Good evening or afternoon to all! I’m putting togrther a 450 Bushmaster AR15 and am asking advice on Red/Green Dot sights and scopes. Since 450 Bushmaster has a stronger kick to it, I’m looking to get a Red Dot and a scope for it, that will work well and take the punishment without coming loose or lose sighting. I’m looking to get both a red dot sight and a scope but dont have a lot to spend on either. Any and all suggests would very greatly appreciated!
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I don’t have any experience with 450B but it looks like it should recoil less than most mid power 12 gauge shotgun loads so any scope and red dot with a reputation for standing up to shotguns should work.
Are you looking to run both the scope and the dot at the same time with the red dot offset or on top of the scope? What is your budget range? There are a lot of options out there from cheap stuff that might not hold up to the very expensive stuff.
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I didnt realize that you can have both at the same time, red dot on top of scope, but, if thats possible, and can stand up to the recoil, and not take away from shooting it efficiently I’d prefer that. I’d like to stay under 200.00. Granted that more than likely drops the quality a bit but I’m not looking to become a sniper, just a soild ooerating red dot/scope.
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$200 would actually drop the quality a fair amount. There are some cheaper red dots out there like the Sig Romeo 5 that you can find for $120 or so on sale. I’ve used one on 5.56 and 300 BLK without issues. Not sure if it will hold up to a heavier recoiling rifle but it is pretty well built so it may.
Some of the cheaper basic Bushnell scopes in 1-4 or 3-9 magnification can be had for around $100. Some are shotgun rated.
If I was gonna run a red dot and a scope on an AR I would go with an offset mount for the red dot. This lets you quickly twist the rifle 45* to use the red dot for close in shots and keep the rifle at the usual angle for the scope. There are mounts that let you put the red dot on top of the scope. But this makes you have to break your check weld a little to see the red dot. Either an offset or a scope red dot mount will run you some extra dollars as well.
Ok, thanks for the suggestions. I came across a couple models that the ted dot is offset, so have a good idea.
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I built a 450BM AR, I used a Vortex SPARC.
Hth
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Harold (Good post)
Don’t listen to me, i don’t know Richard!
Recently at the Range w/ Dave17 my BSA Red Dot finally got to me 
and I whipped it off for the
last time and used my (iron sights) and the rest of my AR’s are straight Iron also. There are no holes in the ‘Pic’ rails to really tighten them down and I am NO gunsmith to do any drilling on my own (yet) so for now it is less ‘bother’ to go iron.
Good luck on your Quest !
WWG1WGA
No step ona snek
Just be careful with some of the real cheap brands. They tend to not hold up over time and have issues staying zeroed. Really cheap glass can also be hard to see through clearly especially in lower light situations. Best to look through and compare before you buy if you can.
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You won’t get a reliable, durable, recoil-proof optic for $200 for that rifle.
Just the red dot alone to get one of the good ones will be significantly more than that. A magnified scope will cost more than the optic.
What is the primary purpose you want to use the rifle for?
Some guys putting a scope and a red dot on a rifle will spend $2,000 on the optics…if they don’t buy the premium stuff in order to save some money. Just to put $200 in perspective
The good red dots are Holosun or Trijicon. For the scope would you be looking at fixed magnification or variable? Distance you want to shoot? Only range use or any kind of classes, hunting, competition, etc?
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You can get a decent red dot for $200. But not with a mount that can be combined with a scope
This is basically what @Karacal mentioned
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