Budget Red Dot Sight Recommendations?

[Doc In UPlace]

Not a necessity but they do work well together. Particularly handy if the electronics get wrecked or otherwise stop running.

In the somewhat crappy picture below, there's a (no longer made) LaRue M68 mount holding an Aimpoint PRO in front of a Troy folding rear, which was down in this picture.

The M68 is just the right height for a good cheek weld on the rifle and you can co-witness the iron sights through the lower 1/3 of the red dot. I like this setup.

 

[AMProducts]

Cowitness is a good thing with red dots because if your battery fails, your back-up sights are right there, and all you have to do is move your head down a tenth of an inch or two and you're on it. Lower 1/3 co-witness is kinda the ideal, as that way your front sight isn't blocking much if any of the target. This is where red-dots really shine is when adjusted for the lights properly you can still see the target image behind the red dot.

Personally, I really don't like flip-up BUIS, and they're pretty much pointless if you have a free-float tube, but a lot of people put them on there anyways. Generally a free-float tube will never be properly aligned to the barrel (it's free-floating remember?) a lot of people I've seen over the years try to do this and then wonder when they're running the irons why they can't hit anything, most of the time to get the back-ups aligned requires more adjustment than is available in the sight.

Generally, I recommend a red-dot if you need fast acquisition and are shooting at targets that are <100 yards day or night. If you're shooting mostly in the day, with occasional forays into the twilight hours a low magnification scope is going to get you more in terms of accuracy, target identification, and distance. A 3x scope is easily minute of man at 600 yards on a brightly lit day (provided you put the right DOPE on the scope) and is easily good to 300 yards in the twilight, and if you have a bright enough "weapon light" you can push that distance out after dark.

I have a very bright "1000 lumen" chinese LED light that takes 18650 batteries that will illuminate light colored targets out to 800 yards that I can make out enough of the light through the scope to take shots that are within the envelope of my rifle.

 

[Brutus57]

I am happy with my Bushnell TRS-25 RDS on my evil black pistol till I can afford something spendier. I paid like $75 or something on Amazon. Used it on my carbine for about 200 rds, and now about 200 plus through the pistol and going strong. My buddy was sold on RDS after shooting the pistola so he bought a Sig Romeo 3 for his Sig5.56 and he seems to like it....A bit more expensive though.

Brutus Out

 

[ChiefStealth]

I went with a Bushnell Trophy 1X28mm Red Dot. About $120 OTD from my LGS. I had an additional requirement that the sight be workable on multiple rifles. I needed a hunting sight for my lever-action, and a quick acquisition sight for my AR. And, it has to be easy to switch between those. This sight is working well for my purposes.

 

[Unka-Boo]

2nd the TRS25....been using one on my game gun for years with no issues. Solid optic for little money.

 

[ThemGunsThough]

Outside of vortex I recommend the lucid hd7, holosun red dots, burris fast fire 3 with AR mount, and the cabelas prism sight which is a burris AR prism sight rebranded. Each should be right around the $200 mark or less.

 

[Andyh23]

Buy once, cry once. Great red dots can be found for around $200, but if you buy a $70 truglo that belongs on a pellet gun, you might as well burn your cash instead.

Actually I heard this microdot from Truglo is the same red dot as Holosun, just rebranded: Jet.com - Prices Drop As You Shop

Not a Aimpoint but will be fine for punching paper.

To OP, check out Jet.com, you can get some good deals with their 15% off promo code: Triple15.

Couple other suggestions:
Jet.com - Prices Drop As You Shop
Jet.com - Prices Drop As You Shop

 

[Quartermaster]

Actually I heard this microdot from Truglo is the same red dot as Holosun, just rebranded: Jet.com - Prices Drop As You Shop

Not a Aimpoint but will be fine for punching paper.

To OP, check out Jet.com, you can get some good deals with their 15% off promo code: Triple15.

Couple other suggestions:
Jet.com - Prices Drop As You Shop
Jet.com - Prices Drop As You Shop

I was talking about these:
TRUGLO® | Multi Reticle/Dual Color Open Red•Dot
Which I see fail far too often, and I never said holosun was a good brand.

 

[Andyh23]

I was talking about these:
TRUGLO® | Multi Reticle/Dual Color Open Red•Dot
Which I see fail far too often, and I never said holosun was a good brand.

Didn't mean to offend if you were offended. I just mentioned Holosun because OP was talking about budget optics and Holosun are pretty well regarded in terms of budget optics.

 

[Quartermaster]

Didn't mean to offend if you were offended. I just mentioned Holosun because OP was talking about budget optics and Holosun are pretty well regarded in terms of budget optics.

I don't get offended by things I read on the internet. I clarified my position.