hunting red dot

WhelanLad

WhelanLad

CGN Ultra frequent flyer
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Location
Australia AU
anyone hunting red dot?
bushnell trophy to be specific any experiences?

that ruger ranch 300blk im lookin at buyin has a red dot, bushnell trophy of some model, finding out soon. included in the sale. its mounted already..

i have a scope here i can replace, an the dot could go on my model 94 OR even the ruger 1..... want to hear what the go is roughly with the bushenll ones


thanks
 
I have a busnell trophy red dot used it for hunting turkey, deer and rabbits. More cons than pros for me personally.

Pros.
Fast target acquisition.
Dot on target, that is where the bullet goes.
easy to sight in
Choice of reticle ie big dot, little dot, dot in a circle, floating crosshair.
Reticle colour choice.
Super light doesn’t add much weight to your rig.

Cons
Always forgot to turn off, killed battery many times.
No magnification ( my old eyes really suck)
Constantly having to adjust the reticle brightness for the lighting conditions.
If reticle brightness is to high in low light you loose your night vision. (dusk and dawn)
Forgetting to turn on ( pulling up only to realize I had no reticle)
On really bright sunny days hard to see the reticle ( coulda been just my crappy eyes but was an issue)

After the red dot cost me a few deer I decided K.I.S.S. ( keep it simple stupid) was a better way to go. So I went back to low magnification, large FOV, good quality scopes with standard cross hairs. They help me see the target, it is always on, no batteries, they even gather some light at dusk and dawn.

This is was my experience others might have differing opinions ?
 
I like/dislike them...

Reasons I like them: Fast target acquisition, if the dot is on it pull the trigger.

Reasons I dislike them: I find it hard to sight them in staring at the dot (point of light). Only recently did someone suggest turning the dot down to the lowest intensity whilst sighting in, that helped a bunch. No magnification, but you could run a magnifier...

WRT dot intensity, there are auto adjust ones... WRT batteries, there are auto shut off & also shake awake...

Probably forgetting something, but they have their places so they get a general thumb up from me.

Cheers
Jay
P.S. Make sure the dot is 1MOA... The bigger dots obscure too much & are not as accurate for distance shooting IMHO.

Here's the Holosun HS510C I used to harvest the ONE turkey, my buddy shot the second one.
3C03F9AD-9A95-49E1-AC91-721C8F97EB42.jpg
 

Attachments

  • 3C03F9AD-9A95-49E1-AC91-721C8F97EB42.jpg
    3C03F9AD-9A95-49E1-AC91-721C8F97EB42.jpg
    145.9 KB · Views: 212
Different strokes for different folks I guess , but I much prefer a scope with magnification for hunting purposes . I use red dots on a couple of range rifles for quick target acquisition at close range , but I don't see the value of a red dot for hunting as you can bring a scope on to target pretty quickly , and you have the option of scope magnification with a variable power scope .
 
TRS-25 boasts 5000+ hours of battery life at the mid range settings, 200 days
I say don't worry about the battery
Dot size does make a difference, but each has its place
 
Funny you ask, I was wondering if it would be a good thing on some hunting rifles… but which one? I was looking at aimpoint yesterday, no 1moa available, the smallest is 2moa! Price is high on them but they seam to have the best reputation!
I was thinking fora camp gun/bush gun application….
 
DGY said:
Funny you ask, I was wondering if it would be a good thing on some hunting rifles… but which one? I was looking at aimpoint yesterday, no 1moa available, the smallest is 2moa!
Click to expand...

The Trijicon RMR® Type 2 Adjustable LED Reflex Sight comes in a 1MOA dot.
 
I have that Bushnell trophy red dot, except I have the model 730134 with the choice of different styles of crosshairs.
Bought it new in Feb 2009 for $90, came with same rings as the model 730135 you linked.

Had it on a .22 for a few years, then put it on a short 12G shotgun for slug hunting deer and as a truck shotgun for road grouse.
Has decent click adjustment turrets that had accurate enough movement, 1/2" at 100 yards.
Held it's zero on the 12G.

There are much better red dots available these days than that old Bushnell, but even then, a lot of them only have 1 MOA adjustments, which to me is totally inadequate on a centerfire rifle of much any caliber.
It's a just OK red dot, but I don't think its adding much value to that proposed 300 blackout Ruger, $75 max? if its lens are not scratched up.
And as you mention, you could play with it and put it on something else, and put a proper optic on the blackout if you get it.

This is an old screen capture I saved years ago about those red dots.
Bushnell-Red-dot-model-730134-specs.jpg
 
Last edited:
I have tested a couple red dots on several lever guns I have of various vintages (most from 1980's-90's) and have found that they "can be accurate" but consistent cheek weld positioning is crucial...they are very susceptible to what I will call "parallax" to use a scope term. If you do not line your eyeball up exactly in the position it was when you lined the gun up it can move the spot -to- impact a considerable distance ( enough to miss a deer sized animal at 100 yrds).

The above being said , I really do like them for old lever guns that have no modern scope accommodations. These red dots are light and can be easily mounted on existing tang site locations if your handy with a hack saw, drill and a short length of angle iron (PM me a textable phone # and I can send a few photo's).
 
Midnight Rider said:
Different strokes for different folks I guess , but I much prefer a scope with magnification for hunting purposes . I use red dots on a couple of range rifles for quick target acquisition at close range , but I don't see the value of a red dot for hunting as you can bring a scope on to target pretty quickly , and you have the option of scope magnification with a variable power scope .
Click to expand...

This ^^

At the range I use red dot

Hunting I use iron or scope
 
DGY said:
Funny you ask, I was wondering if it would be a good thing on some hunting rifles… but which one? I was looking at aimpoint yesterday, no 1moa available, the smallest is 2moa! Price is high on them but they seam to have the best reputation!
I was thinking fora camp gun/bush gun application….
Click to expand...

Shield red dots with 1 moa sights sit perfectly on a weaver base with the thumbscrew QD mount and weigh nothing. On the rear ring I found it just like shooting a peep. Position your target in the frame of the sight, find the dot, blast away.

Would be cool to set up a 308 Kimber Hunter scout rifle with one if I had cash burning a hole in my pocket
 
conor_90 said:
Shield red dots with 1 moa sights sit perfectly on a weaver base with the thumbscrew QD mount and weigh nothing. On the rear ring I found it just like shooting a peep. Position your target in the frame of the sight, find the dot, blast away.

Would be cool to set up a 308 Kimber Hunter scout rifle with one if I had cash burning a hole in my pocket
Click to expand...


F8D97C1E-045E-4D62-AA44-5C254A25CD28.jpg

Had a holosun 508 titanium on an 18.5” Montana 308 for a bit. Was an impressive package very handy. Never shot it on the rear base because it interfered with loading.
 

Attachments

  • F8D97C1E-045E-4D62-AA44-5C254A25CD28.jpg
    F8D97C1E-045E-4D62-AA44-5C254A25CD28.jpg
    60.8 KB · Views: 69
A lot of what I see online of battue fjudds they have the sight on the front receiver ring. I tried it but found I was more comfortable with using the rear ring and having the “window pane” form the entire sight picture. I personally preferred the reflex style to the tube rds, better sight picture imo.
 
I could see that for sure, I bet a pic rail would help on the Kimber. I have an astigmatism and the reflex sight is much better for me
Than a red dot, which is unusable to me. Still not all that clear tho
 
I found the same; if you can adjust the intensity of the dot low intensity settings really help, also found green a lot better than red in terms of “ flare”

Still haven’t tried a scope with red dot; probably the best solution. Too bad most lpvos have short tubes and massive bodies. Intrigued by the new bushnell trophy quick acquisition
 
I bought a Bushnell TRS-125 from Al Flaherty's on sale for $150 in early august.
Put it on a 12.5" barreled dominion arms grizzly 12G using the low mount.
I took the old Bushnell trophy red dot I mentioned before off that 12G, going to put it on a GSG-16 .22

There are not very many reviews on the TRS-125 red dot, I liked the idea of the push button dot intensity adjustments and it comes
with low & high mounts, wasn't keen on the 1 MOA @ 100 yds.
I bought it anyway because of the push button dot adjustment over the more proven TRS-25 model.

Sighted it in last week for zero@75 yds. with Remington 3" S12MRS 1oz. slugs.
Click adjustments were accurate, image was fine, I like it so far.
I don't shoot the slug guns much at all so it may last on it, probably end up being a POS but I'll see how it goes :)

TRS-125-Red-Dot.jpg
 
I had a Bushnell Red Dot on a Ruger Semi 44 Mag. I found it did not gather light well during dawn and dusk, prime hunting time, so I sold it. I now have a Leupold VXR Firedot scope and really like it. WK
 
WeakKnee said:
I had a Bushnell Red Dot on a Ruger Semi 44 Mag. I found it did not gather light well during dawn and dusk, prime hunting time, so I sold it. I now have a Leupold VXR Firedot scope and really like it. WK
Click to expand...
That is definitely an issue with red dots for big game hunting, there's no way I would put a red dot on pretty much any BGame hunting center fire rifle.
Why limit a rifles capabilities with a red dot when a proper scope is a much better all around option.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom