Is a 4moa Dot Too Big?

[Bimmer]

Hi all,

I'm goofing around with a budget NV set-up. I have a Bushnell Equinox Z 3x30 on the way, and I'm looking at a Vortex Strikefire II.

(I'm a civilian. This is going to be strictly recreational, and at most used to shoot varmints in my backyard.)


The Strikefire II has a 4moa dot, and I've seen comments that it's too big when magnified.

That makes sense, given that 3x a 4moa dot would be 12" across at 100yds...


Can one of you guys with more experience please tell me whether a 4 moa dot is a mistake?

[Eurodriver]

I think you’re making a mistake. A 4MOA dot is 4” at 100 yards no matter how much magnification is behind it.

With your setup you’ll not be able to see anything clearly enough that a dot of any size will matter at 100y anyway.

[Bimmer]

Maybe I'm misunderstanding, or maybe I didn't explain what I'm worried about... (Thank you for your patience with my dumb question.)

Isn't a red dot in front of a magnifier kind of like a first-focal-plane reticle, so a 3x magnifier behind a 4moa dot means a 12moa dot?


Otherwise, I don't anticipate/hope to at 100yds with this... It's only 20yds to my back fence.

I do plan to use an extra IR illuminator. (Streamlight TLR-1 IR?)

[Eurodriver]

The dot gets 3x bigger as perceived by your eye, but so does the target proportionally.

Thinking it out logically, a magnifier takes everything of what’s in front of it and magnifies it. It isn’t gonna magnify the dot, but not the target and vice versa.

Do you have a FFP scope? The entire point of the retical on a FFP scope is that it does not change size in relation to the target so that you can properly measure distance and holds at all magnifications.

20-50y is good. That will be a sweet setup with good IR illum.

[ALCOAR]

Here is a video I made a long time ago of a 4MOA dot on the T-1 and a cam as a magnifier...shows what Euro is talking about.

[Bimmer]

The dot gets 3x bigger as perceived by your eye, but so does the target proportionally.

Oh, duh, that does make sense... (Slapping forehead.)

20-50y is good. That will be a sweet setup with good IR illum.

Right. I'm not expecting too-good-to-be-true performance out of a $150 NV set-up, just the ability to see and perhaps take a shot at whatever's creeping around outside, without turning on the lights.

On the other hand, there are guys claiming good imaging out to 200+yds with an extra IR illuminator... We'll see.

[Bimmer]

Here is a video I made a long time ago of a 4MOA dot on the T-1 and a cam as a magnifier...

That's really helpful... This'll be my first red dot, and I'm used to "fine crosshairs" on scopes, but a 4 moa dot seems entirely manageable.

[ALCOAR]

Happy to help

Here is my first attempt at "Aimpoint Vision", and IIrc the cam I was using only had 10x.

[essjay]

Isn't a red dot in front of a magnifier kind of like a first-focal-plane reticle, so a 3x magnifier behind a 4moa dot means a 12moa dot?

It's FFP and remains a 3moa dot.

[Eurodriver]

Happy to help

Here is my first attempt at "Aimpoint Vision", and IIrc the cam I was using only had 10x.

I love those videos. Care to share the setup?