Best red dot for 3-500 bucks

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tommy88

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Im going top put iron sights on my ruger american ranch 7.62x39 so that i can have a light weight beater working rifle. I would also like to buy a red dot for when i decide to sit down on a deer trail in low light. So the sight has to be quick detach\return to zero, and also has to have somewhat clear glass, and be durable.

Im sure theres great options out there for 1-2000 bucks, but this is a beater rifle, so up to 500... 300 is even better


Experiences and opinions welcome!
 
Modern red dot sight options are terrific if you don't suffer from astigmatism...

For an RDS on a beater rifle you'll want light, small, smooth profile (snag-free) and tough. Just make sure you get one of the tube-style enclosed units so you have less issue with weather obscuring the glass and snow/debris on the emitter (i.e. not a "pistol-style" RDS, I don't know what the different styles are called).

There are a few good options out there in your price range, but most will probably steer you towards Holosun or Vortex. Some models only have one mounting option that I think will put the tube unnecessarily high above the receiver for your rifle.

For a lower budget option there's the Bushnell TRS-25. It's surprisingly well-liked despite the low price. You could always try it and sell it for a small loss if it's not up to par for you.

I put a Vortex SPARC Solar on a bush rifle, and I'm very happy with it so far. I really like the shake-awake feature. I didn't think it was necessary when I was shopping around, but now I won't consider an RDS without it now that I have it.

Are you sure you need iron sights? A QD mount for your RDS will probably be costly if it has good return to zero. Added to the cost of quality iron sights themselves... You might consider skipping irons and just mount an RDS. Current options in your price range have incredible battery life, auto-off, shake-awake, and dead nuts reliability... Irons are a lot less relevant.
 
Wouldn't recommend that style for your application - It's an open emitter type, so not as robust or tolerant of weather as the recommendations above.
 
alpining said:
Modern red dot sight options are terrific if you don't suffer from astigmatism...

For an RDS on a beater rifle you'll want light, small, smooth profile (snag-free) and tough. Just make sure you get one of the tube-style enclosed units so you have less issue with weather obscuring the glass and snow/debris on the emitter (i.e. not a "pistol-style" RDS, I don't know what the different styles are called).

There are a few good options out there in your price range, but most will probably steer you towards Holosun or Vortex. Some models only have one mounting option that I think will put the tube unnecessarily high above the receiver for your rifle.

For a lower budget option there's the Bushnell TRS-25. It's surprisingly well-liked despite the low price. You could always try it and sell it for a small loss if it's not up to par for you.

I put a Vortex SPARC Solar on a bush rifle, and I'm very happy with it so far. I really like the shake-awake feature. I didn't think it was necessary when I was shopping around, but now I won't consider an RDS without it now that I have it.

Are you sure you need iron sights? A QD mount for your RDS will probably be costly if it has good return to zero. Added to the cost of quality iron sights themselves... You might consider skipping irons and just mount an RDS. Current options in your price range have incredible battery life, auto-off, shake-awake, and dead nuts reliability... Irons are a lot less relevant.
Click to expand...

Tell me about it. As someone who suffers from one and went out and bought a Sparc II....I don't see a dot at all, it appears to be a snowflake in my field of view.

Not all red dots are the same however, I tried a buddies cheaper Cross Fire II and the dot was clear and crisp. I'm not sure why the difference between the two.
 
For the price range, and for what I have used and can vouch for, would be a Vortex Crossfire Red Dot or Sig Romeo5. I used a Sig Romeo5 on a 300 Blackout AR for years and it took the use well (I had back up iron sights co-witnessed and only used them to test zero - the Romeo5 never failed). I had the Vortex Crossfire on a Ruger Ranch (300 Blackout) for a year (sold rifle) and it now resides on a Henry .44 Mag lever action. Both have been used in temps from +30 to -25, been rained on, but not abused (no 3m drop tests). They have held zero and are both still on their original batteries.

I didn't consider iron sights for the Ruger Ranch I had as the mounting would have to be on the top rail, making a short sight radius (mounting a front sight on the end of the barrel wasn't something I wanted to do). The Ranch with a red dot was a fairly snag-free set-up, and these units can take hard use and retain zero. Back up iron sights are popular, however there have been occasions where they got snagged and bent enough to lose zero.
 
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