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Joined: Dec 2002
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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.

ARIC

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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.

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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.

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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

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Originally Posted by hh4whiskey
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?

IC B2

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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?


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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

[Linked Image from i.imgur.com]

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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.

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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.


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^^^^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.

Last edited by hh4whiskey; 12/27/19.
IC B3

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Originally Posted by NVhntr
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.


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.

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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.


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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.

Last edited by hh4whiskey; 12/28/19.
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Campfire 'Bwana
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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.

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Originally Posted by hh4whiskey
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.


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.


Originally Posted by SBTCO
your flippant remarks which you so adeptly sling
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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.

Last edited by hh4whiskey; 12/28/19.
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Originally Posted by Bluedreaux
Originally Posted by hh4whiskey
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.


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.


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.

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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. crazy

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

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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.

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