Where do you set your dot sight aiming point?

Yes, the use the "top of the dot" for zeroing has been around for a while.

Personally I prefer a 2MOA, IF I want to go fast, I just crank up the brightness. I've also never had a problem not seeing a 2MOA.

Talking the difference in a 6 o’clock vs bullseye hold. One advantage of a bullseye hold, you can use the “round” of the dot similar to an aperture on a bullseye target...concentric circles....not perfect, but better than a poke in the eye with a stick....

big thing, do what works for you....

What caliber is your rifle? How far out are you going to be shooting? What's the closest shot you will typically make?

Anyway, a 2 MOA dot has always served me well.

Think about the questions TonyAngel asked. I had a red dot on a rifle I used for three-gun. The balance of speed and accuracy was minute of pie pan accuracy at distances between 25 to 100 yards so I set the dot on the desired point of impact. That's what worked for me.

As rabid wombat said, "do what works for you". The sight is adjustable. If one set up doesn't work for you, it's changeable.

I've been using dots since we got our first trijico reflexes in the Army in the early 90s.

Never done it any way other than top of post with the irons correctly aligned.

It quickens zeroing of the dot which can be problematic for some and also serves as a quick confirmation of the dots maintained zero.

Doesn't mean that I am right, merely noting that it has never failed me and I've seen no valid reason to change.

At one time, on an M-4, I had deliberately alternated iron and dot (though actually a chevron) POA/POI in an exercise to determine utility and saw none.... for me.

Todd.

I also prefer a 2 MOA dot size to a larger dot. Green dots are more easily visible in bright daylight. If picking up a 2 MOA dot is too slow, there are plenty of reflex sights that have a circle/dot reticle. The concentric circle makes quick acquisition of the sight picture pretty easy.

Id zero it just like you would using your irons.

You need to know your trajectories, and if you use a ballistic calculator, and use a BSZ/PBR setting, you can zero with a dead on hold through a specific distance, like you would with your irons. Thats likely going to be longer than you will be shooting while hunting too.

I have 4moa Aimpoints and the dot size has never been an issue for me. I also have an astigmatism, so, the dot is never really a "dot", but more of a fuzzy, sorta round "star".

For the distances youre likely going to be shooting with the dot, Id prefer to have something that easier seen quickly, than something smaller.

If you have time, you can reduce the appearance of the size of the dot, but turning down the intensity. The dot does appear smaller at the lower intensities.

If youre using the sight in varying lighting conditions, you can close the front cover, set the dot to a comfortable intensity, and then move between bright and dark conditions, and have a constant dot brightness and dont have to mess with the adjustment. You do have to shoot with both eyes open (as you should be anyway) for this to work though. And it does work and you can shoot just as well sighting this way. Its how the original red dots worked.

JDinFbg said:

is there any reason this set-up method of a dot sight would not work?

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The problem with that type of setup is that the dot would only be in the desired location underneath your desired POI at a very specific distance. The dot location in relation to POI obviously changes depending on distance no matter where you zero it but by putting it under your POI at a given zero distance you're introducing an extra, unnecessary variable that'll make your holdovers more challenging to determine.

If you're gonna be shooting at stuff that most people use a .30-30 for and won't be shooting much past 100 yards, I'd get a 2 MOA red dot and zero it for 100. That way you can use the top and bottom of the dot for holdovers and holdunders.

I use a 1.5x ACOG as a dot sight. It has the circle dot reticle. I believe it's a 2 MOA dot, although it could be smaller. Being an etched reticle it is much more defined than a red dot. Anyway, I run it on a 10.5" AR and I zero for 100 yards and can use the dot and ring for holdovers. It works pretty well for me, but I'm not doing any precision shooting either. It works for man size targets.

I only use the “tip of the dot” method for Trijicon RMR’s with triangular “dots.” For circular dots (or at least what I am told is supposed to appear circular, since they all look like squished bugs due to my astigmatism), I put the dot on the center of the target, being mindful to use appropriate targets which suit the sight picture for precise and repeatable placement.

Varminterror said:

I only use the “tip of the dot” method for Trijicon RMR’s with triangular “dots.” For circular dots (or at least what I am told is supposed to appear circular, since they all look like squished bugs due to my astigmatism), I put the dot on the center of the target, being mindful to use appropriate targets which suit the sight picture for precise and repeatable placement.

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When sighting in a red dot, I like to turn the brightness down until the dot is almost hard to see. I then use black dots about 4" in diameter stuck to the white paper. With a proper 2 MOA dot, it should cover 2 inches at 100 yards. For your purposes, this should get you close enough for gov'ment work.

I use a dot sight on a muzzleloader and a handgun. I put the bullet under the center of the dot. Like the above poster, I adjust the brightness of the dot to conditions.

I also have a Busnell sight that is either a dot or an illuminated cross hair depending upon the setting. You might look into that.

TonyAngel said:

When sighting in a red dot, I like to turn the brightness down until the dot is almost hard to see. I then use black dots about 4" in diameter stuck to the white paper. With a proper 2 MOA dot, it should cover 2 inches at 100 yards. For your purposes, this should get you close enough for gov'ment work.

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BTDT, thanks...

JDinFbg said:

wondering where folks set the aiming point of their dot sight

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Right on the xiphoid process.

JDinFbg said:

I'm not sure I follow your logic. With any sight it is only dead on at some specific distance. One has to compensate if shooting at something much closer or much farther away from the distance at which the sight was zeroed. As long as the shooter knows how the dot sight was zeroed, can properly estimate distance, and knows the bullet trajectory, it seems to me that can properly hold over or under using based on how the sight was zeroed. What am I missing?

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Wish I had a graph to illustrate what I mean. (It's hard to find graphs to illustrate a technique that no one who knows what they're doing uses, to put it bluntly. No offense intended ) I had a whole long wall of text typed up here but read through and determined that it was too confusing. On the holdover question, I'll just point out that there is a good reason why you haven't seen this technique used before. The other thing is that even if the dot is supposed to be 2 or 4 MOA or whatever, for most people, it's going to appear to be different sizes at different brightnesses and lighting conditions, making the top edge of it very difficult or impossible to consistently delineate.

All that being said, for hunting purposes with a 30-30 at distances under 100 yards, none of this is going to matter. You'll be close enough regardless of where you zero that dot (within reason).

It sounds like a lot of people dont understand the "battle sight zero"/ "point blank range zero".

If you run a ballistic calculator, most have a PBR window allowing you to designate a vital zone size, and will help you zero so that within that range the bullet will remain in the vital zone you specify, anywhere across that distance. Most usually use a 6"- 8" vital zone.

Do that, and you can hold right on at any distance from 0 to whatever the PBR zero is, usually, around 250 - 300 yards or so with many things and theres no thought as to what you might have to hold over/under.

The only exception to that might be, if your sights are higher over the bore, like with the AR's, and you might have to make an allowance at closer distances, 25 yards or so and in, due to that offset.

@JDinFbg

read the following...it will answer some of the “dot” questions...shape, etc. Digest it and come back with more questions...Likewise, mount the dot, and shoot it. Experience is a wonderful teacher

https://www.thehighroad.org/index.p...-ignore-the-front-sight.867737/#post-11484667

With the M94 in .30-30 you’ll be looking at an approximate 2” line of sight above the bore.

By sighting in POA/poi at 27yds, you’ll be approximately +3” at 100yds, ZERO at approximately 160yds, and -6” at 200yds.

Hence, your impact will approximate your “Dots” placement to nearly 200yds.

I sight my AR’s with assorted illuminated dots and reticles in a similar fashion. They have “Point Blank” ranges (Point and shoot, w/o windage or elevation correction) to 250yds. (+/- 5”).
Hope that helped.

Added; I’ve used a Leupold “dot” reticle on my low powered scopes on my “woods” rifles for decades. With a 5” black target bullseye with a 2.5” white center, I’ve sighted my .30-30s, .35’s, .45-70’s, .257Roberts, 30/06’s, .338ME, ect 3”high at 100yds with dot concentric in the center of the white bullseye. Much like a mid century benchrest shooter. I’ve dropped deer with .30-30’s and .35’s to 270yds while still “holding on hair”. Shot a mule deer doe at 370yds in Montana in ‘93 with a .257 Roberts holding the bottom of the dot on top of the deers back with an 85gr Nosler BT. Killed 40+ prararie dogs two days later to 400+yds.

The Leupold dots are about 2moa. Cross hairs less tha 1/4moa.

Red dots on a lever action don't have to be as high off the barrel as an AR, there are short combinations that exist.

JDinFbg said:

My questions are: 1) does anyone set up their dot sight in this fashion?, and 2) is there any reason this set-up method of a dot sight would not work?

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I can shoot smaller groups than the size of the dots in the optic, due to using a portion of the dot, so yes the concept works.

Using different holds is not a new concept though, been around awhile.



Depends on your use. If I were using it for hunting, say a 150 grain JSP at 2250 FPS with a BC of .186 with a 1.3" sight height, wanting to stay inside a 4" vital zone.

If you have a 2" bullseye on a target at 100 yards and a 2 MOA dot, the concept you are talking about woud be about perfect. place the top edge of the dot next to the bottom edge of the bullseye would have you aiming about 2 inches low as far as center to center distance apart between the two.

So bullets impacting the center of the bullseye at 100 yards are hitting 2 inches high vs the center of the dot at 100 yards.

What that gives you is a bullet that is 2" high at 100, right at point of aim at 150 yards and 2 inches low at 173 yards. the 173 yard number is whats called maximum point blank range for a 4 inch vital zone, or the range where the bullet will not be higher or lower than 2" in trajectory the entire distance.

In other words no need to "hold over" at all for any shot inside that range for a vital zone of that size. Had you just zeroed at 100, at 150 you are 3" low and by the time the bullet gets to 175, you are now 5.6" low.