I’ve been a fan of dot sights since I first began customizing my Mini-14 almost two years ago. They’re great. You get a single point sight that does not require lining up a front and rear sight. This allows extremely fast target acquisition Most also feature customizable reticles that allow you to change both color and shape.
My first red dot sight, made by Aim Sport Inc, wasn’t that impressive however. I went more with cost than quality when I bought it. It suffered significantly in sunlight due to glare and later in its life it became near impossible to zero. On a few occasions it even had some double vision. These problems eventually became too much and when I built my AR15, I decided to invest in better optics.
My next choice (currently installed on my AR) was far above the first in terms of quality. I knew that I needed something that would prevent glare. I also needed something strong that would last. But I still didn’t have a huge budget. I ended up purchasing a red dot scope made by CP Tactical for $49.99. I think it is the perfect match of cost and quality.
Not only does this thing look cool mounted on top of my AR, but it performs spectacularly. There are 4 different reticle shapes and it works in both red or green. Each color also has 5 brightness settings to better control reticle size and visibility. Windage adjustments are extremely simple and clearly marked on the unit itself. It even came with flip up covers for both the front and rear of the scope.
Zeroing the sight is pretty easy at 50 yards. Beyond that however, it gets tough. The reticle inside the scope covers about 4″ of a target at 100 yards. Making precision shots at that distance is fairly difficult. But at 50 yards its pretty simple and you can clearly see the changes you make to the sight from shot to shot.
This thing has also proven itself to be very sturdy. The other day, right after I adjusted the sights, one of my bipod legs collapsed and the whole rifle fell hard onto the bench. My attempted catch ended up causing the scope to take most of the fall. But when I set it back up and slapped a magazine in, it shot in the exact same area as before. I was very impressed.
And to top things off, its very easy on batteries. My first red dot sight chewed through batteries left and right. If I went to the range I always made sure to have at least two spare batteries with me. With the new one, I’m still using the battery I put in it this past September. Evidently the 5 brightness settings really help manage battery consumption.
So to summarize if you can’t decide on optics for your rifle, definitely consider a red dot scope by CP Tactical. I don’t think you can beat its quality for the low price tag. I’ve been very pleased with mine and I don’t think anyone would regret buying one of these things.
