Looking for suggestions for a compact red-dot for an AR pistol.

Status
Not open for further replies.
mcb

mcb

Member
Joined
Feb 19, 2008
Messages
8,738
Location
North Alabama
So I am nearly done with a 5-inch 300 AAC Blackout upper to go on a pistol lower. Due to the handguard I am going to use I will have no way to mount iron sights. In trying to keep is as light and compact as possible I am looking for suggestions for a compact red dot sight for this upper.

Right now a Vortex Venom (3 MOA dot) on a QR rise or maybe a Leupold Deltapoint Pro on their AR riser are what I am thinking. That said I am also curious about the solar powered red dots like the Holosun and the new Vortex Spark AR. I have one of the original Spare AR and it has been a good red dot on my 223 blaster.

So what would you guys suggest? Trying to keep the budget around $300 or less if possible.
 
I have Vortex Venom, Vortex Razor and Burris FastFire 3 red dots. I can’t tell any difference between them in performance, and they all perform well. Next one I buy if I ever do will be a Deltapoint Pro. Not sure why but I like the Deltapoint Pro.
 
It looks like the Burris is a fan favorite here and I use them on a couple of handguns and really like them but I'm going to offer an alternative. My son-in-law has an AR pistol equipped with a Sig Saur Romeo 20 mm tube red dot. I've shot it some and it works very well for both of us. It's in about the same price range as the Burris I believe.
 
This is going to sound crazy, but a Trijicon MRO in a Larie mount isn't heavy.

I find that with pistol AR's, especially ones without irons, scope choice is critical. It has to be bright in daylight. And it can't be low mounted. A high mounted mini optic, minus well be a fullsize 1x red dot.
 
Zerodefect said:
This is going to sound crazy, but a Trijicon MRO in a Larie mount isn't heavy.

I find that with pistol AR's, especially ones without irons, scope choice is critical. It has to be bright in daylight. And it can't be low mounted. A high mounted mini optic, minus well be a fullsize 1x red dot.
Click to expand...

I am sort of coming to the same conclusion, buy the time you get some type of riser the weight saving is not enough to offset the smaller viewing window.

But, for the moment I am going to try a SeeAll sight on a riser to start with. I got it in trade from a fellow THR member. It did not work as a offset backup on my longer 300 BO as I could not get the angle right for easy viewing of the sight. Mounted as a primary sight on an appropriate riser this seems like it might actually work and be a good battery free sight.

Zh8qR5ol.jpg
This is the new upper mounted on my pistol lower though the upper is currently just loosely screwed together as I am still waiting on the last part, a custom length gas tube before I torque everything down. Scale says just under 6.5 lbs with suppressor.

If the SeeAll does not work out I might do a bunch of scope/red-dot sighting move and put a Sparc AR on this gun and replacing the Sparc AR on the 556 carbine with a Holosun HS503G-ACSS. The BDC reticule in that Red Dot has me intrigued especially in conjunction with a 3x magnifier. But that seems overkill for this particular gun.

It will be interesting to see how much velocity I loose going from my 9-inch gun to this 5-inch gun. My current sub sonic load was worked up for a 16 inch gun giving me about 1050 fps in the 16 inch and about 980 fps in my 9-inch. I don't use the 16-inch much anymore so I think I might step the loads up to give me 1050 in the 9-inch gun and live with what I get in the 5-inch gun.
 
mcb said:
So I am nearly done with a 5-inch 300 AAC Blackout upper to go on a pistol lower. Due to the handguard I am going to use I will have no way to mount iron sights. In trying to keep is as light and compact as possible I am looking for suggestions for a compact red dot sight for this upper.

Right now a Vortex Venom (3 MOA dot) on a QR rise or maybe a Leupold Deltapoint Pro on their AR riser are what I am thinking. That said I am also curious about the solar powered red dots like the Holosun and the new Vortex Spark AR. I have one of the original Spare AR and it has been a good red dot on my 223 blaster.

So what would you guys suggest? Trying to keep the budget around $300 or less if possible.
Click to expand...
I'm looking at the holosun 510c GR
 
CraigC said:
For some reason this is the only picture I have of one but I really like the SIG Romeo4. They come with both high and low mounts.

View attachment 984811
Click to expand...

My son-in-law has a CMMG 9 mm pistol rig with the Sig Romeo on it. He loves the little noise maker and I have to say it's quite accurate. I have shot it and if I had any interest in this type gun I could be quite happy with it.
 
The Sig Romeo5 is an outstanding optic for the money. I was a bit skeptical given the low price (around $150) but mine worked great for a couple years right up to when I sold the gun it was on (included the Romeo5 in the sale but will pick up another as a spare).
 
mcb said:
I am sort of coming to the same conclusion, buy the time you get some type of riser the weight saving is not enough to offset the smaller viewing window.

But, for the moment I am going to try a SeeAll sight on a riser to start with. I got it in trade from a fellow THR member. It did not work as a offset backup on my longer 300 BO as I could not get the angle right for easy viewing of the sight. Mounted as a primary sight on an appropriate riser this seems like it might actually work and be a good battery free sight.

View attachment 984609
This is the new upper mounted on my pistol lower though the upper is currently just loosely screwed together as I am still waiting on the last part, a custom length gas tube before I torque everything down. Scale says just under 6.5 lbs with suppressor.

If the SeeAll does not work out I might do a bunch of scope/red-dot sighting move and put a Sparc AR on this gun and replacing the Sparc AR on the 556 carbine with a Holosun HS503G-ACSS. The BDC reticule in that Red Dot has me intrigued especially in conjunction with a 3x magnifier. But that seems overkill for this particular gun.

It will be interesting to see how much velocity I loose going from my 9-inch gun to this 5-inch gun. My current sub sonic load was worked up for a 16 inch gun giving me about 1050 fps in the 16 inch and about 980 fps in my 9-inch. I don't use the 16-inch much anymore so I think I might step the loads up to give me 1050 in the 9-inch gun and live with what I get in the 5-inch gun.
Click to expand...

I have the 2nd gen See All tritium lit model on my 20” AR at the moment. I bought a cheap riser on Amazon to get it to just the height I wanted which is just a little above the line of the iron sights. It’s a placeholder for when I get a decent 3-4x scope, but I really like that it’s a decently cheap, lightweight and low profile sight that is always usable in any light or no light without batteries to worry about.
 
  • Like
Reactions: mcb
Vortex Sparc II sitting on a skeleton mount. The mount was actually on a Sig Romeo MSR that I swapped the solid mount for. The front mounting point was moved back one slot as to not interfere with the hand stop.

Bill
IMG_0311.jpg
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

G
Senior Buying my First AR15 Dot Sight-Red or Green Dot?
Replies
12
Views
664
powermad
P
K
  • Locked
Which red dot?
2
Replies
26
Views
2K
FL-NC
FL-NC
W
  • Locked
Magnifier and red dot placement
Replies
5
Views
851
woodweasel58
W
B
  • Locked
Red dot for 300 blackout?
Replies
2
Views
563
BGD
B
badkarmamib
  • Locked
LPVO back to red dot
Replies
13
Views
666
TonyAngel
T
Back
Top