explain red-dot , holographic and Multi-Reticle Sights to me please

[D14Jeff]

do they work better for rifle eye range or pistol eye range ? whats their pros and cons to each other ? i'm gonna make my DBO carbine into a pistol cause i got a great deal on some wood grips and other nice parts . so i'm gonna keep it as a sweet pistol and get a springer down the road a bit . my eyes won't let me work open sights . if i can see the target the sights are real blurry and vise versa . they seem to have some popular choices for decent prices . your recommendations on what you like and what to look for as well as what to look out for is appreciated . links to good web articles explaining them would be cool too . i'm also thinking about a pistol scope .

  thanks .

[45Bravo]

The red dots (and other colors too) have a small LED that reflects off of a lens in the sight.
And it is superimposed on the target as you look through the sight.

It has various intensities to be used at different light levels.

SOME sights, (especially the cheaper ones) the dot actually changes shape and size as the intensity changes.

Typically the red dot sights have a 5 moa dot (it would cover 5 inches at 100 yards)
Some can be had with 3 moa dots.
You can turn the intensity down so you can actually see through the dot for more precision shooting at closer ranges.

The dot will cover more than 1 inch at 25 yards, I don't know what level of precision you intend to shoot, but if you are shooting at very small targets, the dot will cover the entire target.

They also have parallax but after about 15 yards or so, they are supposed to be parallax free.

I would suggest getting one with as many intensity settings as possible.

The multi color reticles while cool, only give you one or two intensity settings per color, and they tend to be either too bright in early morning, late evening , or not bright enough in broad daylight.


The holographic sights are more expensive, typically have no parallax, can be had with dots as small as 1 moa, and are very precise.

They tend to have longer battery life than do the red dot sights also.


Personally I use a BSA RD30 red dot sight on my 2289, it has I think 11 levels of intensity, is red only, the dot stays uniform throughout its brightness range.

It also has a dual purpose base, one side is for dovetail rails (like a steel breach crosman) the other side of the base has a weaver base.
Since it needs no adapter, it sits very low on the receiver, and is great for a pistol or carbine.

It also retails at Wally World for $29.


Both can be used close to your face like a regular scope, or at arms length like on a pistol with no eye relief limitations like a pistol or rifle scope.

The downside of them is no magnification, but they are fast to pick up your target because of no magnification.

You only have to line up the dot with the target, and fire, no more fuzzy sights, lining up front, rear, and the target.
Just put the dot on the spot, and pull the trigger.

Hope this points you in the right direction.

Ian