Pistol red dot or laser sight?

[pmarshall]

I'm working from home today, so thought I'd give it a try at lunch time in the garden. Using a Brockock AimX pcp pistol and a Gamo red dot sight.

I found some of those little balloon type water bombs which my son had bought but never used, filled them, then hung them on bamboo kebab sticks pushed into the lawn at ranges from about 10 to 35 yards.

took me about 5 shots to get used to having both eyes open, then heh presto, it works much better!

Now been through 15 of the water bombs, great fun....think I'm just about to go through my second childhood! Must find out where my son bought them from!

Reagrds

PaulM

[TCooper]

Just Bought an HW45 Silver Star (.177), with a Hawke 30mm Red Spot yesterday.
On the range, I could do 1" groups at 12 yards, 2" groups at 15 yards, 3" groups at 20 yards and 4" groups at 25 yards (and I've almost never shot a handgun before).
Beyond 25 yards the pellet just started dropping down a bit.
The problem I had was that at 12-15 yards, I could centre the red dot on the centre of the target, but by the time I got out to 25 yards, the target was so small compared to the dot that the dot covered about 1/3 of the target, so it was difficult to get any accuracy over that distance.
Great fun though

Bob.

Hi Bob,

Think of the dot sight like an aperture sight. The pellet will hit in the middle of the red fireball

For 50 yard shooting my POA was a handgun bullseye target with a black section that is around 4" in diameter. I place the red dot in the center of the black circle and try to keep an even amount of black showing around the perimeter. The same principle is used for target aperture sights where the rear aperture circles the front and the front aperture circles the bullseye target.

The red dot also works great for tin cans. Just center the dot on the can. Once again, your pistol is set up so the pellet falls on the center of the red dot. For longer distances, you hold over and keep windage the same.

A small dot size is preferable for smaller targets or the longer distance shooting. The Millet SP-1 has a 3moa dot which, in theory, should be less than 2" at 50 yards. The Leupold LG-1 dot is only 2moa. I think one of the Bushnell dot sights has a small dot option too. Hawke has some 4moa models. I think the red dot sight on my HW40 has a 4moa dot size.

I once tried a 2X pistol scope but didn't like my wobble magnified when offhand shooting. The scope also adds more weight than the red dot. The FOV is also quite small with pistol scopes. The red dot sight just seemed more natural to me but some shooters may prefer magnification or plain old irons sights. Lots of variety. Lots of fun.

Cheers,
Todd

[Bob.]

Thanks Todd,
I'm sure I'll get used to it in time, but I'd be interested in looking for a red-dot scope with a smaller dot, just to get better accuracy at 25 yards +.
I have no problem hitting targets by placing the red-dot near the middle somewhere, but I thought I might need more accuracy for Pistol HFT.
I suppose I'm used to telescopics on my rifle, but one thing I noticed with the red-dot is that at 20 yards and beyond, I can't actually see where the pellet has landed.
Time to dig out those Leica bins

Bob.

[caer]

Where can I buy a set of combat grips for the hw45? .. the pic featuring them look good.

[TCooper]

The rubber combat grip in my HW45 pic is the 1911 Pachmayr Signature Combat Plus Finger Groove.

http://www.lymanproducts.com/pachmay...lgrps.htm#Full

Hogue grips are another good option.
http://www.getgrip.com/main/overview/semi.html

Cheers,
Todd

[Buggy]

I find that having a red dot with adjustable strength means if the dot's too big, you can just turn it down and the dot actually shrinks on the target. I try and get the balance between not being able to see the dot and having a big blurry red smudge over half of my scope lens.

Using both eyes helps too since you can see "through" the dot, as well as around it.