Red Dot for big game rifle hunting

Ghunter

Ghunter

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Northern Ont.
Is a red dot scope on a 308 suitable for ranges of up to 100 yards?? What can I expect from a red dot at that range? Keep in mind that this is for a shooter that doesn't want a regular scope and can't use iron sights.
If so.... any suggestions would be appreciated.
Thx
 
I experimented with red dots for deer hunting but found they were more suitable for use on handguns at the range than a rifle in the woods. The ones I had were One-V from Interarms (about $100) and the dot covered about 8" at 100 yds. Once sighted in I never had to adjust them again though. Went to a Leupold 1-5 circle dot after that and found it to be much better. I had it on a Mini 30 and a Remington 7400 and took deer with both.
 
I put a holosun on my scout rifle for dogging if deer and it's the cats a$$...... very quick target acquisition....... super light to carry....

Off the bench at the range it's will put 5 shots within 3"....... look for a site like mine with a 2moa dot.....

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I've used r d dots on my hunting rifles for years with success. Nothing too fancy either. Just Walmart crap on a Remington 750 in .308. Longest shot was just over 200 yards on a cow moose. (Heart shot, DRT BTW)

They're nice to have if you're always pushing through the thick stuff, and need to get off a snap shot real quick. I can't thing of another sight that allows faster target acquisition. Works best with both eyes open, as it seems to just print a magical dot on the side of the deer. Someone used to iron sights will struggle to remember to keep both eyes open though. It can still be used with one eye, but you loose the situational awareness of having all your peripheral vision available to you.

Carry spare batteries. It takes a while to get into the habit of turning your sights off after use. If I remember to turn the sight off when not hunting, one cr2032 will last easily through a six day hunt.

Pay attention to reticle size. Mine was 3 moa. Some are 5. Which means if you were to try to shoot a pop can at 100 yards, it would be completely obscured by the dot. Not exactly ideal if you're trying to shoot a tight group, but a-ok for deer and moose.

I recently ditched mine, because I started wading into reloading, and there's no way to compare accuracy when you've got a 3 inch red blob over the bullseye, and no zoom. Now I'm more satisfied at the range, but I hope I'm not disappointed in the bush...
 
I have the Aimpoint Hunter H34 on my Benelli R1 3006 for heavy bush deer hunting. It is fabulous for fast target acquisition - I'm surprised more hunters don't use them.
 
Mudduck said:
I have the Aimpoint Hunter H34 on my Benelli R1 3006 for heavy bush deer hunting. It is fabulous for fast target acquisition - I'm surprised more hunters don't use them.
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I think because most hunters aren't brave enough (read dumb enough) to venture into the snarly tangles of evergreens like we do. Lol
 
I am new to red dots as well and just picked up a Primary Arms MD-ADS to experiment with and so far I really like it.
It has a really nice 2 MOA dot with 12 levels of illumination. I think it with work great on one of my short range bush guns.
 
I used an eotech 512 on my Winchester model 88 for deer... my uncle is stuck somewhere between the old and the new, and won't take me into the bush unless I use his setup :p.

I personally can't wait to use my sg542 with a specterdr1-4x...
 
The both-eyes thing is great.

I remember this fall being able to watch a yearling mule walking out from behind the bushes at the bottom of a coulee. Keeping the red dot on him I still had my left/right fields of view to check that none of the other members of my party had somehow sprinted into my firing arc.

Conversely, I remember three guys piling out of the truck ahead of us in a "There they are!" situation, and once their eyes were stuck on the scopes they lost most of their awareness of what was going on around them, and who was side-walking next to them. I was happy to be standing well behind them.

But two caveats:

1) I am not entirely convinced that my strongly dominant left eye and the red-dot-seeing right eye track together perfectly. A red-dot with less side-clutter would help with that by making the images more similar to help the image-based matchup. You may or may not have the same problem depending on how your noggin is wired, but it's something to check before you buy. Obviously if you're a right eye-dominant right-hand shooter you're golden in this regard.

2) My tag was for antlerless, so I found the lack of a magnified sight cost me time as I "looked for antlers". At 100m, through sunglasses, with the wind blowing I spent seconds integrating the image to check for antlers that I wouldn't have to have if I had even a 4x magnified sight. At shorter ranges (or for folks with younger eyes) this becomes less of an issue.

...and then I missed anyways because I hadn't bedded it right and the receiver was shifting in the stock between shots. But that had nothing to do with the red-dot; it worked well.
 
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I can see them being OK for some situations but I would certainly need an etched reticle. I would never forgive myself if I lost the buck of a lifetime because I forgot to turn my scope on.
 
savagelh said:
I can see them being OK for some situations but I would certainly need an etched reticle. I would never forgive myself if I lost the buck of a lifetime because I forgot to turn my scope on.
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With the Aimpoint Hunter you get 50 000 hours of constant operation from a single CR-2032 battery. I know more people who lost a buck due to having the safety on or their scope covers closed ... I'm one of them. :((
 
If i think I'm going to be in for closer shots the Red Dot is the way to go. I just took my Aimpoint Comp M4 off my .223 and swap it to my hunting rifle and you cant beat it for under 100 yards and I feel confident to shoot with it out to 250. Its a 2 MOA dot and if you turn down the brightness its a little sharper.
 
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