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How do red dot sights do for shooting clay?


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It's all about fast aquisition I know. But, I've never had the chance to try red dot. Trying out the Leader Arms ar-12 as a flat top I did okay, BUT... I used a bore laser to see where the shot was going first. I shot about 75% accuracy...I thought it was okay for first time with the gun and no sights at all. I've seen on this forum the red dots are favored.....what do I need to look for and will they work well for double traps and maybe double skeet?

 

Thanks

Dave 

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IMO they can't be beat, I like the circle/dot reticle  like the EoTech or J Point. 

 

However with the number of Eotechs that have been failing within the first 200 rounds or less, I can no longer recommend themwet_eyes.gif  It's been my favorite RDS for the last 5-7 years..

 

I have 2 of the J Points, so far so good

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I tried it once at a friends house, worked great (saiga-12 too)

 

I'd love to do it at an actual skeet/trap range, but the local one doesn't like my saiga, they "don't want to be associated with assault rifles".

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J-Points.."so far so good"?...How long is "so far"? I found their websight , I really like the 65 MOA circle dot...perfect for multi clay! But how well does it stand up to shotgun?....How long have you been using it? Price isn't too scary if it holds up...$299 plus $50 to mount....what's their warranty like. I only had like a couple of minutes to look at their page, I saw the 65  MOA circle dot and I found the mount...then had to go to work. Plus IT IS Christmas time..for others, right?...Kinda back burner for now...but not long. Still gathering info...but I do like the JP stuff, Thanx.

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I've had a J Point 8 MOA dot slide ride, on my Glock for over a year, probably 4K+ rounds. Just switched to the Circle dot, have about 200  - it's been raining pretty steady for about the last 10 days.

 

I also put one on my SG has about 80 rounds of 3" duck loads.

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The best sight to use for clay shooting is a bead, on a rib, attached to an over and under shotgun, simple as that!

 

You want to have your eye as close to the barrel bore axis as possible, something this type of shotgun is just not suited to, especially with a red dot raising it even higher. Don't get me wrong, i've used my BR99 + 516 EoTech for 'a laugh' shooting clays but they are simply not the best tool for the job.

 

I regularly shoot 90-96% for ESP clays with my O/U (Browning Cynergy). I think the times i tried it with my BR99 it was down to around 60-65%.

 

If you've only got one gun to try to do everything with and you want to use a red-dot, then my advice would be to get one with the smallest/thinnest shroud possible, as i found the lead on the clay was frequently hidden by the shroud of the sight. and a lot of blind guess work had to be done.

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The first time I shot clay was from a pump with nothing but a bead, shot maybe 60%. Shoulder was sore as hell the next day, no cushion, wood stock. Embarrassingly, that was just earlier this year....45 years old and I'm just now discovering all this new fun stuff, lol. I then found the "leader arms ar-12" on grabagun for $370.00...had to have it. Don't like the flimsy, inaccurate sights (carry handle rear sight, fake gas block front sight). So I took those off and used it as a flat top. Like I said I put a bore laser in it and found that I needed to leed a little low (looking straight down the pic rail). Shot 70-75%. Not bad, first time with the gun. My friend that got me into this sport....never misses, shoots 100% he's had that pump for 12 years and he can shoot out his back yard. I, on the other hand, have to drive 2 hours to visit. Can a red dot sight be adjusted enough to compensate for being higher than the barrel. My friend has a double thrower, and I also bought a double thrower. That's 4 clays at a time. I think semi-auto would rule over a pump in that situation. The JP 65 MOA circle dot looks like a great answer, BUT, can it be sighted enough up or down? It sounds sturdy enough for shotgun. 

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The first time I shot clay was from a pump with nothing but a bead, shot maybe 60%. Shoulder was sore as hell the next day, no cushion, wood stock. Embarrassingly, that was just earlier this year....45 years old and I'm just now discovering all this new fun stuff, lol. I then found the "leader arms ar-12" on grabagun for $370.00...had to have it. Don't like the flimsy, inaccurate sights (carry handle rear sight, fake gas block front sight). So I took those off and used it as a flat top. Like I said I put a bore laser in it and found that I needed to leed a little low (looking straight down the pic rail). Shot 70-75%. Not bad, first time with the gun. My friend that got me into this sport....never misses, shoots 100% he's had that pump for 12 years and he can shoot out his back yard. I, on the other hand, have to drive 2 hours to visit. Can a red dot sight be adjusted enough to compensate for being higher than the barrel. My friend has a double thrower, and I also bought a double thrower. That's 4 clays at a time. I think semi-auto would rule over a pump in that situation. The JP 65 MOA circle dot looks like a great answer, BUT, can it be sighted enough up or down? It sounds sturdy enough for shotgun. 

Yes the J Point works great.

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  • 1 month later...

I tried it once at a friends house, worked great (saiga-12 too)

 

I'd love to do it at an actual skeet/trap range, but the local one doesn't like my saiga, they "don't want to be associated with assault rifles".

That is interesting, I thought anything goes in Hoopie Land. When I went to school there in WV we could hunt with a cannon if we wanted to...

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 BUT, can it be sighted enough up or down? It sounds sturdy enough for shotgun. 

 

I'm not sure you'd want to for birds. If you sight the red dot in for a certain range then you have to realize that it'll shoot below that point of aim when shooting closer and then shoot above point of aim when shooting further away until the pellets hit the top of their arc and then they'll go back down. If you sight it parallel to the bore it'll basically shoot ~2" below point of aim at any distance you're going to shoot birdshot at so you only have to remember to aim ~2" high all the time rather than think about how far the clay is away.

 

My club thought my ar12 was the coolest thing ever when I brought it out (though probably the wrong tool for the job), right until it failed to eject the second round because I hadnt worked it over enough before taking it out.

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