Red Dots on Pistols

[mcdaniel.mac]

I want one on one of my 1911's, but I want it recessed. I want it as low as possible. Anyone know where to get that done? Is that something a competent machinist can do? Gunsmiths around Jax are hard to find.

Bowie Tactical would be my suggestion. Ship it off and have it done right.

[Speedo66]

I'm also very happy with my Bushnell TRS 25. Good inexpensive sight for my Buckmark. Light enough to be hardly noticeable.

I don't see any mention in the original post of use of the red dot for duty use. I doubt the OP will be rolling around on the ground with his.

[22cf45]

I am a bullseye shooter and most of us use UltraDot's. For our 1911's the majority mount the dot on the slide using a base like the one Clark makes, can't get any lower than that. They are simple to use and stand up well under the recoil of our 45 acp's. I've got some that are probably approaching 100,000 rounds without a hiccup.
Phil

[Kestrel4k]

It's just going to be for fun,lots of plinking and target shooting. [...]

[...] This is my basis for my opinion on what should and should not go on a DUTY gun. Not hnting, not c/c not target shooting but DUTY. Do what you want it's your life.

I confess that I find it somewhat difficult to follow this reasoning after reading what the goal of the OP is.

[John 242]

I have a SR 9 and would like to put a Red Dot on it.

I didn't see any SR-9 mounts on Burris' website: https://www.burrisoptics.com/mountin...astfire-mounts


So, I did a little Google-Fu and found a SR-9 mount here: https://gallowayprecision.com/ruger/...-sr45-pistols/

The mounting plate linked above is made by Galloway Precision. That specific model has built in backup sights, which may be a gimmick or may be important to you. Either way, it has them. They have a similar mount that fits the SR-9 and allows you to use a Glock style base mount. I don't know if there are other mount makers for your gun, but I've ran into problems in the past with other guns where mounts weren't available and we had to order blanks and machine them to fit.

I had to fix rear sight damage to an SR-9c not too long ago. The owner had someone paint the gun for him. When rear sight was removed the dovetail was badly damaged. There's not a lot of depth to that dovetail cut and not a lot of material holding the sight in place. I would bear this in mind and be careful not to damage the dovetail when removing the factory sight.

As to which sight is better, Burris, et al, I can't help you.

[John 242]

I want one on one of my 1911's, but I want it recessed. I want it as low as possible. Anyone know where to get that done? Is that something a competent machinist can do? Gunsmiths around Jax are hard to find.

What sight cut do you have?
Are you sure you want it as low as possible?



This picture is shamelessly stolen from 1911forum.com link:
https://www.1911forum.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=487474

I don't know if you could get a lot lower than that. Although this looks super-complicated, I don't think this is beyond the skill of a good gunsmith-machinist. I wouldn't expect this to be a cheap job. (Although I suppose that depends on a persons definition of cheap) One thing though, cutting the slide for this style set-up is irreversible. If you find you don't like it, you're kinda stuck unless you buy an new slide.

If all you want is a mount installed in the existing dovetail, then there are plenty of factory mounts available. Burris has several for different style of dovetail cuts. https://www.burrisoptics.com/mountin...astfire-mounts

The good thing about dovetail mounts is that if you decide that you don't like optics on your 1911, you can easily remove them and put the original sight back in. They're also cheap and easy to install, especially considering the cost of machining the slide as shown in the picture.