined your posts in this one to answer your question. I think I understand what you are asking. It sounds like what you are talking about is parallax. With the StrikeFire you have a parallax free dot. What that means is that the point of impact is going to be wherever the dot is. It doesn't matter if it is at the edge of your field of view or in the center, co-witnessing with your irons. Where the dot goes, so goes the bullet. You don't need to line up the dot, front sight and target at all. (Some guys just like to do that anyway, to make sure) This is due to the special design of the StrikeFire. Other red dots do this as well, such as the Aimpoints and the EOTech you mentioned. The advantage, of course, over iron sights is that with irons you have to make sure you have your eye lined up exactly the same every time you fire the rifle or you will have some parallax error and your shot may miss. With a red dot you just put the dot on the target. In addition, a bright red dot combined with being able to shoot with both eyes open, gives this type of setup a significant speed advantage over iron sights and magnified optics. For a rifle that will be strictly doing CQB duty, this is the optimal setup IMHO. There are some magnified setups that can do CQB as well, but nothing quite as quick as a red dot IMHO. Those would be 1-4x24 style scopes and ACOGs. One thing that your friend is incorrect on is the idea that he can just put the cross hairs on what he wants to hit. Moat magnified optics that I can think of off the top of my head all have parallax error. Usually they are set to 100 yards, meaning that the cross hairs will not have parallax error at 100 yards, but they will at all other distances. Of course under 100 yards it is probably negligible. It really is only significant at longer ranges and higher magnifications. This is why many 10x + rifle scopes have a parallax adjustment on them. But even parallax aside, magnified optics will not allow the shooter to be quite as fast in strictly CQB situations. BUT many guys really do like 1-4x24's as a good compromise for an "all around" type scope that gives them good CQB and also good medium range ability. Hope this helps. Let me know if you have any other questions. Thanks! -Sam |