I am in the process of buying a Super Redhawk. In the past due to the many positive comments on this forum I would just get the 30mm Ultradot and move on, but it seems that the small red dot sights such as the Vortex Viper/Venom, Burris, Leu, Sig and others are more and more acceptable. I have a Vortex Viper Red Dot on my M40 10mm and works great as I limit that gun/round to 50 yds. or a little more. With the Redhawk I will go 75yds maybe 100 under ideal conditions.

For those who use both, will the Ultra Dot give me the advantage of precision, shootabilty or other advantages that warrant the additional size/weight over the small Red Dots?
Thanks

The primary advantage in my experience has been durability. I've returned Leupold, Burris and Eotech reflex sights to the factory for repair, but I've never had one failure with an Ultradot tube sight. The reflex sight technology is getting better, and I currently have several on hunting handguns, but the 30mm Ultradot is top tier for me.

They?re generally tougher than other red dots on the market. Plus, they fit on an SRH (between the rings) like they were made for each other. Ultradot makes smaller, reflexive sights as well and I haven?t managed to kill one yet.

The Ultra dot will treat you better than the others.

As said, the 30mm UltraDot fits the SRH well with 30mm rings. For a reflex type sight you would need a mount system such as the one by Weigand.

Yes, I was thinking if I go Ultradot I may as well go 30mm.

I would go with the Ultra

I have One 1" UltraDot, One 30mm UltraDot and Three 30mm MatchDot II Red Dot sights. So I can compare the Three pretty well.

Go 30mm you can see a lot more ground through the sight. Big Improvement, and well worth the small added expense. My 1" UltraDot came on the first used 480 Super RedHawk I bought. I still have it mounted on my CVA Optima Muzzle Loading Pistol, but every one I have bought new has been a 30mm.

NOTE: If your Super RedHawk is new, or has new unused rings you can probably swap them in for 30mm rings direct from Ruger. I have done this before.

Next consider spending a little more on a 30mm MatchDot II.
With a standard UltraDot you have only a 4 MOA Dot Size, which is not bad at all. However with a MatchDot you have several Reticle choices. The 2 MOA and 4 MOA Dots being the only ones you need to use. With a 2 MOA Dot you will get a little less BLOOM at closing time.

If you had a 2 MOA and 4 MOA Dot to look at with the Rheostat set on 1 at Closing Time, I am sure you would see what I am talking about, and prefer the 2 MOA Dot size a little better. You also get an exposed "finger turn" Elevation Dial on the MatchDot. Not a real big deal, but you might find it handy if you sand bag your gun hunting and feel comfortable making a longer shot with it. If sighted in at say 100 yards, and you get a 150 yard shot. If you have worked with your sight settings you will know how much to DIAL IN for a 150 yard shot for a Dead on Hold. Just dial in the Elevation Correction, and hold Dead On for the shot.

I also have multiple scopes. I like the Red Dots in the woods where I will normally not make shots over 100 yards.

With a 2X Scope or a 2-7 Variable I will have the scope set on 2X in the woods where shots will be normally under 100 yards.

If I have a location where a longer shot is probable I will normally be dialed up to 3X - 4X. I have I believe 5 Burris 2-7 scopes, and one lone 4X Leupold that I got a good buy on used. You can see that I like the versatility of a variable scope also.

I do have one reflex sight an EoTech that the Reticle went haywire on. I need to send it in for repair along with one of my brothers that also went South. I have an UltraDot 6 Tactical sight on my AR15 Carbine replacing the EoTech and I very well may leave it on the AR15 after the EoTech is repaired.

Bob R

I am pretty sure that in the stock ring configuration, the Matchdot will not fit between the rings of the SRH. One of the reasons the Ultradot 30 and 25 are such attractive options. However, without dragging a Matchdot out of my safe, I cannot confirm.

Thanks for the info guys!

Max I believe you are correct about the MatchDot not fitting between the Ruger Rings on the Super RedHawk. I just got my Super RedHawk 480 out of the safe for a look. So the UltraDot 30 will be the only option unless he uses the Weigand Scope Base. I have the Weigand base on mine, and the Matchdot will work on the Weigand base.

The UltraDot 30 will work fine.

Bob R

Something to consider with the ultradot tube vs open reflex red dot is inclement weather when hunting , snow / rain would accumalate on a reflex sight . I have quick release scope covers on my ultra dots.

Exactly! They are protected a lot better and frankly they can withstand a pretty significant impact without affect. I know they?re not as streamlined or cool as a reflex sight, but there is function to look at first in a hunting application IMHO.

Perfectly said!