What's the advantage of a co-witness setup??

Klondiker

Klondiker

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I was in a store the other day and poking around at some of the red dot sights. I think it was a Trijicon mounted on an AR with iron sights. The red dot sitting on the front post, looking through the rear aperature, it just seemed kinda 'busy'. Almost distracting.

Do most people that use red dot sights use a co-witness setup, or is it just user preference?
 
If your primary optic fails, the BUIS or back up iron sights are quite handy.
The reason you cowitness is so you can zero both your primary and BUIS together. I prefer flip up irons so your line of sight isn't really as busy.
 
I ran absolute co-witness (red dot sitting on front post of BUIS) because if the primary optic (red dot) failed the cheek-weld would not change when shooting with BUIS.
Others prefer 1/3 lower co-witness because they find it less busy.
 
Away from the range and other ###ming, having your iron sights in use is just good sense.

Co witnessing promotes proper sight alignment and cheek weld. The fundamentals don't change just because a red dot allows you to be off axis. Becoming complacent with that is just plain sloppy.

The last thing I want to do is worry about flipping up a BUIS if my dot fails at a critical moment. Granted that this is more of an issue for EoTech users :D

Edit To Add: johNTO beat me to it
 
Lately, I've used a true co-witness set-up with flip ups and I've found it to be the most versatile setup I've tried to date. The irons stay out of your way when looking through the dot (EoTech), the cheek weld is consistant, and if your weapon gets banged and you're wondering, you can check the co-witness to see if something is off.

Originally Posted by Clobbersauras
It would be faster to transition to your secondary than to stop and flip up your sights.

Not always in range for pistol, and for an operational gun, when you fire up your dot it may be outta juice. Nice ot have the option. But yah, your gotta practice transitions.
 
Just got back from range with Norc. M4. Had Mbus and front sight on target, put on red dot (NCStar so not best) and with red dot on front post, could barely hit paper at 40 yds.
Dont mean to hi jack but WTF am I doing wrong? To get red dot on target, it is half way down post.

Cheers
 
Mr. Bean said:
Just got back from range with Norc. M4. Had Mbus and front sight on target, put on red dot (NCStar so not best) and with red dot on front post, could barely hit paper at 40 yds.
Dont mean to hi jack but WTF am I doing wrong? To get red dot on target, it is half way down post.

Cheers
Click to expand...

sounds like your set up is just wrong, the red dot is too low, try getting a spacer or a different mount so you can bring it up a cm or two
 
The advantage of having an "absolute" co-witness is most apparent when using flip-up style iron sights.

When using flip-up iron sights if your red-dot goes down, there is no change in cheek wield to switch from dot to irons.

When using FIXED iron sights a lower third co-witness is most advantageous because you can use the iron sights through the sight (if there is an issue), but the top third and middle of your sight is free to use the red dot in, although it requires a slightly less solid cheek wield (which with a red-dot is not an issue)

This of course is just my opinion, so take it with a grain of salt! :D
 
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