How Does EoTech and the similar work?

[Tragic Image]

Ok, so I don't care about how the mechanics of the actual piece works.

What I want to know is, do I have to co-witness with it?

Can I just put the red dot where I want it and shoot? Does it work like that?


Can some one break this down for me?

[Stanze]

Yes and yes.

[brando]

A lot of people seem to think that red dot sights are designed to get your eye to the top of your front sight post quicker, which is only partially true. Yes, they are designed to get your eye to the point of aim quickly, but whether you co-witness with irons or not doesn't matter. I was introduced to RDS in 1991 with an Aimpoint 1000 and the first advantage I noticed was that when raising the rifle to fire, it was much faster to acquire the dot than picking up my iron sights. The second advantage is that you do not need a good consistent cheek/stockweld to use the sight where as you do with irons. This is particularly valuable for speed and the chaotic nature of close combat. The use of these sights hasn't really changed much over the years, but RDS tech has. The sights now are more compact, lighter, have excellent battery life, and in the case of EOTech they have more complex reticles.

[esskay]

What weapon system are you talking about? An AR-style rifle?

Generally speaking "red dot" sights like the Aimpoint or EOTech are almost (not totally) parallex free and have unlimited eye relief. The dot (or reticle) appears in (almost) the same place regardless of where your eye is. So they are very forgiving of where your head is and are great for reflexive shooting and combat/defensive situations.

Once you zero the sight on your rifle, yes you place the dot and press the trigger. (you still have to consider ballistics -- e.g. hold over/hold under based on distance)

As far as co-witnessing, a few folks like "absolute" co witnessing where your iron sights and the red dot are exactly sitting on top of each other. But most people seem to prefer "lower one-third" co-witnessing where the iron sights appear in the lower third of the sight. That makes for a less crowded view. Of course, since the sight is (almost) parallex-free you can always squish your head down on your stock and check that the zero matches up with your iron sights.

[Tragic Image]

so, in summation

I can choose to co-witness.... and I can choose absolute, or lower 3rd

but if I absolutely have to get the shot off, using just the dot is gonna get me close...



Yes, this is potentially an AR style set up... but I'm looking for info that holds true to most set ups.

[maxicon]

When your iron sights are zeroed and your optic is zeroed, you're co-witnessed automatically. That is, if you line up your iron sights, your dot (or whatever) will be on top of the sight post.

Once your optic is zeroed, you don't have to line up the iron sights at all. Just put the dot on your target and pull the trigger. As long as you can see the dot in the sight, it's good to go.

All optics have some amount of parallax, but it will be negligable inside 100 yards for anything you'd use a red dot/holosight for.

[aplinker]

Your summary says you don't have any idea what's really happening.

Ignore cowitness as it's meaningless with respect to accuracy or usability of the red-dot.

The reason red dot optics are so magnificent is because they do not require a fixed location of your eye to align the point of impact, as you would need with iron sights. In other words, if you fixed the rifle's alignment (so where the bullet goes doesn't change) and moved your head, the red dot will seem to "float" around in the optic itself, but if you look at where it is pointing to in the distance, that location is fixed (as the rifle has not moved). This is NOT the case with sights, as your eye needs to be in a fixed location (looking through the rear sight) for the front sight to show you where the bullet will go.

Cowitness merely is where in the tube the iron sights will be when you use them. Absolute means that the irons will align right in the middle of the tube and bottom 1/3 means you'll be further down in the tube. Regardless of the type of cowitness, the red dot will align itself with the tip of the front sight only when you align the iron sights - this goes for any cowitness type.

so, in summation

I can choose to co-witness.... and I can choose absolute, or lower 3rd

but if I absolutely have to get the shot off, using just the dot is gonna get me close...



Yes, this is potentially an AR style set up... but I'm looking for info that holds true to most set ups.

[Tragic Image]

Your summary says you don't have any idea what's really happening.

you sir, are absolutely correct.

[Tragic Image]

Once I mounted my Eotech and had a boresight laser installed it became rediculously obvious what everyone was telling me.


Thanks all for putting up with my silly question

[aplinker]

Once I mounted my Eotech and had a boresight laser installed it became rediculously obvious what everyone was telling me.


Thanks all for putting up with my silly question

No worries, bro. It wasn't meant mean or anything - just that it doesn't work how you might think

Glad you understand now. It's hard to describe, but so easy to demonstrate.

[Tragic Image]

Ok, so new question....


I've got a laser bore-sight, when I shine it on the garage across the street, my HWS is lined up perfect, but if I move it to say, 1/4 the distance its off by an inch. (Iron sights are off to the same effect)

which do I set it to? Most of my stuff I plan on doing with this will be within 100-150 yards but don't wanna sacrafice everything?

Should I just put rounds down range and center it up?

[maxicon]

Zero at 50 yards. This will have you within 2" from 25 to 250 yards.

Here's the RIBZ link:

http://www.ar15.com/forums/topic.html?b=3&f=18&t=328143

[aplinker]

Zero at 50 yards. This will have you within 2" from 25 to 250 yards.

Here's the RIBZ link:
http://www.ar15.com/forums/topic.html?b=3&f=18&t=328143

+1 this

Once you zero it, you should be aware of which way (high/low) and how much you're off at distances from 0 to 300yds.