Red dot sight for possum shooting?

I'm looking to fit a red dot sight or similar to my PCP specifically for night shooting possums (at some point in the near future). From my very limited knowledge, they will be sitting up trees typically at a range of around 5-20m. For this purpose I'm thinking a decent red dot sight and a good miniature LED torch fitted to the underside of my gun would be a good combination.

I'm keen to hear any recommendations regarding this setup or better, and for suitable equipment.

Daystate Red Wolf .22
FX Dreamline .22
Diana Outlaw .22
AA S410 .22
HW98 .177
HW30 .177
Diana 340 E-Tec .177
FWB Sport 124 .177
Gamo 900 .22
Baikal IJ-22 .177
Crosman 2240 Custom .22
Brocock GP .22

Hi Pete.

Spent some time setting the gun up today so I can go hunting with a work colleague who has been shooting big numbers of possums on a customer's property. I'm using a Holy Warrior S1, a very good clone of the Eotech but a red dot rather than a holographic display. All was going well sighting it in at 20m, but I then started struggling with the adjustment and just before I packed up I noticed the silencer was loose. Took a look for nicking and found that plus a lot of lead particles so that explains the problem. at this stage the sight is very nice to use, a nice clean illuminated reticle and I can get a good view with my glasses on.

I was planning to do some 10m indoor sighting tonight but for some reason most of my flouro lights have decided to stop working. Yet another job to do!

Cheers

Daystate Red Wolf .22
FX Dreamline .22
Diana Outlaw .22
AA S410 .22
HW98 .177
HW30 .177
Diana 340 E-Tec .177
FWB Sport 124 .177
Gamo 900 .22
Baikal IJ-22 .177
Crosman 2240 Custom .22
Brocock GP .22

Something I remembered seeing on YouTube - such a great resource!

Daystate Red Wolf .22
FX Dreamline .22
Diana Outlaw .22
AA S410 .22
HW98 .177
HW30 .177
Diana 340 E-Tec .177
FWB Sport 124 .177
Gamo 900 .22
Baikal IJ-22 .177
Crosman 2240 Custom .22
Brocock GP .22

Daystate Red Wolf .22
FX Dreamline .22
Diana Outlaw .22
AA S410 .22
HW98 .177
HW30 .177
Diana 340 E-Tec .177
FWB Sport 124 .177
Gamo 900 .22
Baikal IJ-22 .177
Crosman 2240 Custom .22
Brocock GP .22

I should have commented on that. The haul is from one nights shooting by my colleague and a couple of mates, all using powder burners. I hope to go out with them in a couple of weeks and see how the PCP compares.

I'm new to this so I'm not sure what you mean by "What distances does the one (red dot) point of aim cover?"

Daystate Red Wolf .22
FX Dreamline .22
Diana Outlaw .22
AA S410 .22
HW98 .177
HW30 .177
Diana 340 E-Tec .177
FWB Sport 124 .177
Gamo 900 .22
Baikal IJ-22 .177
Crosman 2240 Custom .22
Brocock GP .22

Hi Kiwi,
Air guns don’t push pellets very fast, even PCP’s are still comparatively slow compared to a powder burner.
The slower velocitys mean more of an arking trajectory, like a rainbow, where as a faster powder burner will shoot a flat trajectory, like a laser beam.
The red dot sight only gives you one point of aim, perfect for a flat shooting projectile out to 30 or 50m.
Where as usually an air rifle would need an aim point for 10m, another one for 20m, and probably another for 30m because of the big ark in the trajectory.

Walk quietly, but carry a big stick.

"Where as usually an air rifle would need an aim point for 10m, another one for 20m, and probably another for 30m because of the big ark in the trajectory."

Understood Pete. I initially sighted in at 20m, but based on what my colleague has told me I'll reset that to 15m for the possums. I just need to make up my mind what pellets I'll use, initial sighting in was with 18g AA Diablo heavies which seem to be very good but currently in short supply.

Being someone who wears glasses with progressive lenses, using scopes presents a number of issues. The beauty of the red dot is I can see both the image and the dot (which in the case of the EotechS1/S1 clones is known as the doughnut of death) clearly which means I can use the gun without having to touch my glasses. Effectively it's an open site but with only a single point to align and this plus the target are both in focus. With the open sights I'd be trying to align two points on the gun with the target and two of the three will be out of focus. No contest really and the pellet drop is the same, although it would be nice if the red dot had a mil-dot reticle rather than the doughnut to make it easier to cater for that.

Thanks also Pauly for your explanation....

Edited by KiwiTR6 - 15 Jun 2023 at 9:11am

Daystate Red Wolf .22
FX Dreamline .22
Diana Outlaw .22
AA S410 .22
HW98 .177
HW30 .177
Diana 340 E-Tec .177
FWB Sport 124 .177
Gamo 900 .22
Baikal IJ-22 .177
Crosman 2240 Custom .22
Brocock GP .22

“No contest really and the pellet drop is the same, although it would be nice if the red dot had a mil-dot reticle rather than the doughnut to make it easier to cater for that.”

That’s it, 100% 👍🏻.
Sounds like the red dot is definatly a better option for your eyes 👍🏻
If you are happy with only one aim point, you can have confidence in knowing that your rifle will be deadly accurate at that distance. And if you have the skill of being able to judge distance, you can learn to hold over or under depending on how far away your target is.

Just as a little extra, (I’m no expert on these things, but from my experiance) your pellets trajectory will have a “flatish” spot at the top of its arc, where it has almost stopped climbing out to where it has just started dropping.
That “top of the arc” area will cover a distance in length from 8 to 15m depending on the speed of your projectile.
If you can work out at what distance your pellet reaches the top of its arc, and zero your red dot there, you have given your self a range of 8,10, maybe 15m where you will be dead on target, as apposed to zeroing at only one specific distance where your pellet might still be climbing.
I hope that all made sense? I know a diagram would help! If it doesn't make sense let me know and I’d be happy to try explain it again using examples and maybe a diagram 😂

Walk quietly, but carry a big stick.