Canadian Airgun Forum

You might have one of those cheap red dot scopes with no adjustment for light intensity. If it's like my Crosman the dot is too large too bright and blocks the target. I've found an way to dim and shrink the dot and extend the battery life. It starts with a 1/2" strip of aluminum tape like this.

You then scrape a pencil tip (carbon graphite) on to the glued area. It should be a light but thoroughly spread so there is no aluminum showing. You can try tipping or lightly blowing off the excess.

Then fold the waxed paper backing over the graphite and press together firmly. Take a small hammer and a metal block and hammer the paper lightly but repeatedly to drive the graphite through the glue to the aluminum. Remove the paper and trim a piece about a 1/4" by 1/2", fold it so it's a 1/4" square and there is graphite on both sides. If this causes the light to be too dim a single layer may work better.

Trim again making sure there is no aluminum showing. Then place in between the negative terminal and the battery.

If it's still at full brightness the aluminum shorted past the graphite somewhere. If it's too dim there is too much graphite. I did it a few times until I got just the brightness I wanted.
Or you can forget to turn off the switch like I did and a couple of days later it'll be just right .

Interesting but I believe it'll change with use, especially on a springer or when changing batts. I've been meaning to dim the illuminated reticles on my scopes as well, Leapers 36 color which I really only see red as useful and only the lowest brightness setting so to me it's only a one color/setting with 35 useless settings. I wanted to adjust that so the new brightest level was equal to the current lowest setting, and eliminate all the other colors. Point being I was going to use a resistor or diode(s) which would work for yours too, but would likely involve taking it apart. My project is way back burner since I have almost no use for an illuminated reticle so no drive to do it.

This is a home made resistor. With a production resistor you'd have to know the correct ohms you need. Ok if you're into electronics but the graphite resistor is easy and only takes 5 minutes. Give it a try.

I too have experimented with things like that, which is why I wonder about its life span because I remember the resistance changing anytime it was moved, or even all by itself, and even burning the graphite causing it to change. I love improvised fixes on the cheap, and I do hope it continues to work for you, but if it doesn't I'd be happy to help, if needed that is... Resistance value wouldn't be too hard to figure out, and if you don't have a variety of resistors on hand (apparently few peep do) you can usually salvage them from scrap electronic devices, which also keeps the mod free which I like. Diodes are fairly common too so most every device will have them. A potentiometer is another common goodie that could work, and you could mount it so you could adj it as needed. I've only used a few red dots but I recall them being too dim for day and too bright for dusk or indoors, so maybe worth the effort?
As for me trying it in my scopes, my luck is the graphite would get inside and go right for the center of the lens. Plus mine are springers so it'll certainly upset the graphite in no time. I'll take one of my scopes apart and fix it one of these days...
What red dot it is and what gun is it on? Years ago I bought a cheapo red dot to try on a pneumatic pistol but was useless, I think $10 and it wasn't worth $0. I kinda wanna try one on my P17 but it would have to work better but also be cheap. I spoze I'm asking for the impossible but do you have any thoughts? By cheap I consider $30US about the limit I'd spend for a $35 gun.

The life span doesn't matter it's free and takes minutes to make. I've been using mine for at least 2 weeks with no problems and that's on a springer.
This is the inexpensive gun, the Benjamin Trail NP I put it on.

Also a little off topic but another little mod I did on the red dot site is adapt the mounting brackets to work on a 11mm dove tail instead of the picatinny rail it was meant to be attached to. I reversed the backets and cut a groove in them with a triangular file to fit the dovetail. I could have used an adapter but where would the fun be it that.

Diggin the mount conversion, good job....
How do you like the pistol? Any idea how they dropped the fps on it?

I got over the power issue because the pistol has such poor accuracy. I've reduced the trigger weight but it's still long and creepy so I thought it was that. I tried removing the human factor by wrapping the pistol in a towel and lightly clamp it in a vice. It was on the POA when fired but not so tight that it couldn't vibrate like springers do. The shots were all over in a random fashion at least 3" groups at just 10m. Being an accuracy nut I've lost all interest in the gun. I bought it cheap and will sell it for half price with the truth told about the way it shoots.