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Thread: Co-witnessing a red dot with iron sights?

  1. #1
    Member randyflycaster's Avatar
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    Sep 2016
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    Co-witnessing a red dot with iron sights?

    I read that I shouldn't co-witness a red dot with an iron sight. What are your thoughts?

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9PJfTczJpuc

    Randy

  2. #2
    The current thinking is to put the irons as low as possible and still be usable if the dot failed. We then completely ignore the iron sights when using the dot. They're just a backup. Yes they will be aligned (like he demonstrates in the video), and you can use that alignment to roughly establish and verify your zero, but we don't purposely shoot the guns with the BIUS and the dot all in alignment, the way we might with a full co witness on a long gun.

    I think "co witnessing" is kind of a mis leading term when it comes to pistol optics. (I'm not a carbine guy, so maybe I don't understand the concept there either.)
    David S.

  3. #3
    Deadeye Dick Clusterfrack's Avatar
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    My irons have the bottom of the rear notch roughly even with the bottom of the window. When aligned, the POI is center of window (about 12" high at 20 yds). That way I don't have a different index for RDS and irons.
    "You can never have too many knives." --Joe Ambercrombie
    Shabbat shalom, motherf***ers! --Mordechai Jefferson Carver

  4. #4
    Ideally, I prefer my BUIS as low as possible -- meaning usable but blocking as little of the display as possible. I don't like co-witness, because that means the irons are competing with the dot for attention.

    The smaller the display, the lower I want my BUIS. With an RMR, the usable display is so small BUIS placement means a lot to me, but with a tall optic like the SRO, there is enough display height overall BUIS size is less critical.
    Likes pretty much everything in every caliber.

  5. #5
    Site Supporter HeavyDuty's Avatar
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    I was an absolute cowitness person for years, but once I started going lower 1/3 or below I never looked back. I still have a mixture that I am slowly changing.
    Ken

    BBI: ...”you better not forget the safe word because shit's about to get weird”...
    revchuck38: ...”mo' ammo is mo' betta' unless you're swimming or on fire.”

  6. #6
    Can we define "co witness" as it relates to handguns vs carbines?
    David S.

  7. #7
    Deadeye Dick Clusterfrack's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by David S. View Post
    Can we define "co witness" as it relates to handguns vs carbines?
    I think it's the same for all guns. Co-witness means that when the irons are aligned, the dot is on the tip of the front sight.

    Absolute co-witness: dot in center of window
    Lower 1/3: dot 1/3 of the way up in window

    Another approach is to not co-witness, but have the irons and dot zeroed to different POIs. This is what I do (see above).
    "You can never have too many knives." --Joe Ambercrombie
    Shabbat shalom, motherf***ers! --Mordechai Jefferson Carver

  8. #8
    Site Supporter Erick Gelhaus's Avatar
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    The Wasatch Front
    Think of them as two separate, two different sighting systems.

    Please learn & use them independently. If you need the backup irons, then learn the process of shifting to & using them.

  9. #9
    I kinda felt like I was ignoring conventional wisdom and had gone as low as possible and still be able to use irons in a pinch. So it’s cool to see the same approach here. Recently had Scott Jedlinski on my podcast. He does the same thing.
    Aaron D.
    EvoSec
    Evolution Security Podcast

  10. #10
    Site Supporter
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    I want my irons as low as possible while still usable. These are Dawson's with a direct milled 509T.Name:  20220315_203022.jpg
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