Thread: Red dot for hunting

Does anyone use a red dot or even a green dot for hunting instead of a scope? Work mate mentioned he was thinking of putting one on a rifle. It is mostly open tops hunting around here and I was just wondering how effective they would be.

I ran one on my old 300blk AR

They are good for thick stuff and spook and shoot, but you do lose quite a bit of versatility over an lpvo. Had a couple of times where I let animals walk that I probably would have shot with a low power scope to get a bit more detail in the Bush.

I definately wouldn't use one for tops hunting unless you wanted the added challenge of trying to get inside 100m to make a shot.

Also generally they are a bit shit in low light.

I used some for homekill, Never liked messing around with my scope so I made 1 to screw onto the muzzle (always sighted in) and it was great for 1-40m range. red wasn't really visible during the day but green wasn't too bad. can't see much other use for them other than short range point & shoot

Do yourself a favour and get a 2-7, 3-9 or similar it will be far more useful for longer ranges you would expect to encounter on the open tops, that fallow I shot with you when we were in Kaikoura was 340y and I can tell you at 10x zoom it was pretty small in the scope.
A leupold 3.5-10 or similar would be just about ideal, I would only drop to a 2-7 if it was going to be used predominantly under 100y

I've used one a bit. Had no issues wth it, all shots within 50 metres tho. Then we changed to a holographic and that was even nicer to use. Dont ask me the difference, cos I dont really know. And my girlfriend runs one on a 22 for her kids, apparently easier for them to master than a scope. I tried it one day just for fun, 2 moa dot, and I shot a 10 shot 1.5 moa group at 100. Was pretty impressed with that. Excellent for spook and shoot, you dont even think, just slap that red dot where you want the boolit to go and things just fall over. Unlike a scope, you dont have to have the dot centred in the frame. I'd be happy to use one out to 200 maybe. But would rather a 1.5-6 Kahles for an all round scope, can shoot with that way out to 5 or 600 no problem, and leave on 1.5 for the short stuff.

Originally Posted by Happy Jack

Does anyone use a red dot or even a green dot for hunting instead of a scope? Work mate mentioned he was thinking of putting one on a rifle. It is mostly open tops hunting around here and I was just wondering how effective they would be.

Would have been great for you last roar

Had an aimpoint H-2. They are pricey as but they are a nice bit of kit. I sold it to @Flyblown and he uses it for hunting, he'd have some useful input I'm sure.

Also @tikka uses an aimpoint for hunting too I think.

If you're hunting open country forger it mate, they're great for bush and small clearings.

I find them alright out to maybe a couple hundred metres - though it depends on how good your eyesight is. Beyond 200m, I don't feel comfortable that I'm getting a precise enough point of aim.

They don't have light transmission anywhere as good as a scope. So in low light you can see the dot well, but can't see what you're overlaying it onto so much.

They suck if you have astigmatism.

You can technically dial them. But nobody does this because of fiddly little turrets, coarse adjustments, and I doubt they track at all well. So set and forget, and get good at hold overs (especially if you're running subs). Took me a bit of practice to stop massively over estimating holds at distance.

There's very little they do that a low power scope can't do better for hunting IMO.

Wouldn’t use for tops,great in bush though,have one on my 44mag and swap from scope to red dot on my 308 when bush hunting or wet weather,the water on the lenses don’t seem to mess with the view of the dot and since you shoot both eyes open can still make out your target.I have scope in Leupold quick release rings and the dot goes back on within 1moa when refitted so no need to relight.

Its not me who wants one as they are beyond my budget, its a work colleague who seems to have a bottomless bank account where hunting is concerned. But good to see what you all think as I have never seen one.

As mentioned they are useless if you have astigmatism.

Had a look through @jono7 one the other week and what it looked like to me was a TINY dot with a starburst around it.

He assured me it wasn't..... realized I am just a blind c@nt lolz.

I have one that I can use sort of but I think it's only because it has a fairly large dot.

I run one when walking, anything over 100m I figure I have enough time to swap on the big scope, less things to get caught on bushes

Originally Posted by 308mate

Had an aimpoint H-2. They are pricey as but they are a nice bit of kit. I sold it to @Flyblown and he uses it for hunting, he'd have some useful input I'm sure.

Strictly close range use for me, on a Browning BLR .308.

I’m shooting mostly goats in tight manuka scrub with small grassy clearings. Middle of the day hunting. Find them by following the sound of the kids calling Mum. Occasional fallow. All subsonics - Robert’s cast boolits. Most of the time I’m so close, open sights would be best. But quite often I want to shoot across a clearing and the red dot (50m zero) works very well for shots to the high shoulder or head.

Like @Pommy said, I shot over the top of a few goats at first, over-estimating the hold for longer shots. I cured that by putting an old door against two wool bales - shots at a target from 60, 70, 80m etc off the quad seat. Marked up the POI with red electrical tape and went back to the bike for another look to see the drop relative to the dot. Works well.