#10MinuteTalk 

I shot a 10 point bull moose with a Tikka T3X with a Vortex Crossfire red dot last month , so i'd say it's effective. Greetings from Finland

My dad struggled with scopes when he had to use trifocal glasses. He's now 80 and uses red dots on everything! Last year he got a doe that was just over 200 yards away.

A red dot is a great choice for lever guns as well. Lever guns are very often used as close range, thick brush guns making the red dot a great choice on these guns.

I live in SE North Carolina where I'm usually hunting pretty thick pine forests and swampy areas with the occasional field edge, but never really with shot opportunities more than 100 yards. This is making me re-think my 3-10 I've been using!

TC Contender and Encore pistols,44mag,30-30, and 308, Super 14" barrels! Perfection!

"I don't want to look up a gnat's ass" 😂😂😂

I bought a vortex crossfire red dot last week and mounted it on a .308 bolt action rifle and zeroed at 25 yards this weekend i shot my first boar at 50 yards. Red dot on the vitals and pulled the trigger and job done. i am from belgium and here it is very common to use a red dot.

Have dots on my 44mag lever and 45-70 guide gun. Love both! Peep sights do a similar function and I have those on two Winchesters. All great in the thick Maine brush.

You guys comprehensively covered all the reasons I have used to dissuade myself from getting a red dot for my deer rifle. In the end i like not having to carry a monocular for looking at distant objects, im afrair of missing out on a good deer because of a hard shot opportunity and Im too good at hitting running deer in the woods on 3 power with a 3-9 scope.

Love that Ryan made it to Huntstock, the tracking has seen to be taking off but is a great way to hunt. Very exciting and adventurous. 760 Remingtons and lever guns are a huge staple in that world. Great video guys

Ive got a red dot on my Marlin 1895 for many of the reasons you guys say here. Good stuff Guys!

awesome for a close cover hunting situation

I use a red dot on my kombination gun, 12/6.5x55. perfect lightweight combo. I use it mostly for driven hunts where roe deer, hogs and hares are on the menu. 👍

About a year ago I came across a guy on RU-vid that showed his elk pistol setup. He was shooting a 12.5" 6.5 Grendel with a red dot for deep woods elk inside 150yds. In addition to the speed of acquisition with the red dot, he said that the setup allowed him to cheek weld the buffer tube and shoot very stable in a wide variety of field positions like he could never do with a long bolt gun. The other thing I thought was cool was that he could slip the buffer tube into a loop on his backpack belt and then he just had a tether at the shoulder that he'd slip over the muzzle. It was a much cleaner setup than any carry method I've found for my rifle.

I have a Winchester XPR 350 legend with an Aimpoint reddot zeroed at 100 yrds. I set this up for public land hunting in Indiana. Love the set up

I appreciate this video and all the comments regarding the effectiveness of the red dot, especially quality red dots! A few years or more ago I immediately purchased a 2 MOA red dot, an awesome Vortex Sparc. LOVED it at the range and daylight hours. I stopped using it for deer hunting in the close hardwoods of central NC, Uhwarrie Gamelands and private lands, when upon attempting to take my shot at a nice buck at about 75 yards in the last 30 minutes of hunting time; 30minutes after legal sunset, I saw Black. No deer, no trees etc. Opened both eyes , same. Anyone else?

I have to come back to this but the first 3 minutes is hilarious!

For close in driven hunts or eastern whitetail hunting I think it’s definitely a good idea. I could use one for shooting deer on my property in Texas, but we have antler restrictions so I use about 5-6x magnification in my scope to do a final check on the legality of the buck.

Great commentary. I've used a red-dot on my rifle for number of years hunting in the northeast and they are indeed the best sight option that I am aware of. Based on my experience there are two additional benefits of the red dot that you did not touch on. First of all they are nearly impervious to getting clogged with snow or other debris due to their minimal overhang between the glass and the edge of scope on both the front and back. The second benefit is ease of carry. You mentioned that they are light (and they are) however they are also small. Mounted on a 7600 the site does not interfere with the ability to wrap your hand round the gun when carrying. Here in the northeast we carry our guns for miles in a day so how a rifle carries matters a great deal. I would love to see Vortex offer an 3-4 MOA dot on units as the 2MOA is on the small side for hunting the Northeast. It's ok in low light but when it's bright and especially when there is snow a 2MOA dot can be hard to pick up as quickly as a slightly larger dot.

works great on old Remington pump action rifles. Model 760, 7600, etc. Perfect setup if you are the "designated driver".

I’m glad y’all added the bit after the 20min mark. All I can think about is the dilemma of identifying with confidence the moving target when the gun is already up. We have goofy buck restrictions in MS and shooting a marginal (legal) buck would often be impossible without a little magnification. A doe hunt makes more sense, but nubby bucks/spikes could be a day ruined.

I have a red dot on my 12ga slug gun. Love the quick target acquisition ability for deer hunting.

I mounted one on my double .350 eight years ago to get barrels regulated,its still on it.I use it bush hunting red and fallow,also pigs here in New Zealand.Recently put another red dot on a bolt gun for the same hunting.I am in late 60s and my eyes arn't as good as they were.The smaller the unit the better I think,less likely to snag in thick bush.Great show guys.

Great talk. Had to put one on my Lever Action Trapper. Still as handy as ever and now faster because I can see it.

Shooting a beretta brx straight pull in 300win for drivenhunts here in Europe. topped with an lpvo 1-6. Fantastic for close range and due to the magnification the option to reach out a little further then with a red dot.

Not a dot, but I do like a fixed prism optic too. A 3x or 5x Microprism on a lightweight gun is perfection.

I got a primary arms red dot on my ruger American ranch 7.62x39. Here in Wisconsin rarely get a shot past 150 . So it is amazingly handy and light weight white tail killing machine.

Would be neat to hear a 10 minute talk about all the different kinds of iron sights...i know y'all are an optics company but would be neat to hear y'all talk about blade and leaf sights, skinner sights, and my favorite express sights!

Been using one on my Ruger GSR for years

2MOA Red dot on my 416Rigby. Great eye relief. Immediate on target. 2 eyes open. Close action in the bush in Africa.

I remember reading a story by Jack O'Connor where he said he had a 2 and a half Power Scope with a 3-minute dot in it and he done his best shooting with that

Once again, well done Gents.

Yes. 2.5x prism on my 450 BM in 300 BLK increments matches very well.

I have had a dot on, and hunted with my SKS since about 2003, I’ve also worn Speedos since about 2010. Since I seem to be a hipster, I will go ahead and hunt in a speedo, with a red dot this year!

I have been using a red dot on my Remington 7600 in 30-06 for over 20 years and in the 150 yrd and under environment that I hunt it works perfectly.

I have a reflex sight on my savage rascal for small game and I have a vortex red dot on my bolt deer gun. In my neck of the woods in PA 200 yards is really pushing your line of sight and that distance is in a field. In the woods you're shooting about 50 to 75 yards.

Red dots on lever action is great

I had a Burris 2moa SpeedDot on my Ruger Ultralight .308 bolt rifle about 20 years ago and the idea was quick target acquisition with a reasonably flat shooting caliber so I could shoot to 200 yards.

I have an astigmatism so red dots aren't dots for me. I use a prism in any situation that someone would want to use a red dot. For heavy woods/Southern Michigan hunting I would have no problem at all hunting with the prism optics on a bolt action, or my lever guns. Would also use one on my Ruger no1 450 bushmaster if I could come up with a way to mount one to the quarter rail.

Up here in Ontario, Canada we run chases (drives) for white tails. More and more guys are getting on the red dot wagon. 60+% of the guys are using them and the users all range in age. Fantastic solution to the traditional iron sights.

You guys are hitting the nail on the head with this one. I hope more hunters should embrace the red dot. Heck, I’ve got one on my duck gun because I used the gun for my first turkey hunt and just never bothered to take the sight off. Used it on one duck hunt and realized there was no reason that I should ever take it off. All you really need is some good binoculars to confirm the animal is legal to take and you should be fine with a Reddit out to 200 with a whole slew of calibers and a proper zero. I put a red dot on my dangerous game rifle in 458 Lott when I went to Africa. I didn’t want to put that gun down to use a scoped rifle to save my life. I only shot one thing with the scoped gun and it was a klipspringer. The shot that really cemented it for me was on a zebra. The herd wasn’t more than 75 yards from me and we selected one that I liked to take. When I fired the shot I was able to keep my eyes on the zebra I had fired at when the whole herd started to scatter. I saw that my zebra was also taking off so I rant the bolt without lowering the rifle and fire a second shot into the same zebra. However, when I fired the second shot two things happened: one, the zebra went down and stayed down; and two my PH about lost his mind. He thought I was crazy and had shot two zebras because he thought there was no way I could keep my eyes on the zebra I shot with the first shot. Even though I told him I was sure of what I had done, he was talking about how we were gonna lose the whole day to track a second wounded zebra. When we got to the downed zebra it conveniently had two entrance wounds from where I had shot it twice. The first shot had only pierced the lungs but the second went through the heart. The PH couldn’t believe it. I was just happy I had insisted on continually using the big gun on animals that it wasn’t needed for because of how handy the red dot was for that type of hunting. I just wish there were more manufacturers making mounts for bolt guns that put the red dot forward and as low as possible. As an additional bonus on bolt guns when you mount the sight on the front of the receiver is that the action is unobstructed for reloading guns with fixed magazines. Seems like a real handy feature on a dangerous game rifle and would probably be nice on a driven pig hunt if you want to show off to your friends that think a semiauto is the only gun to use on hunts like that. It takes some practice but you can get pretty quick with cycling a bolt gun.

Turnbull makes some pretty slick red dot mounts for winchesters.

I run crossfires on both my combination gun (12/5.6x52r) and on my Merkel Helix (8x57JS) except when I’m out stalking or in low light conditions. Works great.

I hunt with a red dot! On my small game setup, I have a reflex sight. When I am hunting squirrel and rabbit with a 22 caliber break-barrel air rifles, I like to have quick target acquisition. I just recently bought a Vortex Spitfire Prism Sight 1x DRT for my 10mm carbine for deer!

When I turned 18 or 19 i bought myself a left handed Remington 700 SPS chambered in 270 Winchester and I put a Vortex Crossfire II red dot on it. It retains the light weight characteristics and I was able to drill the bullseye of a 12 inch target at 100 yards. I was honestly shocked but now i dont think Ill switch to anything else unless I get an LPVO.

Red Dots are like the iron sights of today, with most hunting rifles being built on the premise that an optic will be used they are a great alternative utilizing the same style mounting.

I'm running a Holosun 507c on a low rail mount adapter on a Mossberg MVP Scout. It's zeroed at 50 yards, and can quickly acquire targets out to 150, probably farther with some patience. It adds almost no weight. I really like it.

I have one on my 5.56 ruger american ranch, and it's awesome.

im going to try on my ruger ranch thanks!

I put a vortex defender on my Remington 870 turkey rig and it is amazing. Got another one on order for my marlin 336 30-30. Going to set it forward on the scout rail iv installed on it and have and even better brush/swamp gun for where I hunt in north Ontario Canada 🍻🇨🇦👍🏻

Good timing! I’m considering putting a red dot on my single shot Henry for deer hunting.

Was thinking about this in your EXACT example. 760 for deer in Pennsylvania woods. Ended up buying an illuminated 3-9 but now I'm wondering if I should pull the trigger and do the red dot.

Great here in the South East. I also use a QD magnifier that I can quickly throw on if needed. This is how I run my 300 Blk Out.

I put a red dot on a marlin 336 30-30 back in 1995 and never regretted it. Nothing better for close up deer hunting in the thickets.

I don't have Vortex red dots, however I have a Mauser M12 Expert (30-06) with an Aimpoint 9000L (2MOA) and a Blaser R8 Success timber and have an Aimpoint H2 Micro (2MOA) on my 9.3x62 barrel. Exceptional! Cheers from Australia. P.s. Ryan thanks for the help with my Vortex spotting scope issue.

My problem isn't making hits, it's making positive identification. In the driven hunt scenario you're talking about where a deer comes running and jumping by so quickly that you need a red dot for speed, how confident are you with your naked eye that your doe doesn't have tiny spikes?

Would love to see you guys test a straight pull rifle with a red dot against the more typical american hunting rifles and scopes in a range test of some kind. Emphasising quick shots at the typical ranges used by most american hunters. Awesome to hear this style of hunting is starting to become more popular over there!

I purchased a red dot and magnifier specifically for my 350 Legend bolt rifle. For a rifle I don't plan to use past 150 yards, this seems like a logical choice.

I have a Chinese SKS I bought and fully intend to hunt with, and if I was 20 years younger I wouldn't have an issue with the iron sights on it. That not being the case, the reflex sight I put on it is a game changer. It's definitely the answer for me.

I have a red dot on a 300blk bolt gun because it’s light and quiet, but if I know I’m gonna be able to shoot 150 or beyond I want a higher magnification scope for a few reasons, 1: if I’m shooting deer I want to be able to count their points so I can decide to shoot or wait on a bigger deer, 2: when I shoot a deer I want the most precise shot for an quick ethical kill and I’m not saying a red dot can’t be precise but if is like 250 yards with a scope I am certain that bullet is going where I want it and there’s no room for things to go wrong, 3: light transfer through the optic is really important at daybreak or dusk and with a good scope I can see better in low light than with my eyes and I always am finding red dots have a dimmer image than my naked eye I low light

Electronic dot sight on my Marlin SBL 44MAG. The Ruger scout and Marlin 1895 are set up bI th with LPVO in QD mount and QD dot sight so i can choose between them.

18” 308 Browning Xbolt speed SR with Aimpiont T2 and I’m happy 😁

Just put a vortex red dot on my 30-06 BAR for deer drives in the woods, perfect

Here in Switzerland the majority of hunters use red dot sights on our shotguns or combined rifles for hunting roe deer foxes pigs and where permitted red deer (the shotgun for foxes and roe deer, slugs or rifle for pigs and only rifle for red deer). I my self use a red dot on my Blaser d99 Drilling 30-06 and 2x 20ga for driven roe deer and wild boar. Works as a charm. Thanks for sharing

I think I am now going red dot on my 450 Bushmaster instead of LPVO. Great discussion and information, thank you.

I have a Crossfire on my Strasser RS14 in 9.3x62 So, so good.

WA state just passed red dot 1x for use with muzzle loaders this year, what do you recommend for a modern in line muzzle loader?

interesting observation, if you were to substitute 'my red dot' with 'my iron sights' of old school hunters , the conversation is the same

On your cartridge vs gel tests 28 nosler vs 7mm-08 has a 17.8 increase in velocity with. 140 grain but has a 103 percent more powder used

Put a red dot on my Win 30-30lever. 50y zero, love it, very fast target acquisition and very accurate to 175.

Great 💯 💥💥💥💥💥💥💥

I was going to put a holoson 510 on my new Mossberg 835 combo, not the turkey barrel but definitely on the cantilever rifled deer barrel. Your thoughts?

I just sighted in a old JM stamped Marlin 30-30 with a Sparc II and a Ruger American .450BM with a Crossfire red dot. Both are ready for Pennsylvania bear season starting Saturday. I use a printed target with a 3 MOA bullseye. Having that aiming point 1 MOA larger then the red dot allows for a consistent hold. Ruger printed 1.32 MOA group and the Marlin printed 1.87 MOA group.

What red dot would you suggest for a 308 blr , and why?

I have the Vortex crossfire 2-7 on my AR, the 2X is really fast and accurate, and when I need to look out to 300 I crank it up to 7X to use my handy dandy Dead Hold BDC. On my 30-06 I have a 4-12 X 50 with a mini red dot on top.

Discuss if a prism would be in any way practical or useful on a bolt gun. To me it seems weird. But the subject of the video was weird until I watched it. And someone else in here suggested a talk about iron sights. Also a great idea.

Ryan makes a great point about rifle stocks having horrible cheek welds.

I have a red dot temporarily mounted on my new RARR in 300 BLK. I like the light weight and compactness of the red dot on the short rifle. I need to shoot more at longer distances to see if I can stay with the red dot or need to move to a scope. I didn’t use the magnification or focus much on recticle on the last buck I shot at 80 yards a couple of weeks ago. Most of my hunting distances are at less than 100 yards.

I shoot long range with my 300wm and @ 1350 yards my scope is only around 7-10x magnification. You really don’t need much to aim long range. The only good thing about magnification is target identification at distance. But for actual target engagement you typically run 1/2 the magnification

Many people have been using red dots for years here in Victoria, Australia for hunting sambar deer in thick bush . I've got an aimpoint H1 on my BLR 308 and an aimpoint Hunter 34L on a Tikka in 9.3x62. I've also got an aimpoint H1 mounted on the right hand side of my scope on a Kimber which is the best of both worlds.

I’m sold. Ruger American in .450 bushmaster and a red dot. I think it’s next on the list.

Here in Sweden especially the Aimpoint brand (sorry Vortex) of red dots has been (and is) very popular on hunting rifles for the past 25 years or so. I would say that LVPO:s has overtaken that segment the last 8-10 years thou. On new hunting rifles now it is more often a LVPO that a red dot.

I use one on my muzzleloader since were not allowed "telescopic sights." Most shots are within 100 yards anyways, so it works great

I use a TC Encore Pro Hunter 16" 308 with a 1x prism. Perfect for here in North Central Arkansas.

Does the crossfire have a clearer dot than the sparc ar?

I've added red dots to the side of all the scopes on my deer rifles, best of both, scope and red dot.

I run a vortex red dot on my bolt action hunting gun. I have added a quick release so that I can swap to my 3-12 scope in a few seconds. It perfect an I use my red dot more than my scope.

Great Vlog! Bought a Crossfire Red Dot to use as a backup sight for my rifles with Picatiny Scope Mounts. Small, light and takes little space in your pack. Will it stand up to a 416 Taylor Cartridge? Can you get a large hand knob like a Weaver Mount so you don’t need a wrench to mount it?

I have been running a Strike Eagle 1-6x24 on my 760 for a while now, living in Utah I'm not sure if I'm ready to get rid of my LPVO for a dot quite yet. Maybe if I can borrow one and try it out.

Dammer....now I need another prism scope for my Ruger gunsite. Looking forward to watching a T zone podventure from you guys this season.

Shot my best whitetail buck with a T/C Encore Katadin 460S&W with an Aimpoint 9000SC. It was absolute last usable light and I don’t know if I would’ve gotten him with a traditional scope.

I use a Tikka T3 caliber 308 with a red dot on a Dentler mount and silencer on all driven hunts and when stalking. With the Dentler mount you can Swap Out your optic easy. Greetings fromm Germany and "Waidmannsheil" 🙏

Surprisingly, I agree. Red dot is perfect for close quarters or heavily wooded hunting. I hunt in northeast Texas, which is similar to the heavily wooded lands you have in Wisconsin. I use Venoms on my rifles except for my M4 A3 in 5.56. That has iron sights and I have not changed that, though I could. I tried an LPVO on it and did not like the sight picture.

Having a Red Dot on a Ruger American Ranch 450 Bushmaster, I couldn‘t agree more!

I have to say, digging the new haircut etc…cleaned up nicely, good on you!

Check out the Burris 322 3X lit reticle.

I live in Sweden, hunts driven hunt, stalking and blinds, have red dot on three of my rifles, a kombi 12/76-6,5x55 a semiauto 30-06 and Bolt action mauser 9,3x57. Have taken roedeer on 100-120 yards with the 6,5. Moose same distans with 30-06. Here where I hunt we rarley have distans over 120 yards , mostley Wood and small fields , only use scope when in blinds in early morning or late evning for deer or hogs.

Living in the south east USA the red dot on a 7.62 AK is a great option for pretty much anything you’d hunt down here.

I'd like to put red dots on my bolt guns without irons. Maybe you could do a program on the mounting of dots on bolts. I have a vanguard 7mag with an 18inch barrel my first potential dot mount. Is a picatinney rail mount the only option ?

Red Dot vs LPVO for hunting would be an interesting discussion