Saturday, April 15, 2006

BARSKA Red Dot Sight

BARSKA 25mm. Red Dot Sight



For those of us with lousy eyesight, the red dot sights have been a major blessing. Yes, they DO take a little getting used to, but once you get it working for you, you'll love it!

That being said, what red dot is right for you? Like everything, everyone has their own opinion, but here's some basics. The smaller the diameter, the harder it is to find the dot in a hurry, particularly on a handgun. The larger the diameter, the easier it is to find the dot, but it is more likely to be off as you move closer or farther away from the target, since the center of the sight is farther above the centerline of the barrel. The bigger the dot, the easier it is to see, but since it covers more of the target, it's harder to be as accurate. The thicker the "frame" around the viewing area, the more it interferes with target visibility.

For my first red dot sight review, I'm going to start with one that everyone can afford, the 25mm. BARSKA. I have a couple of them, and at the moment they are available from Sportsmans Guide for around 17 bucks, including mounting rings, battery, allen wrench, and a screw-on sun shade. A lot of stuff for the money.

The 25mm. BARSKA uses separate mount rings, rather than having the clamping portion of the mount built in to the body of the sight. The ability to change to a higher set of mount rings may come in handy in some situations, or a set of .22 mount rings would allow you to mount it onto a .22 rifle.

The BARSKA uses the most common red dot battery, the 3V. lithium 2032, found just about everywhere. Eleven different brightness settings cover a wide range of lighting conditions. The dot size is 5MOA. I like a little smaller dot, but a lot of shooters like the 5MOA dot. I guess it's mostly a matter of personal preference.

I've tried the BARSKA on several guns, but for me at least, the diameter is too small for a handgun, unless, of course, you are really good at bringing the gun up in exactly the same place every time. Otherwise, it can be hard sometimes to find the dot.

In my opinion, the BARSKA is a perfect match for relatively short range carbines, like the Hi Point, or perhaps on a shotgun. Having the sight on a rifle greatly reduces the problem of finding the dot when you bring it up. I think it's diameter is too small for a handgun if you are planning to acquire target and get a shot off qiuckly.

The quality seems to be fine, with no obvious roughness or poor fit. Windage and elevation adjust as you would expect. Adjusting one does seem to move the other a little bit, but that seems to be a common trait among red dot sights, regardless of price range.

I'd say the BARSKA 25mm. red dot sight is a well made sight, and with nearly an unbelievable price for what you get. Sportsmans Guide has always been great to deal with.

At the very least, it's a good starter red dot sight if you've never tried one before, and for seventeen bucks you can't go too far wrong!

5 Comments:

At Saturday, April 15, 2006 12:31:00 PM, Blogger Smokin' Barrel said...

I haven't tried this one yet, but I have about 5 of the BSA red dots with the integral sight base. They are only 30 bucks at wal-mart. I'll have to look into this one. I have the BSA on my Hi-Point as well. great little sight. Thanks for lookin at products that normal people can afford. read a gun mag, and you'd think that $400 was the cheapest red dot you could find.

 
At Sunday, April 16, 2006 4:02:00 PM, Blogger trainer said...

Thanks for lookin at products that normal people can afford. read a gun mag, and you'd think that $400 was the cheapest red dot you could find

Good point. I've got a 50mm Tasco RedDot that has done duty on everything from a .22 rifle, to an SKS, to a Mossy Pumpgun, and even a .357 revolver...it's a couple of years old now, battery still strong, and I've never had a problem with it.

I think I got it on Ebay for less than $30. Cheap is not necessarily bad.

 
At Monday, April 17, 2006 9:12:00 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Just out of nosiness, where was it made?

 
At Wednesday, April 19, 2006 7:39:00 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I just received a Barska 30mm red-dot scope. One question: how do I install the battery? Where does it go?

Thanks for any help with this (probably stupid) question 8-}

Dan

 
At Wednesday, April 19, 2006 8:32:00 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

As Rosanna Rosannadana would say..."Never mind".

I had to use a visegrip and screwdriver to get to the battery compartment.

Seems to work well, though. It'll go on a Russian Mosin-Nagant M-44 via a no-gunsmithing weaver mount (replaced the original rear-sight).

Thanks, all.

Dan.

 

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