That's it. I swear I'm going to stop cheaping out.

[Average Guy]

It's only taken me 39 years to learn that you get what you pay for.

I have a 10/22 with a not-inexpensive bull barrel and Hogue stock, but the "upgrade" kit for the internals was decidedly inexpensive (the bolt hold-open mod holds it open, all right—and takes repeated efforts to release—but that Volquartsen stuff is so pricey!), and the Weaver-style scope mount was something like 3 bucks. So I bought an NcStar 45mm red dot sight for $35 and figured that would be fine for a little .22. (To put it on, I took off the decent Bushnell scope that was too powerful for indoor shooting.) Well, the scope mount had only two cuts (one at each end) so the red dot wouldn't go on. I bought a Weigand high mount Weaver and am very happy with it (I'd have to say it was worth the price). It arrived today so I attached the mount, attached the red dot to the mount, and went to the range.

Got set up, sighted in, squeezed off the first round—and the red dot went out. Pulled the battery, put it back, worked for five more rounds. But that wasn't the most frustrating part. Also raising my blood pressure was the sudden tendency for the stock Ruger rotary mag to get stuck with 5 rounds still in it.

That's it. The red dot is going right back and no more cheap parts for me. From now on, it's middle of the road or nothing!

Oh, and to top the whole night off: Barnes and Noble evidently doesn't carry the 2005 Raiderettes calendar. :banghead:

 

[Valkman]

It does hurt to spend big money on a scope right after you paid big money for a rifle. I just went through that after buying a Colt AR-15A3 and finally put an EoTech on it. You'll never regret good optics.

Having said that, I just ordered a $49 red dot scope for my $6k Uzi. But, I want to try it out before I spend a bunch more on a good scope - maybe another EoTech!

 

[chevrofreak]

Personally I think you went far too big for the red dot. My limit is a 30mm objective. I have a Target Sports (NCstar) 30mm tube red dot on my AK and the only problem was the screw that held the knob to the body stripped out during rapid fire. Loctite fixed that right up!

The larger the diameter of the tube, the more parallax you're likely to encounter. The DTB130 I bought is quite long, and not very large in diameter, and surprisingly has no noticeable parallax past about 5 yards.

 

[MM]

I read this somewhere, "I can't afford a bargain"...
SatCong

 

[Mulliga]

When it comes to glass, I find you invariably get what you pay for.

 

[borderguy]

I just swaped out a a TacPoint for an Eotech on my AR. What a difference! The Tacpoint will now see duty on my PC-4.

 

[SLCDave]

Oh, and to top the whole night off: Barnes and Noble evidently doesn't carry the 2005 Raiderettes calendar.

Wait, didn't you just say you were going to stop cheaping out? Why are you going to settle for some toothless Raider cheerleaders?!?

 

[45R]

That bites that the Red Dot stopped working. I have a BSA red dot that I purchased from Walmart. Works great for .22s some of our memebers even have them mounted to their shotguns. Give on of those a try.

 

[BigG]

That reminds me of the guy who said he didn't make enough money to buy cheap stuff.

 

[chevrofreak]

45R my BSA RD30 handled the recoil of my shotgun better than I did

 

[Standing Wolf]

According to my old pal Jim:

You don't always get what you pay for, but you never get what you don't pay for.

 

[marklbucla]

I myself have never bought any optics, though Skunk's been telling me to put a red dot on my Ruger PC9.

Wasn't there a saying to spend the same amount on the optics as you paid for the gun?

 

[Atticus]

Buy good qualtiy stuff. It's not always THAT more expensive and usually cheaper in the long run.

 

[45R]

45R my BSA RD30 handled the recoil of my shotgun better than I did

Thats great!!!! I got a good chuckle out of that !!!!!

 

[PATH]

I put two cheapie BSA scopes on my 10/22's. The optics on my kids toy binoculars were superior. The sides of the lens are yellow and extremely fuzzy and I can't get the darn things zeroed no matter what I do. Tis better to wait and save up for the right equipment than it is to just try the chearper solution.

 

[Ky Larry]

I tried putting a BSA Red Dot on my S&W Model 29. I didn't figure it would last too long. I got 3 shots out of the first one and 1 shot out of the second one. My dealer gave me credit for the BSA so I ordered a Leopold Gilmore red dot. It has worked perfectly for years. Lesson leaned. Junk is waste of money and, more importantly, time.

 

[victory]

I don't understand people who skimp on accessories. When i buy a handgun i expect to pay a couple hundred more for extra factory magazines, a good holster and so on. Same goes for any gun. Looking for the bargain isn't bad, but i'm sure everyone has piles of "bargain buys" that they don't use. (ever end up with 4 holsters for the same gun and only one you actually use?)

 

[greg531mi]

Did you check the Batteries? They might have been doa........

 

[chevrofreak]

greg531mi, thats an excellent suggestion. There are some really crappy CR2032 batteries out there. I ordered a 100 pack a while back, and 3/4 of them tested 2.5 volts or less, and the other 1/4 were lucky to be 2.7 volts. Good name brand batteries will be about 2.9 volts. On the extreme low, I had about 1.4 volts. These will generally power a red dot, but it wont be bright at all.