Top Dot or 45 Degree Offset Dot

I lost count of how many times this came up in the last few days. So lets talk about it.

TLDR: Top dot is better in my opinion. But there are pros and cons to both, and you need to decide for yourself. I have tried both, and here is what I have learned.

Top dot

[Pros]

- Less side to side bulk on the gun. When running a 45 offset, I was unpleasantly surprised how often it was the snag point. Its like it had a magnet for seatbelts, straps, vines etc.

- Better suited for gas mask and NVG aiming. Check the video below, I physically can not get to a 45 dot with a mask on. (I know there is no dot on the mount, use your imagination, I don't have spare Acro's laying around)

- Can be used to get a scope on target easier. Using the top dot to get your scope in the general area of your target, then dropping into your scope is easier than rotating the gun to do it.

[Cons}

- Lots of Height Over Bore. HOB can be trained, You can learn your close range holds very easily

- Less connection with the gun. No doubt you are going to have a chin weld, not a cheek weld. This is a downside, but the difference is fairly minimal, and even less so with good training.

- Shooting through ports. The increased HOB can make shooting through short ports a pain, or force you to use your scope.

45 Offset Dot:

[Pros]

- Great connection with the gun. Proper cheek weld lets you control recoil more easily. (note I said more easily, not better)

- Independent of your scope mount (usually). This way if your scope mount fails, you have a truly redundant sighting method

- Low HOB. No need to learn holds at close range.

[Cons]

- If you are not canting the gun very consistently, you will throw shots off. You have to cant the gun the same degree every time. This is hard to do, especially when shooting and moving, compromised positions etc.

- When shooting around a corner on the same side as your dot, you have to expose more of your arm, elbow, shoulder and gun to get the dot out from behind cover.

- When using the dot, your scope is blocking a lot of your vision in your off eye. This can keep you from seeing things, and when doing transitions, prevent your eyes from locking on the the next target.

- Gets stuck on things more easily / Gets banged up a lot more in transport.

- Passive aiming with nods is hard, with a gas mask is almost impossible

Conclusion

Either way you are not wrong to go with a top dot or 45 offset. It really depends on your use case. If you shoot with NODs or a mask, I would 100% say you should use a top dot, but other than that, do you boo boo.

Get your dot set up, get out there and train, see if it works for you, and don't be afraid to change it if its not working for you.