Red dot sight
A red dot sight is a common classification for a non-magnifying reflector (or reflex) sight that provides an illuminated red dot to the user as a point of aim. A standard design uses a red light-emitting diode (LED) at the focus of collimating optics, which generates a dot-style illuminated reticle that stays in alignment with the firearm the sight is attached to. It used on firearms and other aiming devices, providing a point of aim in the form of an illuminated red dot. It helps shooters achieve quick target acquisition and improved accuracy.
MOA
Red dot sight reticle sizes are measured in milliradians (mrad) and minutes of angle (MOA), which both are angular measurements, making them handy units to use in ballistics. Milliradians are handy when using SI units for range and subtensions, and can be calculated by measuring the group size in millimeters (or in centimeters and multiplying by a factor of 10) and dividing by the range measured in meters. Minutes is another convenient measure for shooters using English units, since 1 MOA approximately subtends 1.0472 inches at a distance of 100 yards (91.44 m), which is generally rounded to 1 inch at 100 yards.
Subtensions for red dot sizes in minutes of arc
| Reticle dot size | 2.0 MOA (0.6 mrad) |
3.0 MOA (0.9 mrad) |
4.0 MOA (1.2 mrad) |
5.0 MOA (1.5 mrad) |
6.0 MOA (1.7 mrad) |
8.0 MOA (2.3 mrad) |
| Range 25 yd (22.86 m) |
0.5 in (13.3 mm) |
0.8 in (19.9 mm) |
1.0 in (26.6 mm) |
1.3 in (33.2 mm) |
1.6 in (39.9 mm) |
2.1 in (53.2 mm) |
| Range 50 yd (45.72 m) |
1.0 in (26.6 mm) |
1.6 in (39.9 mm) |
2.1 in (53.2 mm) |
2.6 in (66.5 mm) |
3.1 in (79.8 mm) |
4.2 in (106.4 mm) |
| Range 100 yd (91.44 m) |
2.1 in (53.2 mm) |
3.1 in (79.8 mm) |
4.2 in (106.4 mm) |
5.2 in (133.0 mm) |
6.3 in (159.6 mm) |
8.4 in (212.8 mm) |
| Formula: Subtension in inches = distance in yd x dot size in arcmin divided by 100 | ||||||
"Smiley Face" Reticle
Nowadays, compared to basic dot or crosshair reticles, people can freely customize red dot designs based on the required scenario. One renowned example is Pinty's Smiley Face reticle. A red dot sight with a smiley face reticle is a variation with a reticle designed as a smiley face, rather than a traditional dot or crosshair.
The Smiley Face reticle can provide a more intuitive or visually engaging aiming point for some users. In terms of target acquisition and aiming, its functional performance is generally similar to other red dot sight reticles.
Key Features of a Smiley Face Reticle:
1. Fun and Distinctive Design – Adds a personalized touch to your optics, making shooting more enjoyable and lighthearted.
2. Multiple Reference Points – The eyes and mouth of the smiley face can serve as additional aiming guides for improved accuracy.
3. Engagement and Training – Ideal for beginners, younger shooters, or recreational users who want a more engaging shooting experience.
4. Same Performance Benefits – Despite its fun design, a smiley face reticle still offers the same fast target acquisition and precision benefits as a standard red dot sight.
Who is it for?
- Recreational shooters looking to add personality to their gear.
- Trainers and instructors working with new or younger shooters.
- Shooters who prefer a unique sight picture without compromising accuracy.
While not typically used in tactical or professional settings, the **smiley face reticle** stands out as a fun and functional alternative for those who enjoy a more relaxed shooting experience.
Expert Review
Tough Build, Feather Weight
What's up guys this Chris from Murphy firearms training I have got an optic I want to show you guys came in a nice hard case kind of a cool box again. I don't know if you're into that thing or not but here. it is click it open show you what's in the box, the optic came in a bag, I've already got it here on this s spr it's called a smiley face site and it is a one MOA so one click is one MOA optic. I'll go into the specs.
There comes with these rubber covers comes with battery comes with a lens cloth and comes with a wrench so. one wrench lens cloth battery. reminds me a lot of a couple of other Optics that I've gotten a hold of recently. okay, so but rubber rubber silicone rubber covers here, I've already got a battery in this thing didn't put the battery that came in it do note that this is unloaded.
So here it is give you a good look at this it is from pinty okay. it's one of those Optics it's got the soft buttons the plus minus buttons. it is a single screw Mount okay it only comes with this low profile Mount. I'm going to get into that in just a minute and we borided it we took it to the range.
We put about I want to say 2530 rounds threw it at 30 yards and then at 100 yards, could ring 8 in steel out of this spr at 100 yards this is a 7 in Barrel. I think 6 7 in Barrel it's pretty short a little mag light hand grip on it was ringing stealing 100 yards with it. so anyway but let's get into it.
You got your battery cover here again. it is this knurled is fully knurled on the outer lip. then it's got these relief cuts for you to get a good grip on it. so you can come in here and really get a hold of it ironically the relief Cuts don't do anything cuz they're on a part that doesn't spin so just just the nled part spins ]it be handy if okay. but there's your battery. so we'll put that back in.
Parallax-Free Design
You can get on this with pliers although you know typically things that are knurled shouldn't need pliers. it's also got a slot for a flathead ]windage adjust elevation adjustments again you got your little cap here. it's got your little tip that can be used as an adjustment tool. I did use that on the Range it worked quite well. so you unscrew this you got your directionality for up this here goes in that little slot. let you turn that okay. so enough about that let's look at the optic the optic is kind of unique and as usual these red dots don't show up well on camera but there it is it's a smiley face and you see you got two eyes a nose and a mouth. it does say in the literature to use the nose as the aiming point and the idea is basically.
This is equivalent to a 3 MOA give or take one or two MOA but a three or 4 MOA Red Dot in the center and a larger like 50 65a Circle but not the whole circle is populated. so it kind of the whole face gives you a quick acquisition. but the aiming point the precise aiming point is the nose turn the brightness up just a little bit here. you'll see that the nose is brighter than the mouth and the eyes. so it's kind of a little gimmick. it's kind of cute it's a smiley face the nose gives you the precise aiming and the eyes and mouth kind of give you the. if you put the face on a close-up Target. you'll hit your target so kind of a kind of like a big ring and a small dot. but kind of cute the one issue.
We had with the optic it it stayed locked tight shooting 5.56 ammo and like I said it held at zero for the a little bit of shooting we've done. we're going to do a lot more shooting on camera the one issue we had is that a couple of folks who were at the range with me said oh let me try it. they could not get their cheek weld low enough and this is what they were seeing they were seeing the mouth and the nose and not getting the eyes. so they were seeing this now the good news is they were still hitting the target where they were aiming which is kind of cool. but they weren't getting the full effect of the smiley face so on this particular gun. they were having a TR trouble getting their cheek well that low so anyway here it is. this is the pinty. it does have two night settings let me see. if I can do that on camera here so as we turn this up and down.
User-Friendly
You see it getting dimmer and when it gets really dim all you see is the nose and of course we're in light here. so you see if you get the right brightness. you just get a DOT the dot is definitely brighter than the smiley face. this is wide open all right so we turn this way down that's the lowest setting. we're not in total darkness but we're in pretty low light here as we turn it up. we see we get Tada the pinty is not a shake awake Red Dot it is you turn it on when you want to turn it on you turn it off when you want to turn it off you cannot change the retical so the plus or minus arrows if you press and hold that'll turn it off if you press and hold that will turn it on same thing with the plus if you press and hold that will turn it back off so now this optic is off does not have a shake awake feature. I want to compare this as usual red dots don't always show well on camera so I want to compare this to other red dots.
So first up is this no name there is no name anywhere on this it's just made in China. this no name Red Dot this is the oldest Red Dot I have. I've had this the longest of any Red Dot I own minus a reflex site that I bought that my 450 Bushmaster destroyed. but this this noname red dot has this dial on the side under the battery cover and always hated that because when you go to change the battery you turn it on it's really hard to tell if it's off was one little tiny aluminum dot that has to line up with the zero and of course your scope ring is in the way. but if I take this tube. I put this on one you see and what's funny I'm going to see if my hand will help this on its lowest brightness setting it looks like a huge dot but it's actually a dot inside of a circle. of course if I turn the brightness up it aggravates the problem so on high brightness it looks like a giant dot so let me take you into some low light and show it to you same dark dark hallway that I had the pinty in woo that's that's 11 on the brightness let's put it on one and see if maybe if we get the right angle and the right distance no it's still not showing very well. but anyway it does have a fresh battery in it. But that's one this is my probably. my favorite tube style Red Dot. it is a two- screw mount with this big long chunk of rail. this thing mounts solid. it will do red and green and it has four retical choices. so you can do a DOT a DOT with a circle Crosshair or a Crosshair with a circle again it turns on Via the battery cover which I've never really liked.
But if I just play with this and show you kind of the the quality here this is on the lowest brght brightness setting. of course as I go higher the image gets more and more distorted cuz the camera really doesn't pick these up like our eyes do that's the green and there's the red and you can see the red shows up much fainter than the green so there's the dot the dot with the circle Crosshair and the Crosshair with circle my favorite has always always been the Crosshair so anyway. This is an optic from Firefield and the one thing I've always hated about this optic is that's off there with the r or the G on that little silver dot it's really hard to know when this thing's off. As you can see the the knobs are really stiff but you can choose your reticle and that's kind of nice. I think that this optic this p pinty optic is a clearer both of these older tube Optics here just to give you a size comparison let me grab the pinty and put it next to them you can see I mean it's half the size and probably a third of the weight. So if weight is a concern on your gun these older tube Optics they held up well. I've these have both undergone a lot lot of recoil on on several different guns. they've held up really well but number one they are heavy and so if weight is an issue. this newer style optic might be for you. the other one is these Optics here even to my naked eye tend to have a little glare the lines are not crisp if that makes sense.
This pinty reminds me of another optic I've recently gotten a hold of which is this CVlife. specifically I brought this out cuz they almost look like they're made by the same company in terms of the build quality. the battery door on this one is on the side versus at an angle like that one. and pros and cons I like this one being on the side cuz. it's kind of out of the way but it is kind of in the way of this adjustment knob. now I'm not going to adjust this once I've got it on. so it's not a big deal but the the pinty one of the advantages of this thing being at an angle is it's not in the way of your adjustment knob so yeah give or take. this one the switches are on top the pinty the switches are on the side kind of in an angle there okay. you kind of got to pick what you like better. you know that that doesn't really but what I want to show you of course is the optic quality so I'm going to turn this one on.
This is the CVlife and I'm going to put it on dot with a circle. we're going to take a look at it. so here we are we've got the dot with a circle and I am going to adjust the brightness down and you can see the dot is brighter than the circle because the circle disappears before the dot so the dot is a little brighter than the circle and as you get closer or further away so as you get further away the circle fills up the reticle more as you get closer it actually takes up less of the reticle and that's true with your naked eye. I would equate the crispness of this optic. I'm going to take it and show it to you in low light so let me turn it way down show it to you in way light in low light so hang on.
Unique Smiley Face Reticle
Here's the CV life on its not lowest but one up from its lowest setting and you see the crispness of the optic here. I do think the CV life optic is a little better in terms of quality. you can turn the Outer Circle on and off you don't just have this one optic and it shake awake so in terms of quality. you know build style everything these two are very similar Optics. they're both probably made in similar facilities somewhere in Southeast Asia. I think they're both made in China. but the CVlife is a more expensive optic and so you do get the radical choice you do get the high and the low Mount the pinty is a much lower price point. but quality-wise it looks very very similar in terms of it's a completely anodized aluminum box. you know same push buttons here the buttons do stick up a little bit more on this one if that matters to you. if you've ever handled one of the CV lives. the buttons on this are just baby smooth whereas this actually sticks up I you could find them in the dark. so anyway but very similar construction very good crisp Optics and the smiley face is kind of cool. I specifically mounted this on the SBR. because the SBR in 556 is a lot of fun for people to shoot has a great big Fireball when you shoot and we tend to shoot it at like 30 to 50 yards. so the smiley face optic is really cool. it's a lot of fun and I'm actually really excited to take it out of the range and shoot it for you guys.
Anyway so that kind of wanted to compare this pinty optic to several other different brands of Optics. it is definitely an upgrade to the older tube style Optics in terms of weight and size. it's got a nice tactile feel to the buttons um the smiley face is just kind of a cool factor I actually kind of like it. it is not Shake awake but the price point that it's at um you know it's it's a it's a very good entry level optic and if nothing else it's fun and shooting should be fun so thought I'd show it to you guys the smiley face is really cool. the the only issue we're having is we may put like a little Riser a spacer on this just so that folks who can't get their cheek down far enough can actually see the smiley face that's the only real issue I've encountered so far it's held to zero great we're going to take it out of the range run it through some testing we'll show it to you guys when we do that and I hope you enjoyed it.
