Red dot for my XDm, 3 or 8 MOA?

[skywalkrNCSU]

Looking to pick up a Burris fastfire iii for my XDm just for the heck of it and was wondering if I should get the 3 or 8 MOA version. I have never put a red dot on a pistol before so I wasn't sure what the best option is. Anyone with experience in this area have any advice? The gun won't be used for anything specific at the moment, most likely just a range gun and something to carry around on my parents ranch when I visit.

 

[WC145]

I have Trijicon RMR02s on two of my pistols, the RMR02 has an 8MOA dot. It is a good compromise between acquisition speed and precision.

 

[ku4hx]

1 MOA = 1" at 100 yards.

An 8 MOA dot covers 8" at 100 yards, 4" @ 50 yards, 2" at 25 yards and so forth. The 3 MOA is likewise calculated as 3", 1.5", .75" and so forth.

What you have to decide is how much of your target do you want to "cover" and what is acceptable accuracy. For an 8 MOA at 100 yards you'll hit somewhere inside an 8" circle at 100 yards assuming no other factors affect your aim.

At a "typical" combat distance of 7 yards, an 8 MOA dot will cover just slightly more than a 1/2" area. That doesn't seem like much to me, but a 3 MOA at 7 yards will cover a lot smaller area ... about 1/5". But then, all I want to see is a dot on a vital area and the distance between vital and non vital can be quite small. You didn't mention expected distance you'd think you'd have to shoot; I'd go with the smaller MOA since I favor precision. As I learned in competition many years ago, "You can't shoot fast enough to make up for a miss".

 

[jjjitters]

I've had an adjustable dot on my Ruger MK II .22 since '94. I have shot quite a few squirrels in the head with that scope. I would look into that style also, it gives you a small dot for precision and a big dot for quickness. IIRC it has 7 different sizes. Most likely it is 1 MOA to 7MOA, never looked into that way of sizing the dot.

 

[tuj]

3moa

 

[Dryft]

How are your eyes?

Seriously. That's a valid question - reference ku4hx's comments in that light.

Brightness also comes into play. I have shot through a FF3 and thought the 3MOA was plenty - especially with the brightness turned up, I think it looks bigger.

 

[hentown]

I use a Bushnell TRS-25 with 3 m.o.a. dot on a Glock, Ruger 22/45 and AR. Largest dot I ever used was 5 m.o.a. I'd definitely go with the 3 m.o.a. dot. I can see mine easily in bright sunlight.

 

[skywalkrNCSU]

Thanks for your input everyone, I was worried that I would be disappointed if I got the 8 MOA as that seems pretty big. My eyesight is fine, I have an aimpoint with a 4 MOA dot and can see that just fine on my AR (I would actually like it smaller) but I wasn't sure how it would translate on a pistol. I think I will get the 3 MOA version.

 

[Walkalong]

For speed shooting a big dot is better. For anything else a smaller dot is nice.

 

[Japle]

Get the big dot.
It'll only cover 2" at 25 yds and that'll be just fine.
I have big (7-8 minute) dots on my Open gun and my carry gun.
Unless you're shooting slow-fire, the bigger dot will be much better.

 

[tuj]

Don't forget that on high brightness settings, many dots appear bigger than their advertised specs.

 

[wally]

Slow fire, smallest you can get, for fast shooting 7-9 MOA dots rock, I've a 13 MOA RMR and while its very easy to pick up, its probably too large for most target shooting.

Remember you are focusing on the target and looking through the dot at the desired POI, the small dots tend to be too bright and tend draw your focus to them instead of letting you look through them if they are bright enough to pick up quickly.

 

[Walkalong]

Remember you are focusing on the target and looking through the dot at the desired POI

Yes, when I learned this I got faster immediately.