Dot reticle scope for hunting

[USMC87]

Does anybody use a dot in the center of the cross hairs for hunting? I was wandering if this would help or hurt vision?

[NSB]

If it lights up it's great. If it doesn't, it's pretty much useless in less than bright light. Even in bright light, shooting towards a dark background it's pretty bad. Dots are made for target work....that's why they call them target dots. I've owned a few and found them to be very poor for hunting in most situations.

[nekshot]

Well, I use a dot on my cross bow and love it for hunting. I think for "me" a dot would mess me up at long distance as over 200 yards. But if there were cross hairs and a round dot in center my instinctive reactions quick in a time like that and all I would need is the hairs. I seldom concentrate on the center of hairs.

[white cloud]

I have a scope with an illuminated very small dot in the center of the cross hairs. On mine you can adjust the dot's brightness. I think this and red dot sights are great ideas if you hunt deer until almost dark like I do.

[W.R.Buchanan]

I have a Leupold scope that has a dot on the cross hairs, You can adjust the brightness, but it is perfectly clear all the way from the lowest to highest settings. if you don't want it you just don't turn it on.

Works great and is the best of all worlds.

Randy

[country gent]

A hunting dot like a hunting rear aperture is larger than the target dots. I have an older weaver 1 1/2X scope with a 1/2 moa dot this is big and stands out in the field. I have this scope on a .22 I used for small game hunting. The cross hairs are very fine and most times don't stand out. Just that big dot. In the woods its a nice set up. a little harder for precision work but for hunting the big black dot lust works.

Size of the dot makes a big difference in hw a dot performs for a given task. le the bigger apertures for hunting the ghost rings can be very quick but give up some precision over the smaller sizes

[M-Tecs]

Hunting covers many bases. Same for dots in scopes. Target dots are the most common and other than varmint hunting they are generally too small and have low light issues. I have several for prairie dog hunting and I love them. Next are illuminated dots and they are great for low light hunting. Better than sliced bread for coyoting hunting at night. I believe least common are large dots. I have a couple of 1 1/4" MOA dots in Weaver T 10 scopes. I use them for prairie dog shooting. Way too large for long range shots on small targets but they work very well on my 17 HMR's. There are hollow dots also but I have no experience with them.

[country gent]

I have one MVA Malcomb style scope with a 4/6 reticle its a ring in crosshairs 4 min inside and 6 min outside. Its good on silhouettes the ring just fits in the body. I think for hunting it would be harder to see and coarse to use. In bullseyes it "fits" in the black of most bulls. The plus to it is that it doesn't cover a lot of the target. I could see it getting "lost" in brush or grass.

[Petrol & Powder]

I think a dot would get lost in most cover but I agree with M-Tecs, "hunting" covers a lot of different things.

I still think that for most hunting inside of 200 yards, the German #1 reticle is very hard to beat for its overall usefulness.

https://31.media.tumblr.com/fcf9d002...jqgeo1_400.jpg

[osteodoc08]

I love the illuminated floating dots as seen on the Kahles scopes. YMMV

[skeettx]

I use 1/8 minute dots.

YES!!!
For Prairie Dog hunting
The mantra is ...

"Put the dot on the dog, put the dot on the dog!"

So often that is not done, the shot will go over the dog.

I use these discontinued scopes on MANY of my varmint rifles and in the field
set them at 18x and 200 yards

https://www.midwayusa.com/product/10...-reticle-matte

Mike

[USMC87]

I really appreciate the help and all the information that you guys have given, I am still not 100% on anything yet but I am going to use all that you guys have spoken.

[Lloyd Smale]

does it help? yup but if you went by the word of the law in MI (which few do) then shooting hours end at sunset and legal sunset time still has plenty of light for a GOOD conventional scope.

[NSB]

does it help? yup but if you went by the word of the law in MI (which few do) then shooting hours end at sunset and legal sunset time still has plenty of light for a GOOD conventional scope.

Agree 100%, except if you're night hunting predators.

[EDG]

I have a couple of scopes with dots and they are very good for bench rest type shooting.

They could also be good for big game hunting but they would need to be much larger for use in poor light and dark woods on larger game. Where I see a problem is when you want to shoot varmints or smaller targets like prairie dogs with that same big game size dot. The larger dot would cover the target at long range. It would also hinder bench rest work and load development when you need to be able to shoot small groups on paper.

[kaiser]

I have 3 scopes with dots that have become my favorites. The smallest dot is a 2 minute dot and the largest a 3 minute. It draws your eye to the center rapidly for snap shots while giving you a size reference for estimating the distance to a target. One of my scopes has a lighted dot at the center that can be turned on or off, depending on lighting conditions; while it is a nice option, I seldom think to use it in the field until sunset. I also like the "Mil Dot" reticle that Burris uses, especially for long range work on stationary targets. My .02.

[cwlongshot]

I have a few and one I do use for hunting.

For me, Its gonna depend on the known dia of the circle. Mine is 6 minutes. Another I dont hunt with is 8 minutes and I feel its too big. 4 would be better! I like the 6” for my 3 Gun rifle. It works well and out to 50 is very fast. In the middle of the circle is a 1min dot thats great as I zoom up for shots past 50 ish.

On my hunting 6 min its a Bushnell trophy turkey plex and I use it on a Savage 24 223/20 for Coyotes. The circle is plaster on a fast movin yote and the shotgun trigger is mashed. Power dos et matter but I try to keep it on 1.75/2x. But I can zoom up to 4 and “snipe with the hair lone Xhairs in the 6 min circle. I like it allot.

CW

[Ramson222]

My Vortex Crossfire II 1x4x24 has a small illuminated dot in the center. This is on a 45acp carbine and is great. The optic can be used with or without the illumination on. So if your battery dies it does not matter. The optic was just under $200 on amazon and I highly recommend it. I'm considering getting another to put on my 300blk pistol, because I like it so much.

[winelover]

Ramson222, thanks for the heads up on the Vortex. Just ordered one from Midway for $199.99 with free shipping. Also running a promotion for free Vortex Picatinny rings, with purchase..................can't beat that with a stick. It's going on my 9mm CZ Scorpion carbine.

Winelover

[theole50]

I have a scope with an illuminated very small dot in the center of the cross hairs. On mine you can adjust the dot's brightness. I think this and red dot sights are great ideas if you hunt deer until almost dark like I do.

You know, I was just thinking about picking up a scope with an illuminated background (either red or green), but I just didn't ever pull the trigger. I saw a few here for pretty cheap, but I still am not sure that it would work well with my eyes.

Do you enjoy the illumination overall or is it a waste? Thanks!