Triangle Tactical Podcast and Blog on Guns, Gear, and Competition Shooting
When I first started shooting 3-gun, I shot iron sights for quite a while, and I had a lot of fun doing that. I started looking into some small “budget friendly” red-dot sights to add to my rifle to try and speed up some of my times in matches, by allowing me to shoot rifle with both eyes open, like I shoot pistol. A friend had recently ordered a Primary Arms Micro Dot, so I decided to order the Bushnell TRS-25 to be different.
I ordered this optic for use on my AR-15, which required the use of a mount. The TRS-25 uses a base that mounts to a regular picatinny rail, which makes finding a riser mount for this sight challenging. Had I known this when I originally ordered the optic, I would have went with another option. I ended up ordering a $8 UTG riser, which is a low quality piece, but I wanted to use my new toy, and it was easier than ordering something else and returning the TRS-25.
Out Of The Box Impression:
My first impression of the TRS-25 was ok. The glass has a pretty obvious green tint when looking through the sight. The elevation and windage knobs have nice covers over them, and the actual knobs require a coin or key to turn them. The on/off/brightness knob has very positive clicks into the different positions, however, it is almost too hard to turn. On the top of this knob, is a cover that screws off and the battery is placed under the cover. The sight appears to be on par with the quality I expected for an $80 sight.
Battery Life:
I’ve been using the optic for about a year, and I have not run the battery dead just yet. I did replace the battery that came with it with a new one, which has been left turned on setting “3” for over 6 months, with no sign of dimming just yet.
Diode Placement:
The TRS-25 has the diode placed at the 5:00 position, which aids in co-witness with the correct mount. It looks like it is held onto the inside of the optic with bubble-gum or something, but it has held solid.
Zeroing The Optic:
Zeroing the TRS-25 was a pretty painless process. The elevation, and windage knobs worked well, with nice positive clicks when turning them. Mounting the TRS-25 to the UTG riser, and then to the upper receiver was simple, however I did have to really crank on the wing nut from the UTG mount to get it to sit snug on the receiver, which should have been expected using junk parts on my rifle.
Use Of The Optic:
Over the last year or so, I have used the optic at several 3-gun matches, and many more action rifle type matches, many of which requiring transitioning from rifle to pistol, dumping the rifle, etc. Surprisingly the optic, and UTG mount have held up quite well, holding zero for over 2,000 rounds at this point.
I have found the UTG mount to be complete junk, which I knew going into the purchase, but I really wanted to try the optic, and it was the only mount available at the time. The nut that holds the mount to the rail has begun to strip, and the entire mount itself just screams low quality.
The TRS-25 itself has been great, minus the relatively large dot (advertised at 3 MOA, which it may be on the lowest setting, but it gets much larger as the brightness goes up), and green tint to the glass.
Overall, The TRS-25 isn’t anything special, but it has been working fine for me. If I could do it over again, I would spend the money the first time, and would have bought an Aimpoint Micro. I will be running the TRS-25 until it breaks, at which time it will be replaced with the above mentioned Aimpoint Micro.
The biggest gripe I have with the TRS-25 is the mount. Mounting the optic directly to the receiver will place it way too low, and because of the type of mount on the optic, there are only two mounts that I am aware of, one being the UTG I mentioned, and the other being the Armageddon Gear TRS-25 mount, which appears to be good quality, but I have no experience with it, and with it being priced at the same price as the optic itself, I probably will not be buying one, although it does look to be nice quality based on the pictures from their website.
Overall, I’ll give the TRS-25 a C. If the mount were changed to something compatible with Aimpoint style mounts, it would improve its grade dramatically, by allowing many more mounts to be used with the optic.
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Thanks for the review. I've been looking for a low priced set up to turn a 10/22 into a budget-friendly "poor man's M4". In today's economy, shooting an M4 every time you'd like to go out means less trigger time for most people.
I purchased the TRS 25 for my 10/22 takedown and after putting the scope of the mounting rail I laser boreshighted. Then fired 2x 3 shots wherein there was minor grouping but off the bulls eye. Next volley the my hits were all over the target… Made some minor adjustments and fired 3 shots, didn’t even hit the paper…cause, the mount had come loose. Retightened fired 3 shots mount came loose again. Fired and again the mount came loose. Took the 22 into Sportsman to see if they had a solution. In the process they snapped the “cheap” screw and now were looking for a replacement. Of course the treading of the screw is one of Bushnells. Been thinking…can I rethread the piece the screw goes into? If so, I can go to ACE Hardware for a new screw. Just concerned that if I rethread the pot metal will snap also. Any advice out there????
Personally, I’d contact Bushnell and see if they would just warranty the whole unit.
Just ordered one from Amazon for the del-ton
I have been using the TRS 25 with the Armageddon Gear mount for 2 years on my Daniel Defense M4. Both have worked very well. Both came with the rifle and I have had no need to change. Very basic sight but that’s all I needed. Shooting holes through holes with it.