As opposed to scopes on heavier kickers, so called red dot sights are usually small and light with not a lot in them so even the cheaper versions will stand up to recoil. I would firstly go with a cheap version just to see if a red dot sight suits your father.

Years ago I mounted and used one of the original red dot sights, an occluded eye Single Point, on my 404J. I found it worked well for fast shooting but a pain for deliberate shooting such as shooting on targets or a deliberate shot on an animal. I swapped out the Single Point for a 2x20 Leupold EER scope which I find much easier and effective to use.

I have used a later style red dot sight on another person rifle after he was having problems getting it sighted in. It was quite good although I couldn't see any advantage over a good low powered scope.