My first red dot, anything I should know?

[lot21]

I had a $50 gift card from Christmas burning a hole in my pocket so I picked up a cheap Tasco red dot for my 10/22. I know it's on the cheap side but hey, it was free to me and a I always wanted to try one.

I'm going to sight it in later today, anything I should know about these? I'm somewhat concerned about the size of the dot obscuring the target. I never tried a six o-clock hold over sight in before, I'm thinking this might be the way to go with this.

Any thoughts or suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks

 

[BrocLuno]

As long as you don't drop it/rifle onto concrete or something, or hit it too hard, it should be fine. I have used similar on 22's for quite a while. Have fun

 

[TylerPearce]

I don't know how big the dots are on the tasco red dots, but I have used one on my friends .22 and it did just fine with a standard zero. We never shot it at any distance over 50 yards though. My red dot is only 1moa and I LOVE it.

 

[wally]

Turn the brightness down a bit and look through the dot and focus on the target. If you eye focuses on the dot you'll swear the thing "doesn't hold zero". This is different fromm irons where you need to focus on the front sight, or a scope where you need to focus on the reticle. Using a red dot as if it were a scope is the main cause for disappointment other than the few that are just defective out of the box.

I've had many years of good service from the Tasco red dot I got from Walmart on my 10/22.

 

[SentinelStrategic]

For a 10/22, there's not a lot to need to know. It's really only an issue if you try and mount it on an AR or other high-use/high-abuse weapon.

 

[Kendal Black]

[...]
I'm going to sight it in later today, anything I should know about these? I'm somewhat concerned about the size of the dot obscuring the target. I never tried a six o-clock hold over sight in before, I'm thinking this might be the way to go with this.

You're quite right that there can be an issue here. I started out with some of the early dot sights (Singlepoint, Weaver Qwik Point) that had enormous dots. I found out what I needed to do was sight in so that the aiming point was the top center of the dot, right at the 12 o'clock position. Then I used the dot like a big bead sight, placing its top edge on the point of aim.

This still works well now that most dots are of more reasonable size. I think, I'm not sure, that Tasco's dot is about 5 MOA. That's still bigger than some things you'd want to aim a .22 at. Try the top center aiming trick if you find the dot obscures things.

Personally, I think dot sights are a big advance for many kinds of shooting. I look at the target with both eyes and simply let the sight add an aiming reference to my normal view of things. Situational awareness is improved and it's the fastest system yet devised.

 

[MolleMan]

i've got a Tasco Red Dot on my SKS and sighted it in at 60 yrds and it works good. the Tasco has a brightness setting, usually all the way bright during day time and all the way dim at night. but for the $20 I paid for it i have had great service out of it.