Red dot hight question

[BellyAcher151]

I recently bought a Simmon's 1X24mm (Model 511006C) RED DOT from Wally's on a PSA complete upper. when I turn on the dot it hit's right smack dab in the middle of the front sight. Is it the wrong red dot, should I add a riser, or replace the fwd sight?
It's been built for 6 months and haven't fired yet.

Thanks in advance.
151

 

[Calengor]

Is it a fixed front sight? You're probably better off getting a riser.

 

[iH8DemLibz]

YUP!

Risers.

 

[OEFvet]

Riser till you can co-witness!

 

[BellyAcher151]

Riser till you can co-witness!

What does that mean?
both sights?

 

[ashershapiro]

There's cowitness or lower 1/3 cowitness. Both are acceptable optic setups.

 

[Calengor]

I recently bought a Simmon's 1X24mm (Model 511006C) RED DOT from Wally's on a PSA complete upper. when I turn on the dot it hit's right smack dab in the middle of the front sight. Is it the wrong red dot, should I add a riser, or replace the fwd sight?
It's been built for 6 months and haven't fired yet.

Thanks in advance.
151

Did you zero the red dot? Just because the dot is showing up in the middle of your front sight doesn't mean it's all going wrong.

What people are generally talking about when they say "co-witness" is having your optic and sights set up in such a way that either/both can be used without interfering with the other, that is to say, you can use your sights through the optic. Some mean that both the sights and optic are sighted to the same point of aim and point of impact. "Absolute" co-witness means that the center of the optic is aligned with the front and rear sights in such a way that when you look through the sights you're looking through the middle of the optic. "Lower 1/3rd" means that the optic sits higher up, you have a less cluttered view through it because your sights sit in the lower 1/3rd of the optic. Due to the way red dots work, if you look through your zeroed sights (assuming you've zeroed both the optic and the sights to have the same point of aim / point of impact), regardless of type of co-witness, the red dot should line up.

See the image attached to give you an idea of the height differences between absolute and lower 1/3rd co-witnesses (ignore that the dot isn't behaving as I described above).

 

[Calengor]

A clarification to the above: in the picture, the red dot is OK on both absolute and lower 1/3rd co-witnesses as if you were using the optic.

 

[outrider58]

I prefer absolute co-witness only because you keep the same cheek weld. Your optics go down, the feel and sight picture stay the same. No awkwardness.

 

[MDshooters]

What a lot of people don't realize is that a lower 1/3 is a lot faster. I also makes using gas masks easier, as well as giving you more room to view potential threats in the glass.

(Now I am not saying "shoot though" the glass, as pretty much every RDS is designed to have the users eyes focused on the target, but just mean the lower 1/3 is less closed and claustrophobic feeling.)

 

[OEFvet]

What a lot of people don't realize is that a lower 1/3 is a lot faster. I also makes using gas masks easier, as well as giving you more room to view potential threats in the glass.

(Now I am not saying "shoot though" the glass, as pretty much every RDS is designed to have the users eyes focused on the target, but just mean the lower 1/3 is less closed and claustrophobic feeling.)

Too true, they both have their own merits. Lower 1/3 is faster for sure, just more glass to see through, however I still prefer absolute cowitness just for the sake of muscle memory, and faster reaquisition of sight picture if the battery goes dead or the glass breaks. Mind you, that is a training preference, as I always checked the batteries on my eotech before I rolled out on missions anyway.

 

[JBinDC]

Thanx for this info! What distances do folks typically sight their irons and glass for respectively, when setting up the glass at the lower 1/3?

I currently have my eotech set up to absolute with my irons (A2) out to 100yds, but at that distance the front post is of course obscuring my targets center.

 

[OEFvet]

Thanx for this info! What distances do folks typically sight their irons and glass for respectively, when setting up the glass at the lower 1/3?

I currently have my eotech set up to absolute with my irons (A2) out to 100yds, but at that distance the front post is of course obscuring my targets center.

You may need a riser to acheive a proper lower 1/3 cowitness, although pobably not. I always zero to 100yds with both, regardless of cowitness type. On a lower 1/3 the front sight post will still be in your sight picture for the most part. It will just keep the rear sight aperture out of the way during typical manipulation of the rifle until you need your backup sights, at which point you will simply adjust your cheek weld to provide proper sight alignment with your irons.

 

[JBinDC]

You may need a riser to acheive a proper lower 1/3 cowitness, although pobably not. I always zero to 100yds with both, regardless of cowitness type. On a lower 1/3 the front sight post will still be in your sight picture for the most part. It will just keep the rear sight aperture out of the way during typical manipulation of the rifle until you need your backup sights, at which point you will simply adjust your cheek weld to provide proper sight alignment with your irons.

OK good deal - I'm assuming like a .5" riser, yes?

 

[platoonDaddy]

What does that mean?
both sights?

Check out this video, in my opinion the best on Absolute & 1/3 CoWitness.
Also, gives the advantages and disadvantages of both.

I prefer absolute CoWitness on my AR


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ogX-cIx9hpk

 

[photoracer]

What a lot of people don't realize is that a lower 1/3 is a lot faster. I also makes using gas masks easier, as well as giving you more room to view potential threats in the glass.

(Now I am not saying "shoot though" the glass, as pretty much every RDS is designed to have the users eyes focused on the target, but just mean the lower 1/3 is less closed and claustrophobic feeling.)

From a competition shooting viewpoint I am not sure I go along with most of that. I would not consider a taller area of sight near as good as a wide area of sight. Sitting the iron sights in the lower one third greatly restricts your ability to see threats to the left and right (or additional targets in competition) which would be a more common scenario. I suppose that might work if you were limiting yourself by shooting with only one eye open. I have one AR setup co-witness. Having never shot that way I tried both 1/3 and full co-witness. The one thing about 1/3 was I was looking thru the narrow bottom of the red dot tube which to me felt a lot more restrictive that shooting thru the center. But shooting thru the red dot glass with fixed sights and the red dot active is definitely slower no matter which way you have them witnessed because the sight picture is too busy. Solution for me was flipdown iron sights at full co-witness. So either the red dot is on or if off the irons are up. If you don't have that option then 1/3 makes a lot of sense because putting the red dot higher means you don't have to engage with it looking thru the front sight. That is definitely slower. But to be honest the best setup is a tactical scope with an etched reticle and some kind of BDC scale and a power range from 1-4x at a minimum. While I find I am a hair faster to engage the first shot with irons I am also more accurate with the scope at 1x on the first shot and every shot after that. Probalby the reason the USAMU is trying to change battle optics to scopes from irons or red dots w/magnifiers. But everybody is a little different and may have a totally different comfort zone. In my case I throw away anything that slows me down.