Canadian Airgun Forum

Just wondering if a red dot scope is adequate for an air rifle, and if so what would be a decent one under $100?
Just getting into the air gun sport and at this point I don't want to lay out a lot of cash until I find out if I enjoy it.
Cheers

Well~ a $100 dollars will be good enough for a couple decent Red dots (of course, not enough to cover those serious ones)... Just buy the cheap ones from China.

For example...
C$ 11.84 50%OFF | Hunting Scopes Optics Red Green Dot Sight Scope Sniper Pistol Airsoft Air Guns Reflex 4 Reticle RifleScopes Holographic
https://a.aliexpress.com/_mKJImU3

How far do you shoot and what gun you are going to use the red dot on?

_________________
~Plinkers~
FX-M3-22 Compact#PP700-Carbine#Diana48-177#XS28M-25@26fpe#HW45 Beast#AW-Custom Z-Killer DE
~Competitors~
FWB300SU#Tau-7#IZH-46M#FWB-65#CP88-C
~Target~
HW 30s/35e/97k/40+Extender/P3+Scope/70#CZ200s Laminated@10fpe#AA ProSport-177@12fpe

Probably any where from 10-20 meters/yards and looking at a crosman vantage.

So, I think the cheap ones will be have good value to meet your need~

If don't want to wait for buying directly from China (ie. Aliexpress), you can check Amazon Etc...

_________________
~Plinkers~
FX-M3-22 Compact#PP700-Carbine#Diana48-177#XS28M-25@26fpe#HW45 Beast#AW-Custom Z-Killer DE
~Competitors~
FWB300SU#Tau-7#IZH-46M#FWB-65#CP88-C
~Target~
HW 30s/35e/97k/40+Extender/P3+Scope/70#CZ200s Laminated@10fpe#AA ProSport-177@12fpe

Thanks for the info.

For that matter the ones Daisy sells will work fine. I know of two different guys useing them for deer hunting. They normally keep thier shots 75 yds or less,Two seasons now and no failure yet. I would think the recoil would get them . May be will but, hasn't yet.

The primary advantage of a dot scope is quicker acquisition of your target over regular scopes. If you're going to be fussy/nitpicky about the accuracy of your new rifle, buy $100 worth of scope, with reticle scope, with which you can optically adjust for range and wind shifts. For example, Airgun & Archery Fun offers the Discovery brand, some of which are under $100 and which many forum members have purchased over the past few years.

I picked this one up off Amazon for around $115........

_________________
Jonathan

Moderator

I have this one on Beeman P-17: https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B06XD8 ... UTF8&psc=1 .
To me dot itself is a little bit big, looks like more 4-5 MOA, but bright enough for outdoors. Sighting this red dot takes some time with hex keys, but it works and seems to keep zero.
Another red dot I got is Bushnell TRS-25, I used it on SKS for some time, but removed it and put on Benjamin Trail air pistol. This one is good quality for the price and survived already a few years on Benjamin Trail so I suppose it's lives on springer (or nitro piston to be precise). Besides you can regulate red dot brightness, so dot won't completely cover target. Cheap red dots normally don't have auto shutdown, so you always need to remember to turn red dot off when you done with shooting.
If you're willing to spend a little bit more I think Vortex red dots are good. They have unconditional lifetime warranty and I've seen Vortex Crossfire on sale for $150 at cabelas.ca.

If you have a rifle maybe it worth consideration to buy a air rifle rated scope, so you can nail really small targets. For my TR-5 rifle I bought UTG 3-9X32 Bug Buster scope, I think I paid something around $150 for it some time ago. Works well to me, keeps zero and you can be focused as close a 10 feet. A lot of scopes die fast on spring air rifles due to specific recoil and can be focused starting from 50m, so keep that in mind.

Yeah mostly what Edmonton<500. Fast acquisition. The issue with reddots, the further away the more the dot obscures the target. There are reddots used in bullseye events but those are typically far more than your stated price point. For most applications a scope is the appropriate choice. However if you have your heart set on a reddot go for it. If it was me I'd stick to the irons but I rarely shoot air more than 10m these days.

What air gun are you thinking of getting?

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I have some airguns.

Due to my eyes don't like the dot sight, I changed to scope for quite a while already, however I bought and used a few different dot sights... All the cheap ones for less than 20/30 bucks...

Maybe the dot sights to me are still something like 'toys' not for precise and serious shooting, I don't want to put a big money on them...

Good thing on the dot sights are fast aim and fast lock on your target to shoot.... So, you see~ 'fast' usually not means precisely aim at a small bit like a bullseye... So actually it's for different purpose than scopes.

And the other good thing is looks they are durable and reliable even other cheap ones... So far I only have one died. Not for springer Etc, but maybe I turned the elevation screw too hard or what, something inside just stuck and it refused for any adjustment then...

And I bought one of this smaller dot sight from Aliexpress about similar but a little cheaper and found due to the smaller size design, the lens just too much curved and makes the sight picture out of shape when shoot at just a little bit farther, like 5, 6 meters away... So it looks good but don't like it... https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B06XD8 ... UTF8&psc=1

_________________
~Plinkers~
FX-M3-22 Compact#PP700-Carbine#Diana48-177#XS28M-25@26fpe#HW45 Beast#AW-Custom Z-Killer DE
~Competitors~
FWB300SU#Tau-7#IZH-46M#FWB-65#CP88-C
~Target~
HW 30s/35e/97k/40+Extender/P3+Scope/70#CZ200s Laminated@10fpe#AA ProSport-177@12fpe

That model of red dot are what I use and are from aliexpress.com or ehobbyasia.com at about $15 to $30, So far none have given up, all are working . Accuracy is very very descent and stay zeroed in, unless poorly installed as it has happened to me in the past, beginner's mistake...

Right now I have 4 of them only 2 are in use. Bought a spare one (4th) this spring, just in case of C21 make's them prohibited, got plenty of CO2 and should buy BB's and some pellet's also just in case (C21)

SlientMan...

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4.5mm
To many and not enough.

6mm
Not enough and to many.

Funny thing here, swat teams don't look at them as toys.They use them them for what they are, quick and deadly.

If you are still looking for Red dot - I just got notification that BUSHNELL TROPHY TRS-25 RED DOT SIGHT is on sale at Firearms Outlet Canada -

https://www.firearmsoutletcanada.com/bu ... %3D.S9VfR3