Red dot really sensitive to distance. Mounted incorrectly? (Pics)

How much money was it?

Did it come with instructions on how and where to mount it?

If the cost was really low, that is what I find you get when it comes to inexpensive gun optics. I have never had good luck getting the cheap ones sighted in then once sighted in, kept sighted in!

I got to the point where I won't spend less than about $400 for the scope and sights/rings because it is not worth all the frustration I have gone through trying to get them to work. I have more things to do with my time than burn up a bunch of ammo chasing some silly dot all over the target. The last cheap (read: Junk) scope I purchased was in the 80's and it was a Tasco.

That's just parallax. The dot is much farther from the bore axis than the iron sights. What distance are you sighting it in for? I'd suggest you sight it for at least 50 yards. At shorter distances, just aim a bit higher.

This parallax problem is one reason I'm not fond of laser grips. But elevation parallax is much more tolerable for me than side-side parallax.

What distances are you talking about here? Looking at some trajectory charts, POI shouldn't really be more than 1.5" to 50 yards. And is it POI, or group sizes?

Plenty of possible issues that spring to mind, but I'm sure someone who knows more can chime in as well:
Sight not holding zero
MOA of the dot is too big to be useful at longer distances
Parallax issues

Sight it in at a greater distance, at least 25 yards. The higher the sight is above the bore, the greater the distance you should sight it in at.

GLOOB said:

That's just parallax.

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No, it is not parallax. That is a different issue that is largely absent in reflex sights.

What distances are you shooting at? Visualize the trajectory of the bullet from the barrel and your line of sight through the optic in your pic above. In order for the gun to shoot to point of aim at some short distance, say 1yd to be extreme, the line of sight and the barrel axis are significantly angled to each other so that the two meet only 1yd out from the barrel. Then picture the target moving out a few more yards. The bullets trajectory will continue upwards while your line of sight stays level. So, if you zeroed at 1yd and then move your target out to 5yd, the bullet will impact above point of aim. How far above point of aim will depend on any things, but the higher the sight is above the bore, the more the change will be.

Is the POI moving just vertically or horizontally as well? How much is RADICALLY? Are you holding the gun differently each time in regards to where the scope is situated in relation to your eyes?

Two things.

No, it is not parallax. That is a different issue that is largely absent in reflex sights.

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Most of the cheap sights have little if any quality control, that is why I only buy them if I can look through them first or order from a place with a good return/exchange policy. If the optical path is not right they will have horrible parallax problems. I've had very good luck with cheap tube type red dots, universially poor results with the cheap reflux types as shown in the photo.

When I checked a Sightmark reflex at a gun show it had unaccaptable parallax. But their tube style "Aimpoint look-alike" model has worked very well for me.


The other thing is when using a red dot you have to look through the dot and focus on the target otherwise you get poor results. This is different than using irons or a scope and takes some getting used to, but it is why they are so fast.

To check for parallax:
Set the red dot on a stable surface and sight it in on something 25-50 yards away.

Look through the dot at the target and move your eye position so the dot wanders around in the aperture of the sight.

If the dot doesn't stay on the target its a junk red dot sight. Although only the very best red dots will stay on the target as you get near the edges of the aperture.

Yeah, like these other guys are saying, sight it in at a longer distance. That sight is sitting high on that pistol, so if you sight it in at a short distance and then move back, it probably will group real high. If it is due to quality however, none of this is going to help. In that case, send it back.

The problem is that it being such a short range pistol and that sight being as high as it is, you may have to pick some distance that you intend on shooting at the most and stick with that as your POA/POI distance. Your POA/POI, the dot you see, and the bore axis form a triangle and those angles dicatate the "tolerance" if you will, of the vertical grouping at different distances. Now you can adjust for different distances either in your mind, or write down and figure out the clicks needed and adjust that way. But it being a cheap sight, you may not want to make a lot of adjustments or regular adjustments like you would with a good one.

Now if you can zero it for a long distance, do it for as long a distance as you can without there being too much drop. I don't know it off the top of my head, but if you can zero it for 50 yards, great. Just make sure you have a good stable rest to do this; seated using sandbags works well for me when sighting in.

Even if you do this, due to the height of the sight, you may still group a little low at close distances, but you won't have to make a lot of adjustments or mess with it much.

Oh yeah, if you have access to a good boresight, that can help too, since you can essentially do it at night and zero the dot to the bore axis at a distance beyond the ballistical capability of the bullet (depending on the boresight... the one I have in mind is the army issue one).

Now with hi-tech paint!!!!!

^^^ this.

Good example Zerodefect.
Same thing with lasers. That's the reason I recommend sighting them in at two or three times the furtherest distance you may shoot them.

You really need to sight the gun in at 20-25 yrds. and consistantly shoot at that range.

Any pistol will have different point of impact at different ranges, its simple physics and geometry and gravity effects on the bullet.

One other tip is that when first shooting with a red dot or laser, your groups will be worse than iron sights as it takes a lot of time to get use to the red dot and stop all the hand shaking, which is common with lasers and red dots.

Also try shooting it from a rest to minimize gun shake.

When a friend and I first bought red dot sights we were totally unfamiliar with them. We installed them and proceeded to sight em and shoot em.

Several things we noticed. First was no matter where the dot appeared in the sight we still hit the target. Second was when we decided to move back from the target (10 yds to 50 yds) to see how far off our hits were we were still hitting the target (12" steel plate).

My red dot was in the $40 range; my friend's was in the $200 range. I have several really inexpensive red dot sights and a $600 Leupold sight. The $40 BSAs work as well as the Leupold. For the light duty my sights get I don't see the point in buying more expensive sights.

No, it is not parallax. That is a different issue that is largely absent in reflex sights.

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I didn't mean the optic parallax thing. I just meant the general definition of parallax. Meaning the bore and sights are lining up to the target on a slightly different path.

daveinvegas said:

Several things we noticed. First was no matter where the dot appeared in the sight we still hit the target.

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This is the same experience I had with my $40 Sightmark red dot. Mounted on a 22/45 as well, coincidentally.

Zerodefect: your pic explains things far better than my wordy attempt!