Cheap Target Sports Red Dot Sights

[wally]

My eyeballs ain't what they used to be, that's for sure. I've not been too happy with scopes on a handgun -- too narrow a field of view, totally black until your eye lines up with the exit pupil, add too much weight and bulk.

The 4X Leupold I have on my 44 mag S&W 29 is a great scope but I'm not happy with it for the above reasons.

So for $20 I tried one of those cheap 1" red dot sights from www.cdnninvestments.com, not really expecting much. Swaped it in for the Leupold and expected it to self-destruct under the magnum's recoil. It didn't! Seemed to hold zero too. I need to test at longer range but its passed the first test with flying colors! I was shooting 240 gr JHP reloads and some full house 240 gr PMC JHP.

The dot is bigger than I'd like and not a perfect circle, but it sure helped my groups! I can buy better later if I decide these things are really the way to go.

I'm gonna try one of their 30mm ones on my Norinco next. I've a Tasco Pro Point on it now wihch cost a good bit more and works really well, but is just too big -- although the large size makes it fast to aquire with a great field of view, but I thing it makes the gun awkward, just like the 4X Leupold was awkwrd for me on the Model 29.

--wally.

 

[gbran]

JPoint, Docter Sight, etc....

I have a JPoint (like the old Tasco Optima) which is a small heads-up display. It has a 3.5 MOA dot for fine work. A larger dot and a larger sight would be betterr for faster aquisition, but this small thing is much faster than my magnified scopes. Instead of a switch, you just remove the hood, put it back on when done. You never have to worry about on/off switches. This thing is light, small and accurate and stands up to recoil.

 

[wally]

How much does the Jpoint cost? I've never seen a Tasco Optima.

Some of these "red dot" optical sights are priced as high as my Leupold 4X scope was and they have no real optics beyond a half mirror.

If I end up liking this thing I'll be open to better/more expensive designs.
It hurts to have spent that much on a scope and end up not liking it.

--wally.

 

[yesterdaysyouth]

http://www.outdoorhaven.com/reddotsights.html

the hakko sigths are great and around 150 bones, not bad for 4 different reticles and they are really birght ones at that...

 

[gbran]

http://www.eabco.com/jpoint01.html

Go to the link and look at them. They are about $200. You might want to do a google search for "red dot sights". This will give you all types, shapes, sizes and costs.

 

[wally]

Thanks, this is the price range where I want to be sure I really find these red dots useful at the range. Buy a red dot sight or a Bersa .380

If this little $20 contraption holds up, might be a tough sell for something that costs a lot more.

--wally.

 

[wally]

I see the JPoint/Optima fits on the 1911 slide. This is seriously small. Definitely worth looking into if I find that I like red dot sights.

Thanks for the info guys.

--wally.

Edit: The "stick on reading glasses" at eabco.com might be just the ticket for my shooting glasses -- now I either wear +1.25 "reading glasses" or deal with blurry front sights and my real shooting glasses.

Definitely feel safer with the shooting glases on, practice is better without correction as I won't be able to say "timeout while I put on my glasses before shooting at you" -- hence my guns with CTC laser grips being my top two carry choices. But for anything more precise than pie plates, I need a scope or my reading glasses and scopes on a handgun don't seem to work too well for me.

 

[chevrofreak]

Wally, I have one of the 30mm Target Sports red dots and I like it very much.

I am also of the belief that there is no need to pay a great deal more for something that may or may not be better.