Red dot or Not?

[tyesai]

I posted this same question in the ruger section but it has been slow, and I am sure thas topic has been beat to death but could you help a new guy out? I have a new MKIII 5.5 BBL

It seems like alot of people go with red dot scopes on pistols, but why? What are the advantages? Maybe because I have no exeperience with red dots I think the old fashion cross hairs would be better/more accurate. Any help would be appreciated. I am not going into any type of competition, I might do some varmit shooting but no real hunting. Mainly just banging away at paper at the range trying to make smallest hole out of a clip of ammo for my own satisfaction. Maybe I am over estimating the pistols capability and my own, but kind of think a lower power adjustable type crosshair would be sweet. Any and all comments, even your an idiot Tye are appreciated. I am a long time gun lover, but a short time pistol owner.

Jason

[marcoh]

I use a Nikon VSD 30mm red-dot on my AR-15, so take what I say with a hefty portion of FWIW.

Unlike most "regular" scopes, the red-dot has unlimited eye relief. If you know which eye is your dominant eye, you can get used to aiming through the red-dot with both eyes open. This can be a big plus if for any reason you want to retain as much of your peripheral vision while aiming as possible.

Within limits, a good quality red-dot is parallax free. Thus, I don't have to be looking straight through it in order for the points of aim and impact to be the same. Just place the dot on target and fire. This can be a huge plus if for any reason you need to get follow-up shots off in a hurry.

[NailShooter]

You can have a wider field of view w/ a red dot since there's usually no magnification. Dots are faster to put on target, and work better in low light conditions.

NS