Hey guys, this is my first post so bear with me,

What is your opinion with hunting animals with a hunting style red dot?

Now I do not mean hunting with an AR15 or anything tatiool but let's say a basic hunting rifle (such a Remington 700) but with a hunting style red dot (such as an Aimpoint). The reason I ask is that that I recent saw some hunting videos where the hunters all used Aimpoint sights on their fancy Blaser and Mauser rifles. Now of course I understand that Aimpoint is selling their products as some magical scope but it sure looks fun. Magnification isn't a big concern with me as I am young so my eye sight isn't the issue. I also understand that I could just use ironsights for my gun but I cringe at the price of learning what it would cost to install + import Wilson Combat Sights for my Remington 7600. I guess this topic applies to mostly European hunters but all experiences and insights is welcomed!


The videos:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pslzMze9rNk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eoEGFNeuoEk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=91fS4neHq0U


Thanks.

I dig it.

Watched a girl use one last week on a Kimber 260. He husband said she had eye dominance issues and that it helped her in the field.

1x power and she was keeping them in a 4in group at 100yards.

Addition: I tried to buy the Kimber. She wasn't selling.

Sweet! Nice Remington 700?

How is your experience with that red dot?

That one is actually a Model Seven in 350 Rem Mag. The sight is the Aimpoint Micro T1. It is the the perfect setup. Keeps the rifle light and handy but is much faster and more precise to aim than iron sights.

Those are some great hunting videos. Very challenging shooting. I may have to look into those Aimpoint sights. I have a 338-06 that could use something like that.

Go for it and nothing wrong with hunting with an AR-15. Some folks are putting holographic sights on double rifles for hunting elephants. It helps with the old eyes.

Hi,

I don't sell Aimpoint but use them for more than 20years now to hunt running game in all western Europe as tenth of thousand hunters do every season.
They surely are one of the most effective sight one can buy for hunting running game in dense cover at close range. I have done some kills at more then 150m and they are easier to use than fixed sights when your eyes get older. A scope they are not but an effective system for sure.
They are tough, weather and water proof, stand the most punishing recoil even on handguns (454Casull Ruger), easy to zero (far better than most of the other brand) and with a 10 years warranty not other makes offer. They don't coast much on battery with around five years of running time on a single cell.
Play with it you will like the game.
Dom

I didn't say there was anything wrong with hunting with an AR15. It's just that in Canada you cannot hunt with one .



So Aimpoints are the golden standard? How do they compare to a Eotech and other competitors?

Hi Miku,

Golden standard i don't know but they work very well for me and hundreds thousand of people around the world be them military, practical shooters or hunters.
The EOTech is a good one but it's battery life is far shorter than Aimpoint's, and i prefer the Aimpoint zeroing turrets. The Leupold Prismatic could be very good if the new series don't have the problems of the first ones which loose their zero on heavy recoiling rifle. I've got a new one to test, i'll see that at the end of my hunting season. The new Trijicon which is loosely based on the Aimpoint with some improvement i don't have tested yet. Look like promising, and far better than the other models of that brand. Zeiss have no accurate clics to zero them and eat battery fast. The small ones of many brands based on Docter sights technology are battery eaters, difficult to zero and need tools, their screen is too small for my taste (i prefer tube models)and most of them need to be re zeroed after battery changing.
That's not based on a one month test but on many years of using, mounting and zeroing for customers (i give hand at 2 gunsmiths)be it on shotguns, rifles or handguns.
Most of hunters past their 45s to 50s who hunt driven game in my piece of wood and get to the Aimpoint's improved their success ratio.
In the past ten years hunting France, Germany, Poland, Portugal, Lithuania and other countries with Aimpoint's sights i shot more than 150 running wild boars, roes and red deers from 10 to 150 meters, on snow, in forests or plains, in bright sunshine or heavy showers. Calibers came from 7x64 to 300WM including 30-06, 9,3x62, 35Whelen and hot rodded 45-70.
Aimpoints 9000, Micro H1 or Hunter H34 never let me down. Number of shots is 255 around 1,7 for each game including finishers. So for me Aimpoints are like you said close to "Golden Standard".

I just want to add that i own some of the best scopes in the hunting world be them German, Austrian, US or Japan made but when time come to driven hunt or deep wood tracking i go to my 9000 or H1.

If you know how to shoot and your eyesight is good they are OK for 200m shoot on still game. With the 4 moa dot it's easy to keep all the bullets inside the vitals of any big game you can meet in your country. But if you look for long range hunting (shooting) better read the specialist comments about it you have on the fire, Aimpoints or red dot are not made for that.

Have good sunday.
Dom

Thank you for such an insightful post. It means a lot.

As Marseille noted they are good for running game relatively close as in Europe during drives or presumably here in brush or timber where the game would be expected to be rather close also but I was on a western mule deer hunt recently and came across a "TV guy" hunting deer with a Blaser, 300 win, with a Red Dot sight. Sure, you could kill a deer or elk within 200 yds but just as well at 300 or 500 yds in the open country we were in. He put himself at a big disadvantage and certainly was not able to use the cartridge's ranging ability to best effect. But, Red Dot was one of his sponsors and he was looking for footage--proving nothing IMO no matter what he got.

If your eyes are good you can go to 200yards even a bit farther and if you're used to open sight abit more but, yes, they are more useful at closer range. You would note that some professional use them (not only Aimpoint's don't get me wrong) in Africa.
Last week i was stalking red deer in Portugal, i had a scope instead of Aimpoint because shots could be made at more than 300m.
Adaptation to the game i play is the key.
Dom

A swing to the side magnifier mounted behind a red dot would be a great combination. Unfortunately the ones available have too short eye relief for a big game rifle.

They were made for M4 and clones with Picatinny rails. They work well on such rifle or any low recoil firearm.
Dom

My youngest, Connor, actually took his first ever deer with a .350 M7 CD I had for T&E six years ago when he was 11. He'd been shooting competitive trap for two years at that point w 12 ga. and didn't know what recoil was. 35 yard snapshot w Leupy 1.75-6X German No. 1. I foolishly sent it back to Remington after I wrote the article.

I had a T1 Micro on my Ruger Compact SS .358 and put a 200 grain Silvertip through a moving doe's shoulder at about 100 yards in an open field.

In the thick woods the green tint wreaked havoc with my weird eyes. I need magnification in the tangled stuff.

I have a couple of Aimpoint T-1 Micros and a Zeiss Z-Point. Both are fantastic sights. I mostly use them on my turkey rigs and I'm sold on red dots for them.

They allow you to sight-in for a given load as opposed to beads. They have unlimited, non-critical eye relief and you can easily use them with both eyes open giving them a big leg-up to scopes. Finally, they are forgiving of shooting form errors due to sudden, awkward shot presentations, which is common in turkey hunting or moving big game.

Their optical clarity lag behind scopes and they dots are too big for much utility beyond 150 yards, at least for me. However, for close-in shots on moving game or quick snap shots while stalking, I don't think there's anything better.

I also started my young son with a T-1 this year on a 22LR and latter a .223 Rem. I found it easy to coach good form and get to success both at the range and in the field with it.