Home Forums Hunting & Shooting AR and Tactical Rifles Which Red-Dot or Holographic Sight?

I bought Bushmaster XM-15 MOEs for my kids for Christmas and they are looking for me to buy them red-dot sights for quicker target acquisition.

Is there much difference between a $230 Vortex VMD-3103 and units costing twice as much or more?

What is the best value in a red-dot for use on an AR-15 with a fixed front sight?

The only red-dot sight that I've ever had is an old Aimpoint.

Battery life seems to be what separates the less expensive from the more expensive, at least in part. Trijicon MRO, some Aimpoints and probably others have battery lives measured in years, not hours. Allows you to just never turn them off. For a duty or home defense rifle, it’s a big deal. Not so much for a range toy.

These will be mostly range toys with a little predator calling on the side.

My Daughter has been searching on-line and seems to think that the Vortex Strikefire II is the sight that she wants.

All the primary arms dots and prisms I’ve used have held up well on range guns and plinkers.....outside of having parallax, zero issues, or crappy battery life.....a red dot is a red dot. Give me a prism with a etched reticle and ocular adjustment any day. JME

What brand and model do you recommend?

How well do prism sights work in the dark using a weapons light? If your looking for a durable optic, something you could bet your life on which prism sight is the best for a self defense gun?

I put a PA 1X prism on an upper just recently. I like the etched reticle that doesn't require power, and the diopter adjustment for older eyes.

Haven't put the light on yet, but soon.

https://www.primaryarms.com/pa-1x-compact-prism-scope-with-acss-cyclops-reticle-fde

Everything works better in low light (without NV), than a red dot. They’re black holes with a red star in them in low light. I think most prism sights are inherently robust. The old Leupold prism sight was good. The vortex has worked good. The primary arms is good so far, and seems tough enough. Haven’t tried the Bushnell.

Look at the Holosun units, they're affordable, get good reviews, and they make the Sig Romeos. They make one with a 50,000 hr. battery life.

^^^^for a rd, they’re not bad. I’ve got one of each, I think....sure the SIG is still here. Might have traded off the holosun, but not because it wasn’t any good. They have a motion on, still-off feature that’s the only way to be, it would seem. I hate something meant for fast/emergency use, that has to be turned on to be of use. Outside of very specific purposes, I just think most everything is better than a dot sight. JMO ....most decent 1-4x stuff is just as fast and far more precise and huntable. For any place most will say a RD is ‘king’, you can generally point out where an LPV, prism, irons, or just shotgunning the rifle is better.....but usually, they’re easier to use than irons, and faster than irons most times, but past room distances most other optics are better, and some just as fast close up.....and I’ve been using them since before they first got issued to the lines in the late ‘90s. Prisms seem to be the best of both worlds, when kept <3x....1x is even better. Again, JMO/bias.

The Holosun stuff is the best value in rifle mounted red dots on the current market, IMO, speaking specifically about those models of the same form factor as the Aimpoint Micro (H1, T1, etc) and using the same mounts. Some of the Primary Arms models are actually Holosun products too.

are there any prism sights currently specified for use in a military or law enforcement organization? I would like to try one for the money but would want one that was pretty durable. I have a couple of aimpoints and a couple of 1-4 scopes a 1-6 scope a 1-8 scope and a 1.5-6 scope. I actually am quite happy with a 1-X rifle scope and an illuminate reticle with use with a weapon light.

Ummm, you bet. I neglected to cover that Trijicon’s ACOGs are all Prism sights. I think Elcans are, also. Prisms can be made durable, fairly cheaply. Tritium and premium glass, etc add $ up on the higher end models. I generally think LPVs are the ideal option for most AR stuff, and a prism can be the next simpler option, with an RD last.

I have an older Leupold 2-7x33 with the turkey-plex reticle on my DPMS Sportical that works fine for me, but the kids seem to want "tacticool" not necessarily "practical". They both have RAR-Ps in 223 for shooting at longer distances, so I think that I might just give them each $200 and tell them to do their own research on AR sights.

Every unit that I was in issued M16A1s, long before the A2s, A3s, and M4s were regular military issue, so no sight options other than OEM irons.

That’s the most absurd thing I’ve read here in a long time, and that’s saying a lot.

If you look through the sight and it’s just a black hole, the problem is that your target isn’t illuminated and you can’t shoot at it because you can’t see it, which is true across all sights.

Counterintuitive by advertising and #s vs actual use. I’ve used them enough in low light to know, over the last 30 years, that everything else with glass in it, ever put on an AR worked better in low light. I’m not alone.

Some are a little better than others, and sometimes it’s the illum adjustment not going low enough in visible spectrum vs IR/NVG (on those that have it), but most any decent 1-4 LPV, an ACOG, or an Elcan would blow away the aimpoints and Eos for dusk and dawn.....as tested.

Or you forgot to open the lens cover, which would be embarrassing, but in a lot of cases still wouldn't stop you from shooting something. With a red dot anyway.

Sure, that must have been it.

Since RDs are so awesome in low light, everyone should dump your other scopes for a red dot for hunting low light. You’ll love it.

It's okay to admit you left the lens cap on.

Sure....the whole time I’ve had to use them for a living, since we got the first ones in 1998. Never needed to take it off.

if your in a dark room with a trijicon prism type optic and you turn on your weapon light is it easier to see than an aimpoint red dot set at 8 or so?

If you’re in a room, with a white light, shotgunning will be faster (JME) than either...if that’s what you’re asking. RDs and Holos are both faster than a 3-4x prism, in a room. They could be faster than a 1-2x prism, but LP prisms are fast, and you still have to get behind/already be behind any RD/Holo, to some extent, anyway. At room distances, both eyes open, looking over the weapon or shooting the PEQ4 dot was always faster for me, and plenty accurate for <50’.......unless you’re some TF/HRT and shooting around innocent heads, selling your story for movie scripts, or such. That’s a digressive discussion that doesn’t have much to do with shooting deer and hogs in low light, with no light, and outside your house. LOL

That’s because this isn’t the deer hunting section and most people asking for RDS advice for an AR aren’t asking for deer hunting advice.

LOL...yeah, but it IS a hunting site, and I tend to approach most stuff on the fire as it relates to hunting, ARs or not.....the tactical whizzing matches are best left to ARFCOM, but that’s just me. When you get down to it, most of my pure defense or tactical ARs wouldn’t hunt as well as my hunting ARs would defend/go tactical. Least that’s how I see it. Hunting with an AR is certainly more enjoyable than wearing one for work, nowadays.

I prefer a 1-4 or 1-6 with an illuminated reticle. However an Aimpoint Micro is good as well.

I'm not asking about deer hunting with an AR.

After spending the better part of 7 years with an M16A1 waiting for me in the arms rooms, about the last thing that I want to do is to carry around any sort of military style semi-automatic rifle. I was actually in the Army and don't feel a need to pretend being tactical.

The original question was posed because I gave my kids ARs for Christmas and they don't care to shoot with open sights on any rifle and don't want a scope on the ARs, so I was looking for advise on a quick on target sight that had about 1x magnification. They have shot my DPMS Sportical that has a Leupold 2-7x33 on it and that is clearly not what they want. When we were at Cabela's they saw a little Vortex VMD-3103 that interests them, but I didn't want to spend around $500 for 2 of them if there are better options out there. These are rifles that are going to used at the range and maybe every few years to shoot called predators. Neither of them are interested in hunting and only casually interested in shooting sports in general.

It depends on what you need. If the shooter has a tendency to see starburst instead a round dot, getting a model that offers shaped dot reticles helps. Reason being the dot is emitted through a filter that blocks off the part of the dot that flares. If your shooters have perfect eyes you don't need that.

You may want long battery life or solar power.

Low light performance? Models with clearer lenses are available but not from every maker. Aimpoint for instance is disappointing for round dots and low light clarity.

Best bang for buck for a range toy is Bushnell TRS25. Best value if you want the features mentioned above is Holosun. There are other considerations and models made to serve different parts of the market.

I've seen the Primary Arms Microdot II run on a half dozen ARs or Sig 556s. It's a decent 2MOA dot that won't break the bank.

https://www.primaryarms.com/primary-arms-microdot-with-removable-base-gen-2

Wasn’t trying to digress you. My apologies. The Holosun mentioned , or Sig Romeo 5 with the circle dot have worked well over the last two years on some of mine. I’ve also had a couple of Vortex RDS that are still going. The old Tasco ProPoint PDP2 were actually worth having, if you can find one. I also have Primary Arms RDS and Prisms, which are good so far. Eotechs would work well, also....you might find a used one priced right. Mounting any of them further forward will force their mount down a bit more and may help alleviate any shorter range parallax issues some RDs can have.....won’t matter for shooting milk jugs, but can cause issues (sometimes) trying to shoot smaller, plinker targets.

Arms Unlimited has ACOG 4x, red chevron sights for under a thousand.

I'll second the Bushnell TRS25
If you life doesn't depend on it, it's cheap, and has s lifetime warranty

https://www.amazon.com/Bushnell-Red-Dot-Sight/dp/B07T92TD5L

These are the best values for sure............have several of the Sig Romeo 5's & at the price you can get them for, they just cannot be beat. Maybe not military grade but they work for most civilian use.

If you want significantly better then go to Eotech or Meprolight RDS at 4-5x the price.

MM

has anyone used the sightmark wolfhound ?

Look at Holosun. Love the ones I have. 510C's on my rifles.

Are you stuck on a red-dot? I have several different options and another very versatile and affordable option would be the Vortex Strike Eagle 1-6x w/ mount from Palmetto State Armory. Use the discount code "VORTEX" and you can get this combo for $250/shipped right now.

Vortex Stike Eagle 1-6x w/ 30mm mount

I’ve got an Aimpoint T1 that I love. I have it on a shotgun right now but it goes between a few. It does suck in low light. I took it off my crossbow because it cost me a shot in the woods at last light.

Sig Romeo has worked great for me.

I've got two of the Vortex Sparc II red dots from Brownells and two of the Vortex Spitfire 1x prism sights (don't know if you can still find these).

Both are very clear and I think the Sparc II is a great sight for the money. A buddy has a Trijicon MRO and while I'm sure it's more robust and the battery life is better, the glass has a blue tint, isn't as clear, and the red dot isn't as sharp to my eye.

I can buy 4 Vortex Sparc IIs for the same price as 1 MRO.

Sig Romeo 5 . $119 on Amazon. Have two of them and really like them.

these conversations become funny after a while. I was at the range yesterday and while I did not shoot that well, everything that I had worked as advertised. I saw two red dot type optics fail on other peoples guns yesterday.

Which ones?

one was a tube like device UTG maybe, the other was a vortex don't know which model, excuse me if I offend, people are free to spend their money as they please and so am I.

True. I think the high quality red dot sights use heavy tints because it works better and military will use lights or some sort of night vision.

However, for predator calling I wouldn't want anything with rubber button controls. Somehow a splinter got inside the button cover on a SPARC I had. The sight was not usable after that. Vortex sent a new one. I sold it.

It would probably be a good idea to buy 4 Vortex dots at a time. That way you've always got a spare while the others are being sent back for repair.

A friend has a Holosite that had a small solar panel on it.

Shot it a lot over the last couple of weeks and it works well and is not hard to adjust.

I have an EOTECH on my pistol and it works well also.

LOL, Spot on Bluedreaux

Maybe...but I haven't had any issues yet

I'd much rather have a bunch of Aimpoints, and I plan on going that direction, but until I get everything switched over I fully anticipate the little Sparcs to keep on trucking.

Just ordered a Primary Arms SLxZ red dot and the reason being it has the ACSS reticle in it and it is a 1x25 instead of 1x20. Might view me a better view even though I shoot red dots both eyes open this should allow for faster pickup. I will see.

https://www.opticsplanet.com/primary-arms-slxz-25-red-dot-sight.html

Just ordered the same one today in black.
For the price and reviews nothing compared.

Well no idea when red dot was going to show up so cancelled order and ordered 1x. Since I already have a 5x on my coyote gun it should work the same.

Can you elaborate on this? I have astigmatism and red dots look horrible unless looking through a magnifier. I could get a prism scope but if a red dot looked clearer, I would appreciate the lower weight and the eye relief. Thanks.