Question about Eotech and similar sights.

[FastFinger]

I was under the impression that one of the benefits of the dot type sight was that regardless of your head and eye position, you would hit wherever the dot was covering.

To me that means that if the rifle was in a locked position if I moved my eye relative to the sight, my sight picture would always have the dot stationary on the same target point.

But today I was looking through such a set up, and the dot moved as my eye moved.

So it seems that in order to be accurate I would need to position my eye so that the dot was in the center of the sight, and then move the rifle so the dot covers the bull. Is that right?

If so, there seems to be a lot of glass on the sight frame, how do I know that I have the dot in it's center? It's not as if there's any marking on the sight's glass to align with.

With a scope if my eye is off center the side of the tube interferes and it's pretty clear that I need to move my eye relative to the scope, I don't get that feedback from the open Eotech sight.

What am I missing in this picture?

Thanks!

[Jicko]

how far are you aiming at?

[FastFinger]

how far are you aiming at?

Wasn't at firing line, so just looking at a spot 10 or so feet away

[Purple K]

The EOTech websight explains it much better than I ever could

[brando]

This is where the EOTech is different than the Aimpoint or similar sights. It's a holographic sight, so the angle of incidence of your eye affects the location of the reticle. In other words you don't always need a perfect cheek/stock-weld to make accurate shots.

PS. you can also shoot accurately around and over walls with VERY sloppy form thanks to this difference.

[sirnonz]

where are you located at? if near nocal we can go shoot and you can try out the eotech first.

[rabagley]

I was under the impression that one of the benefits of the dot type sight was that regardless of your head and eye position, you would hit wherever the dot was covering.

To me that means that if the rifle was in a locked position if I moved my eye relative to the sight, my sight picture would always have the dot stationary on the same target point.

But today I was looking through such a set up, and the dot moved as my eye moved.

So it seems that in order to be accurate I would need to position my eye so that the dot was in the center of the sight, and then move the rifle so the dot covers the bull. Is that right?

No. Put the aiming reticle over the target and pull the trigger. You're seeing the reticle move relative to the sight, but not relative to the target. If you were to bolt the gun down and look through the sight, you could move your head all over the place behind the sight and the dot in the middle would always be over the same point* downrange.

If so, there seems to be a lot of glass on the sight frame, how do I know that I have the dot in it's center? It's not as if there's any marking on the sight's glass to align with.

With a scope if my eye is off center the side of the tube interferes and it's pretty clear that I need to move my eye relative to the scope, I don't get that feedback from the open Eotech sight.

What am I missing in this picture?

The sight is compensating for your head position by making the reticle appear within the sight in the right spot no matter how you're looking through it. Basically, if you can see the dot in the middle, it's over the target*. That's the magic of red dot sights. You don't have to be looking right down the middle of the sight.

* There is a small inaccuracy called parallax error that can't be completely eliminated. For most red-dot sights, the error will be less than 1/4 the width of the viewing window if you're within twice the "normal usage" range (within 200 yards or so).

[FastFinger]

Thanks for the info!

AnD Sirnonz thank you for the invite, I live in SoCal so can't take you up on the offer, but I think I'll have the chance to check out the Eotech system with live ammo down here in a few weeks. Looking forward to looking through it.