I bought a rifle listed as ar-15/ 5.56 a while back from a pawn shop. I have since learned my lesson. Turns out the barrel was converted to a .300 blackout and an aftermarket red/green dot sight was on there. After attempts at boresighting, getting risers for the sight, shooting and still not hitting paper, I tried to adjust where I mounted the optic on the weapon. This helped, as far as not moving my head, when I pulled the rifle up to aim. But after another boresight and attempts to sight in, I still could not hit paper. I know about trigger discipline, eye relief, and breathing and how they affect your shot; but cant seem to sight in this rifle to save my life. I've since bought a set of pop up iron sights, and taken off the red dot sight.
Does anyone see what I may be doing wrong?
Should I just stick to the iron sights, since this is more of a home defense gun, rather than a hunting rifle?
And if I can get the optics and myself to work together, should I keep both on there?
I’ve read experts ( one of whom is USCCA) who say master your iron sites first-- then upgrade to red/green dot. The Marine Corps teaches the same thing-- well, when I was in it was iron sites and scope… point being if your electronic sites fail you-- your iron sites will still be there. USCCA’s member only video this week is about AR 15 accessories… you may find it helpful.
Have you performed the factory reset on the sight? I had an issue on a sight that kept drifting and that solved it. You can make sure you have a good co-witness setup so you’re never without a good sight.
However, since this is a home defense firearm, you need to be able to rely on the sight. If you can’t get the red dot working 100%, you should probably just remove it.
What brand/model is this red dot? And how was/is it mounted? A red dot should not have any eye-relief issues, those only apply to magnified optics.
I had trouble once getting on paper with a sight at 50yrds. Moved it in closer to 25yrds… still not on paper. Moved it to about 7yrds and was FINALLY on paper (barely). Turns out I was waaaaaaay low. Once I got it close at 7rds (accounting for the height over bore) i moved it back to 25, then 50yards for final zero’ing. So my advice here is try getting the paper closer it may be hitting where you aren’t expecting, and your efforts to fix it may be moving it even further away from center.
As far as red dot vs irons… The answer is usually irons first, then get a red dot. Learning how to align the rifle to irons is a necessary and useful skill. Sometimes (more often on pistols than rifles) people end up “hunting” for the dot if they didn’t raise the firearm just right and the dot is just outside the visible area. Having said that, a red dot is almost always “faster” to bring on target and is super forgiving of your head position so shooting from awkward positions is much easier than with irons.
Most folks will run a red dot with flip-up iron sights, just keep the iron sights down until/unless you need it because the red dot failed. The red dot is your primary sighting system and the irons are a backup. Hence Back-Up Iron Sights (BUIS).
Depending on the height of the red dot, you may be able to use the irons (assuming those are zero’ed well) to help zero the red dot. You basically adjust the red dot to it appears to sit “on top” of the front sight post. This only works for co-witness or lower 1/3rd co-witness height mounts. If you have a really high or really low mount that wont work.
I have a Field Sport 1×30 RG sight. It’s a picatinny mount; and I pushed the sight forward as I locked it in place. As far as eye relief, I just meant more where my head was sitting relative to the scope. I had originally started at 50 yards with no luck I moved it back to 25 yards and got a few shots on paper. I moved my scope one adjustment down, and then was shooting way low. The range I go to won’t let me bring it any closer than 25 yards, so I have to find somewhere else to try that. I also spent a few years in the Army and learned how to use iron sights and sight that in properly. We also used red dots, so im familiar with the differences.
So, I’ll be looking for USCCA’s video next week on ar set ups, as well as trying to sight in at closer ranges. Thank you for the advice!
Hmmm. I’m not familiar with the brand, so I’m going to make a couple guesses here. a) It’s broken b) maybe the firearm-to-mount or mount-to reddot fixture is loose or otherwise ill-fitting c) the adjustment knob is very coarse so getting fine adjustments may not be possible.
As you’ve used red dots in MIL, you are probably doing it right, it sounds like the red dot may be defective/broken as they shouldn’t operate that way. If you don’t want to throw any money at the problem with a new red dot, you will be more than fine with irons on there.
Sometimes off brand RDS aren’t able to be adjusted for anything but airsoft rifles honestly. The recoil of an actual firearm shakes something loose and then you can’t adjust the turrets far enough.
This may very well be the problem you’re having. But like others have suggested, get your irons down first. Maybe see if a friend has an optic you can borrow to verify if your dot isn’t working properly.
Just a suggestion for any scope/sights… Are you sure your rail/mount is securely mounted to the firearm? I’m referring to the mount itself, not the sight.
For about a $15.00 investment, you could get a laser boresight to get the red dot adjusted at closer distances in your house or garage. This would quickly prove out if the red dot is defective.