When using iron sights, the eye, the rear iron sight, the front iron sight, and the target must all be perfectly aligned. When using telescopic sights, your eye must be exactly aligned with the centre of the sight tube, and your eye relief must be the same each time you take a shot. When using electronic dot sights, you don't need to have your eye aligned with the sight axis. Regardless of your head position, your bullet will successfully travel onto your target as long as your dot is placed onto it. They are parallax free.
When used at shorter ranges, electronic sights have huge benefits. Target acquisition is much faster, allowing for quicker engagements. It is easier to shoot with both eyes open, giving you a full natural field of view and allowing the shooter to pay full attention to the target and surrounding areas. They can be used at night due to the bright coloured glowing dot or reticle, and the sight can be mounted as far forward as you wish.
Reflex Sights - these are the most common "red dot" type sights. The reticle illumination system uses LED's, which comes in dot sizes between 2 and 5MOA. Reflex sights can be found in two general configurations, the heads-up display (HUD), and the tubular scope optics. Tube reflex sights allow the scope to be mounted lower on the firearm, since the reticle projection point and power source are often mounted off to the side of the optic, whilst HUD reflex sights sit slightly higher. This lower position can be a huge benefit on certain rifles other than the AR-15 styles. When an LED dot is viewed through a 3x magnifier, the dot grows by the same factor as the target. So although the shooter will see the target 3 times larger, the dot will cover the same target area, providing no additional precision. Keep this in mind if you intended to add a 3x magnifier to your red dot setup.
Holographic Sights - this system superimposes the reticle onto your target by way of a laser transmission hologram. These optics do not require a reflective coating and allows a much clearer view, the same as looking through a piece of clear glass. They generally come with a 1MOA dot, and a larger open circle. The small dot size is ideal for maintaining accuracy at longer ranges, and the open circle allows for fast target acquisition. The 1MOA aiming dot on a holographic sight does not expand when viewed with magnification. In tandem with a 3x magnifier, the dot maintains its 1MOA size, while the target is enlarged 3 times, offering much greater precision.
Always have a backup sight system attached when using electronic sights, as batteries may run dead, or the optic may go faulty. For more knowledge on scopes, rifles, ammunition and advanced marksmanship techniques, view our MST Manual.
