Red dot? Telescopic?

[Jim McArthur]

Isn't it great that we air pistol enthusiasts have our own forum now?

Here's a question for you: I have a Beeman P3 (HW 40) that is too lightweight for me, and I want to add either a red dot sight, or a telescopic sight, to increase the weight. I plan to use it primarily for target competitions that allow for optical sights.

Which of the two would you recommend?

Jim

[CrewCab]

What sort of range are you going to be shooting Jim, my initial thoughts would be Red Dot for close range ....... probably up to 6m (ish) but beyond that I'd think ..... add a scope

errmmmm .. Red Dot's don't weigh much ... best wrap some lead round the barrel mate

hth

Dave

[Jim McArthur]

Maybe an optical scope might be better, Dave: might be heavier (?), and better for 10 meters.

I want to shoot at 6 yards, and at 10 meters.

Jim

[TCooper]

I like a red dot on my HW40. It seems to feel heavy enough for accurate two-hand shooting on cans out to 20 or 30 yards. Many years ago, I used the HW40 for informal online 10m postal matches. I used iron sights and taped a small lead weight under the frame... in front of trigger guard.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e2/airpics7/P3rd3.jpg

HW40 Review at http://my.tbaytel.net/~coopers@tbaytel.net/HW40Review/

Cheers,
Todd

[Jim McArthur]

Does the red dot really show that far away, Todd?

Jim

[TCooper]

Does the red dot really show that far away, Todd?

Jim

It's a red dot, not a lazer sight. Nothing is actually projected on the target. You only see the bright dot when looking through the sight tube. The dot intensity is adjustable for various outdoor lighting. For indoors shooting, I only use a low setting. For a bright sunny outdoor shooting session, I might go up to 70-80% intensity.

I have two red dot sights... a Millet SP-1 on my HW45 and an old 30mm Interaims on my HW40. Both work fine out to 50 yards and beyond. Some hunters will use a red dot on a powder burner and shooting beyond 100 yards.

The disadvantage of a red dot is the dot size increases with distance. At 10 yards, my 3moa SP-1 dot looks quite small. At 100 yards, it is still apparently 3moa but appears to be approx 3.3" wide. For me, the red dots are fine for blasting tin cans at 20, 30, 40 yards.

Cheers,
Todd

[TURIN TURAMBAR]

I have used a red dot on my Rohm and hit stuff up to 30 - 35 yds away.

I recommend the Hawke Sports Dot which is light and only uses one mount. 139 grams inc mount of which choice of two - weaver or 9 - 11 mm.

The Walther PS22 looks stylish - again one mount.

[AirArmsDavid]

I use a Simmons 4x32 pistol scope on my Webley Nemesis and it seems more accurate than the Walther red dot which preceded it. Much heavier of course, but that's what you say you want anyhow.

[Hollowpoint]

I have a small tasco red dot fitted to my beeman. I mounted it at the front of the rails to give a bit of balance. Does the job perfect at 10 paces.

[Jim McArthur]

Thanks, everyone, for all this great info. I was compeltely in the dark - bad unintentional pun! - about red dot sights: I thought that they DID project on to the target.



Jim

[Cornelius]

Something else to think about, red dots are generally quite compact, compared to scopes. I have a bushnell 2*32 pistol scope on my HW45. I chose for a scope cos that way I don't have to worry about batteries. My only gripe is that the scope is nearly as long as the pistol and that makes the loading and cocking a bit more awkward. On the HW45, like on the HW40 it helps if you can get a good grip around the back end of the top of the action (the bit that levers up). A red dot could be confined to the fore end of the frame.
On the balance I would say the trade off is worth it since it really has improved my accuracy compared to the dot sight I had before. I am also glad I did not go for an even higher mag which would make the wobble more annoying (I'm a crap pistol shot but slowly getting better)

Rob

[Target Bunny]

I chose a red dot Hawke 30 and a JSB TV screen on different pistols, Webley & Scott Hurricane and Nemesis respectively.
The reasons were the Hurricane uses a rearward extension to mount the sight and you get a better balance with something behind your wrist as a counterweight. The Nemesis is a top break action and needs something you can mount on the front of the pistol to allow for the cocking and loading so the JSB fit the bill being light and easy to adjust.
Both work better than I shoot but the JSB has a problem with the battery cover coming loose since it is only a clip on plastic cap. It just drops the battery a little out of contact on occasion but a turn round of the cap gets things back in operation.
Spare batteries are a must.
Scopes LOOK great but do we really need them at a max of 15 metres?

On a different note I haven't deserted the forum but I am having server problems so if you post me from here or the website things may be a little slow.
Regards
Jim