Need a new red dot sight

[RedWolfDoctor]

Howdy, shooters

So, I have a conundrum: my red dot sights. I have some cheap Eotechs, a Theta Optics Monolith red dot sight and a Valken V tactical red dot. The running theme between all of them is that they are all off-centre because of structural flaws that are built into the scopes themselves. When mounted the scopes are either shifted too much to the left or too the right, no matter which way they are mounted. This is getting annoying since it makes zeroing the gun and aiming a chore more than it should be. I guess it serves me right for buying cheap red dots. 

Anyone know of any brands that are actually properly made so the scope sits on the centre instead of being shifted right or left?
 

[JimFromHorsham]

Is it the scopes or the chinesium Picatinny rails on the guns themselves ? 

[Tommikka]

In addition to the common physical factor being your rail, have you also considered the effect of parralex error from your head/eye position?

 

A little ‘adjustment’ can be made to your rail - permanently by filing down an edge or less permanently by slipping in some paper or card on one side to shift the sights relative position when mounting.

 

There isn’t too much that can be done about parralex error, but extra layers of rails or an offset rail can move the sight to what may be a ‘better’ position 

[Rogerborg]

1 hour ago, Tommikka said:

some paper or card

 

Beercan shim is best shim.

[Jefferson2000]

1 hour ago, Rogerborg said:

 

Beercan shim is best shim.

What he said, I've shimmed many real steel sights using this method. 

[Cannonfodder]

Just make sure you've got enough empties to finish the job 😉

[RedWolfDoctor]

9 hours ago, JimFromHorsham said:

Is it the scopes or the chinesium Picatinny rails on the guns themselves ? 

Definitely the scopes, the rails line up with the original gun-sights themselves. 

 

8 hours ago, Tommikka said:

In addition to the common physical factor being your rail, have you also considered the effect of parralex error from your head/eye position?

 

A little ‘adjustment’ can be made to your rail - permanently by filing down an edge or less permanently by slipping in some paper or card on one side to shift the sights relative position when mounting.

 

There isn’t too much that can be done about parralex error, but extra layers of rails or an offset rail can move the sight to what may be a ‘better’ position 

 

I guess parallax problems do occur because when I shoulder it, the reticule changes from "zeroed" to "not-zeroed" depending on the mounting. Sometimes I mount it, discover it works fine, then stare down the sight again to discover it's "off". Already tried an extra rail set, I use a larger mount for the sight to see over a PEQ box. Even with accounting for both, the sight is still off-centre. 

[Lozart]

11 hours ago, RedWolfDoctor said:

I guess parallax problems do occur because when I shoulder it, the reticule changes from "zeroed" to "not-zeroed" depending on the mounting. Sometimes I mount it, discover it works fine, then stare down the sight again to discover it's "off". Already tried an extra rail set, I use a larger mount for the sight to see over a PEQ box. Even with accounting for both, the sight is still off-centre. 

 

Hang on - are you zeroing the scope off the gun then mounting it and it's no longer central?

[Cannonfodder]

If you're removing the sight then changing the mounts then you're going to need to rezero the sight. 

[AK47frizzle]

Cheap brands and optics will have laughable parallax and performance issues, especially the eotechs and other fancy scope types.

 

If you shell out a bit for a vortex crossfire red dot, you'll never need anything else. I have this and a sparc ar and they are both top notch.

 

That being said, I recently went for a vector optics maverick gen 2 which was about £60 on sale at opticswarehouse and my god this thing is quite amazing as well. The parallax effect is pretty much unnoticable when shifting my head, and I've used it for several games days, even on my sniper rifle for fun, and it has held up very well. Would recommend that specific sight, can't vouch for the others.