Red Dot Question

[Bridges90]

Hello, I am rather new to the red dots on a pistol and I have noticed once I get my dot zero'd the dot itself never seems to line up with my actual iron sights. Is this normal? On both my handguns with optics the dot itself is always skewed to the left of the iron sights.

 

[DocRDS]

Are your sights co-witnessed?
Are you shooting with both eyes open vs one eye closed?
Is your iron shooting picture perfectly centered?
Are you sure about that? =)

The dot should line up provided you have co-witnessed sights. Of course a small margin left or right is not a huge issue with pistol sights (I shot a 6 MOA dot, but prefer a 2MOA or less on rifles).

 

[Bridges90]

the sights I use are about a lower third co witness. I shoot with 1 eye open and its a p10c so the front sight isnt dove tailed like a glock is, it naturally sits centered on the slide.

 

[marsh1]

Most likely parallax error as the dot moves off from the center of the window.

 

[Skeptic1]

Shoot with both eyes open. Dot is off becuase you're not holding the pistol true to your line of sight.

 

[Billl223]

Unless the dot and its base was specifically designed to match your iron sights It probably won't line up.

 

[pineoak]

Unless the dot and its base was specifically designed to match your iron sights It probably won't line up.

This is my experience as well.

Test it yourself. Shoot the irons only. Shoot the red dot on a different target. They likely will both hit.

Remember with the red dot in both sighting it in and usage, you're not looking AT the dot. You're looking at the target with the dot superimposed over your target.

 

[macandrac]

I put a Vortex Venom on my PSA PA65 - 6.5 Creedmoor (AR-10 platform) and have it dialed in for 200 yard zero (1st zero just under 50 yards). The Vortex Venom is a budget friendly 5-25x56 Scope with 34mm tube and it has done me well so far. What I have also done, which is going to sound odd, is mount a 45 degree offset Red-Dot (Romeo 5) on a Low Profile header such that the Scope & Red-Dot have nearly identical offsets. I did this because I was thinking about a hypothetical scenario where something pops up close and there is no time for scope adjustments. This morning, I finally got around to start dialing in my Red-Dot's Zero at 25 yard target for a 200 yard Zero (POI ~1" below POA @ 25 yards). With my Red-Dot set to same Zero as Optic, this simplifies my dopes and also ensures POI is approximately +/- 2" of POA from 10 yards out well past 200 yards. Again, my goal is use this offset Red-Dot for close in and at 25 yards, this equates to POI being about 1" below POA using my 140 Gr FMJ rounds. Any feedback here? The only thing I am struggling with is keeping my 14 1/2 lbs AR-10 steady at the 45 degree offset (sigh).

 

[RayDBonz]

Can you hit the target and shoot decent groups with both the dot and the iron sights?
If so, don't worry about it.

 

[macandrac]

Can you hit the target and shoot decent groups with both the dot and the iron sights?
If so, don't worry about it.

I'm honing my skills at 100 yards & 200 yards with Vortex Venom Scope - I was at the Benchrest Range so haven't had the chance to shoot the Offset Red Dot standing yet. I simply wanted to get it dialed in fairly close today - I'll bring it to another range to practice shooting while standing.

 

[RKBArmory]

Think of it as two separate ways of aiming. If they each work properly, by themselves, you are in good shape. Definitely do the zeroing on the bench-rest.