[gtrsnax]

Hey folks, Im still green at this, but I THINK I may have bought a defective red dot scope.  
I ordered this thing..

http://www.midwayusa.com/viewProduct/default.aspx?productNumber=185489

It arrived this morning and I mounted it immediately.  After looking through it casually, I noticed it seems to be off center.  Not the dot, but the whole tube assembly. It feels like the whole tube is aimed up and to the right.  The dot position seems ok I guess, but the whole thing is all catty-whompous

Should the front iron sight really be down in the bottom left corner of the view area in the tube?  Also, what is that black notch piece in the upper right of the front lens?

Thanks for any info.  I have no idea whats going on here.  If it's normal, it's weird!

 

[3wbdriver]

The nice thing about dot sights is you can have it mounted upside down and once it's adjusted it still works fine.  So unless the visual cues are just too disorienting to you it should be fine.  The notch you refer to is the projector housing for the dot.  It is inside near the rear lens and the light is beamed from there onto the front lens.

Leapers/Tacforce is a Chinese company whose products are more intended for airsoft guns.  It may hold up to regular recoil or it may not.  It also explains why they may not have made a big effort to get the housing perfectly aligned with the mount.  This is one of those cases of you get what you pay for. $40 is the low end of a decent red dot price range. Usually $80 - $120 will get you a much more reliable sight.

 

[gtrsnax]

Thanks. I failed to mention I was aware of the "you get what you pay for" issue, so.... Ok. I'll sight it in and roll with it. Thanks again!

 

[3wbdriver]

No insult intended. Just an observation. My first red dot sight was an $11 ebay purchase intended for bb guns. I knew going in not to expect much from it. But being my first I didn't want to spend a lot on something I may decide I didn't like.

 

[gtrsnax]

None taken! it's all good in the hood

 

[gtrsnax]

So....I took the scope out of the mount today and reverse the mount on the gun, put the scope back on.  This should prove if its the mount and then I can just replace it with some rings (gun show today locally).  When I check the alignment, it's still off in the same direction.  Now, it's either the scope itself or the rails right?  
When I look down the rifle, the rails appear to be aligned right, but I can hold the scope in my hand too and look right down it and it feels ok.  
If the scope housing is off, I guess if I bought new rings it still wouldnt fix the issue huh?

Its off enough that this is going to bother me (after some more thought about it all).  I'd like to get this licked.  

 

[3wbdriver]

If the mount is off center it will be the same regardless of orientation. Off to the right forward will be off to the right backwards. Trying another set of rings may not be a bad idea.

 

[gtrsnax]

I need to revisit this issue, and also respectfully disagree with you about the mount being off in both directions of the same manner.
If the mount points the glass high and right facing one direction, indicating there's more material on one side than the other, you should expect it to be low and left if you flip the mount 180 degrees. However, if the glass or the rail is off, flipping a true mount will indeed not change anything.

So, after doing some more searches today at work (which results I cant reproduce as well here at home) I seemed to find quite a few threads of people complaining about their SU-16s being off alignment with the rails to the barrel.

I placed a straight edge down the side of the left and right of my rails, and on the left of the rifle, I get a bit more clearance from the front sight, than I do if I place the straight edge down the right side. This.....seems completely BACKWARDS from what I get when I mount a sight on the rail.

I'm so confused right now. This is frustrating.

I know I bought a plastic gun....but I would expect a little better quality than this though... I think I might contact KelTec customer support in the morning and see what they have to say. Im still not ready to point fingers, but at least maybe they can help me work it out.

 

[3wbdriver]

I need to revisit this issue, and also respectfully disagree with you about the mount being off in both directions of the same manner.  
If the mount points the glass high and right facing one direction, indicating there's more material on one side than the other, you should expect it to be low and left if you flip the mount 180 degrees.  However, if the glass or the rail is off, flipping a true mount will indeed not change anything.  

Agreed to a point.  High/low should change if you reverse the mount, but right or left will be the same in either direction.  Ain't civil disagreement grand?  

Sorry I can't be more helpful.  Your observation about the rifle's rail may be the issue, but I would still recommend you try a $20 set of regular decent quality american made scope rings.

Regardless, because of the polymer rail on the SU everytime you remove and remount the scope you will be looking at fine tuning it back to zero because you will not be able to exactly recreate the clamping force of the rings on the rail due to give in the plastic.  For this reason I usually recommend people buy a 1/2" riser rail that is as near the full length of the SU rail as possible.  Clamp this down tight on the rail and leave it so it will remain true to the receiver.  Then when you need to remove/remount your scope you will at least be clamping it to a metal base so the zero will be less affected.  Of course this also means you won't be able to use the fixed sights anymore because the riser will block your sightline. Something like this. 4th from the top or 8th from the top.

http://yhm.net/store/rails.html

 

[buzzsaw]

It could be that your front sight is off. My SU-22 front sight was so far off that I couldn't move the rear sight far enough left to even get on paper at 10 yds. I sent it in and Kel Tec fixed it and also polished the chamber. The sight is still a little off, but the iron sights are usable, though not centered over the bore. Since this still bothered me, I put one of these on it.http://www.nikonsportoptics.com/Pro...x.html#tab-ProductDetail.ProductTabs.Overview

You will likely find this rifle accurate enough to justify good quality optics.

buzzsaw

 

[gtrsnax]

I stopped by a buddies house. we put his red dot on my rifle. It lines up perfectly, with the front sight dead center at the bottom of the glass. So, the red dot I bought has a bad tube alignment and i'll be returning it. I'll also be returning my A2 front sight that I bought thinking I could swap it out for the factory front sight. Different thread thicknesses. dammit. I cant win with this fricking gun...

 

[themidnightrust]

This is one of those cases of you get what you pay for.  $40 is the low end of a decent red dot price range.  Usually $80 - $120 will get you a much more reliable sight.

Are there any specific sights in that price range that you'd recommend? I was thinking about getting a red dot, but I've got no idea where to start.

~Rust