Laser dot for hunting?

[Wunderwerks]

I'm up to about 40 starlings for the season but 50% short of where I feel I should be. Trying to hit a bobbing and weaving target at 11 yards is a challenge.  Has anyone used a laser dot while hunting and if so what are your thoughts?  Who sells laser dots for air rifles?

[Back_Roads]

 Lasers are OK for set distances, side mount more so than top or bottom mount, I have just recently mounted a green laser to a co2 pistol, right where one would normally mount a scope, I have yet to sight in and test my theory, that mounted as close to the bore as possible it will be a reliable sighting option within the flat shooting range of said pistol.
 Best laser that I have found to date...

[Frank in Fairfield]

I put one of those cheap Crosman lasers on the IZZY.
Just messing around.
Might be good for night time use..

[egd]

I use a laser on my pistol caliber carbine (9mm) in USPSA and steel challenge competitions. The most popular one is the Crimson Trace 206. As said above the closer mounted to the bore the better.
 BUT, they have their limitations. Because of the laws ones sold in the us have to be below a certain brightness level. You can get some cheap ones from China that are brighter but they're above that limit. This makes them hard to see in bright light, plus, unless the target is pretty close you spend time trying to find it. Once sighted in for a certain distance they can be very accurate. But things forward or past that distance you will have to know your hold over/under depending on how flat your gun shoots.
FWIW, I don't think they would be all that great in hunting situations, but I've never tried so...
One more thing, if you want to see how bad you shake, put a laser on and aim at a target.

[wolverine]

i had a laser on my 2400kt for a while.  the bugbuster was sighted in at 33yrds for the far feeder, and the laser was set at 9 yrds for the near feeder.  it made grabbing the gun and shooting hosps and starlings much easier.  no worrying about hold over/unders.  the near feeder gets very little sun on it, were the far feeder is in the sun a lot and the dot wasn't visible.  it also worked great for shooting in the barns.

[esingle]

Hello  As stated earlier the laser is only good for one set distance. Lets say you mount the laser at 12 o'clock on the barrel and it is 1 inch above the bore line. You zero the laser at 10 yards, you are good for a 10yd poa poi, but after 10 yds your pellet will go one way depending on the trajectory you caught it at (either still rising or dropping) you your laser will remain going straight. ( probably causing a miss on a small target a few yards past your zeroing distance). Good news though from the muzzle to your point of zero your poi should be no more than the distance the laser is offset from the bore. Hope this helps Eric

[chico]

I use a laser on my pistol caliber carbine (9mm) in USPSA and steel challenge competitions. The most popular one is the Crimson Trace 206. As said above the closer mounted to the bore the better.
 BUT, they have their limitations. Because of the laws ones sold in the us have to be below a certain brightness level. You can get some cheap ones from China that are brighter but they're above that limit. This makes them hard to see in bright light, plus, unless the target is pretty close you spend time trying to find it. Once sighted in for a certain distance they can be very accurate. But things forward or past that distance you will have to know your hold over/under depending on how flat your gun shoots.
FWIW, I don't think they would be all that great in hunting situations, but I've never tried so...
One more thing, if you want to see how bad you shake, put a laser on and aim at a target.

IF you use a laser, and IF you use it outdoors, you may want to consider changing to a green dot sight. green is much easier to see in daylight.

[egd]

Yes, my laser is green.

[chico]

Yes, my laser is green.

i don't use a laser, and i wasn't sure if they made them in green . . . does it work well for you outdoors ??

[egd]

I don't use it on an air gun. It's on my competition gun for  the action shooting games, Mainly USPSA. There are times when there is a hard lean around a barrier and it's easier to just have the laser turned on and point the rifle without aiming through the red dot. In those games it's all about speed along with accuracy.
It's fine for close targets, but the farther targets takes you more time to find the laser than to just aim normally.
And to finally answer your question, if the sun is shining directly on the cardboard target it tends to wash  out the laser and it's hard to see. If it's not sunny or the target is in shade it is easier.

[WyoMan]

I have one laser, a green one, and I like it a lot:



Setup on top, like a red dot, scope, or even iron sights, it gives you the same ballistic profile for near and far zeros... i.e. point blank range for hold over and unders.
It has easy target acquisition, easy to aim - offhand or benched,  and repeatable accuracy...



Just my limited experience here but I think they're a good sighting setup -
 Wyo

[Tater]

I love that P17 with the long barrel Wyo. If I recall, you made that one a long time ago (years)?

[WyoMan]

Thanks, Jerry... I've made four of these with the longer barrel. The first one was 7 years back when I was still using stone tools, LOL. I was pretty excited about getting some fresh "tooling"...

https://www.crosman-air-pistol-owners-forum.com/board/index.php/topic,8629.2490.html

The one pictured above in this thread was pretty recent...

https://www.gatewaytoairguns.org/GTA/index.php?topic=166452.0

The first one eventually died - too many science experiments but the other three still live! And I shoot them at least once of month. Do you still have yours? Thanks-

Wyo

[Tater]

Do you still have yours? Thanks-

Wyo

Still have it, but have only been able to shoot 4 times over the last two years. I miss shooting bad.

[Mod90]

Lasers can be used for hunting, just depends on what you're hunting. Because besides the animal always moving, and only being most effective for known distances, the laser dot is a real small thing to find, even harder if there's nothing behind the target for it to fall on. So you're gonna spend more time looking for that dot than shooting at pest birds. And I say at, because if either you or the bird moves, you will lose sight of the dot and have to start the search for it all over again.

FWIW, and this is simply my humble opinion, for an animal as small as a starling at those distances you mentioned, you'd be better served by a good set of properly aligned iron sights or a reflex sight.

JMO.