Red dot sights?

[Idaho45guy]

Never really wanted one on a pistol. Didn't see the need for such silliness on a pistol. I could see the need for a scope in some applications, and there are all sorts of different configurations of open sights that people like for various duties.

Then I started shooting in matches.

And I got old.

I noticed that my last few matches I was having trouble acquiring a quick sight picture due to my sights or my target being blurry.

I realized that I had been prescribed bifocals for the first time ever. When I raise the pistol and aim, it is right at the line between near and far sight. Tilting my head up makes the sights come into focus but the target blurry. Tilting my head down makes the target focused but the sights blurry.

A gentleman at my last match suggesting trying a red dot or "reflex" sight in Unlimited class.

So I bought a cheaper red dot and mount and installed it on my G29, which is my woods carry pistol. I shoot a G35 for matches. But, I thought I'd see how I did with the G29.

I have noticed that the dot in the sight is blurry no matter what way I move my head; I think my prescription needs updated. I bought one for my lever-action hiking rifle as well but haven't taken either firearm to the range for sighting in. Maybe tomorrow.

Just wondering if anyone else here has used them with aging eyes and if they helped with accuracy.

This is my G29 all ready to go...

217769

[hawkenhunter50]

I am able to shoot faster with the red dot, but i think i am still more accurate with sights. Although i have noticed my eyesight getting blurry also. So for shooting steel dueling trees or whatever i need to do fast i like the red dot best. Does your dot look the same with both eyes or does it change by looking at it with 1 vs the other eye? I think the dot can look different if you have an astigmatism in 1 eye or the other.

[Idaho45guy]

I do have astigmatism, but the dot is the same with either eye. It's almost better with both eyes open. Will have to play around with it at the range and see what works better.

[Outer Rondacker]

Easy to check for astigmatism by taking the gun and spinning it. While looking at the dot if it is fuzzy to one side slowly spin the gun. If the fuzzy stays in the same spot its you not the dot. It could be the cheap dot.

I too use a G29 for a woods gun. I too am looking to getting back into matches and have been banging around the idea of a red dot on my pistols. We have a match in my area this Sunday and everyone runs red dots. Thinking of attending to check them out. I recently put a red dot on my 22/45 to try it out. It was a TRS-25 so it is not going to stay on it but I will say if it is in the red its dead. I kinda like it.

[GhostHawk]

Our Red Dot and Pistol journey started when my wife shot my Hipoint Carbine with a Truglo 60$ Red Dot sight.

"What is that dot thing? I really love it. Where the dot is when you squeeze the trigger is where the hole will be. Its just so easy. Don't have to aim, just put the dot on and pull the trigger.

Well she shoots a Ruger Mk III 22/45 in stainless, older model, was not drilled and tapped for mount. So I found a new model same thing only all black with the rail. Put a Red Dot on it, took it to the range, sighted it in. And discovered that gun could put 10 rounds in a pop cap at 20 feet with room at the sides.

Gave it to her for her birthday. And I took the old one. After some 6 months of on and off searching I heard about a Weigand dovetail mount. 60$, ordered and installed it. And now that one shoots that well also.

One day at the range I put 3 black dots around the outside of the 8" circle. Playing a game I call "baseball".

Full clip, pick a dot, take a shot, move to the next dot, shoot. As fast as you can, without missing.

I have that target yet. 2 full mags, all shots are in the 1" stick on dots. Nice tight groupings. Each mag took less than 10 seconds to empty.

Good practice IMO.

Then last trip to the range the black Mk III had a couple of failures to feed.
"Honey can I try yours?" Sure hon.

Honey I want my gun back. But you can have the black one!

Uhuh.

I have been converting more and more guns to Red Dot.
Old eyes, irons beyond 25 yards just don't work anymore.
Red Dots are easy. Accurate.

Granted for 100 yard shooting I prefer a good variable scope.

But for everything else, its a Red Dot.

[Outer Rondacker]

Ghosthawk what distance do you play this game from?

[GhostHawk]

20 feet, indoor range.

I'm not good enough to play at longer range.

[str8wal]

Red dots used to work great for me but as I aged the dots have become more like blobs. I had to change to a scope on my primary hunting revolver because the dot became useless at distance. It just might be your eyes.

[bobthenailer]

I have no problem with red dot sights have them on about 4 rifles and most of my handguns.

been using them for about 35 years, the aimpoint 1000 was my first !

there a God send for aging eyes ! I'm 70 years old and I'm still shooting high master bullseye scores !

[Outer Rondacker]

I just wish they did not cost more then most of my guns I would like to put them on.

[hp246]

I shoot bullseye. Quit for quite awhile after my eyes started aging. Tried a number of different things. If I'm shooting in a class requiring open sights, I use a mechanical iris on my shooting glasses. If I'm shooting in open class, I use an Ultra Match Dot II and my regular prescription which is a transition lens. I like the crosshair circle with the dot in the middle of the sight on the Ultra Match Dot.II. If you are wearing transitions and you are having problems with the dot blurring, I'd have your prescription checked.

[Leadmelter]

Talk to your eye care professional. Shooting with bifocals (I have progressive) is a real drag. The area on your lens when you aplre at the correct focal length is about 1/16". I have a guy who understands and made a some lens that have a focal length of about 36-40" which is the length of my arm holding a Ruger Redhawk. They are useful around the house. Or some dollars store special could get you by.
Leadmelter
MI

[Earlwb]

Yeah I have the same problems with bifocals and age too. But the slightly blurry red dot hasn't been a problem though. Usually it is still good enough to allow for shooting OK. So it is a tough call on how much trouble it causes you. But I have some other red dot sights and the red dot is more blurry on some than with the others. You might try some different ones at the gun counter and see if another one works better for you or not.

[Beef15]

I shoot USPSA Carry Optics. Significantly more accurate with a RDS, speed is about the same, with a slight bias to the RDS, but it took months to get it there.
Best things, in dry fire practice it is pretty much impossible to deceive oneself, the dot was either there or it wasn't plain as day, same for shot calling in live fire.
Worst things, slightly different index, dot never stops moving (neither do irons but it is far less obvious), fairly complex device that has failed me before.
With my Rx the dot is crisp, without it is a bit of a starburst, target focused (how one should use a dot) it is slightly better. Even 6MOA bloomed to whatever 3" groups at 25yds aren't too terribly difficult to manage, 4.5" is about as good as I have ever done with irons offhand.

[Lloyd Smale]

even the best ones look elongated and blurry to me. What I found is if you keep them turned down to the lowest setting that you can easily see the dot with the ambient light conditions your in and it helps a lot.

[GhostHawk]

I'm with Lloyd, I run mine as low as I can and still see it.

Covers less of the target, looks visibly smaller.

At the range especially I've never had an issue aquiring the dot and putting it on target.

Out in the wild I would probably go one notch higher especially if I was headed towards low light conditions.

[charlie b]

Not sure of your glasses but, my red dots take on an elongated look with my glasses that have progressive lenses. I had also had a problem with bifocals since the line would get in the way. But, I also discovered that the red dot worked as intended if I used the top part of the bifocals.

So, I use my bifocals for the range and have adjusted to using the top part of the lenses.

This all depends on your individual perscription. I am farsighted. If you are nearsighted this may not work for you. And, like mentioned above, if you have a strong astigmatism then the dot may take on a weird shape regardless of your glasses.

[pertnear]

I too have aging eyes & use bifocal glasses. I've never used a red dot sight & I have never thought much about it. But here of late, I've been reading a lot threads extolling their virtues & I've seen pictures of our military using these on their rifles in combat zones. Now I'm curious. It looks like there are some inexpensive models available that can be tried without breaking the bank. I have a S&W mod 19 w/adjustable sight & a Colt 1911 with a dovetail on the slide. Here are my questions:

1) What would be an inexpensive red-dot model to try as a starter?
2) Are there mounts for these 2 pistols? (the S&W 19 is pristine; heaven forbid I put a scratch on it!)
3) Would the weight on the 1911 slide effect the function?

Good info in this thread. Thanks for posting!

[mcdaniel.mac]

I too have aging eyes & use bifocal glasses. I've never used a red dot sight & I have never thought much about it. But here of late, I've been reading a lot threads extolling their virtues & I've seen pictures of our military using these on their rifles in combat zones. Now I'm curious. It looks like there are some inexpensive models available that can be tried without breaking the bank. I have a S&W mod 19 w/adjustable sight & a Colt 1911 with a dovetail on the slide. Here are my questions:

1) What would be an inexpensive red-dot model to try as a starter?
2) Are there mounts for these 2 pistols? (the S&W 19 is pristine; heaven forbid I put a scratch on it!)
3) Would the weight on the 1911 slide effect the function?

Good info in this thread. Thanks for posting!The Smith will need to be drilled and tapped if it doesn't already have holes in the topstrap for a Weigand mount. The other option is to swap the barrel to one drilled and tapped for a mount (or machined in) or trying to trade for one that had the holes already.

For the Smith with a good mount, a tube-type mount like the Primary Arms Micro should suffice, but something like a Burris Fastfire or Vortex Venom will get you lower. Fir the 1911, your options are a bridge mount (again, super big fan of Weigand) that requires drilling on the frame if you don't have a rail. You can have the slide machined to directly mount a lightweight sight like the aforementioned Fastfire, Vortex Viper (Venom is not recommended for a slide mount), or the least viable option is to drift a mount into the rear sight dovetail.

For the 1911, the bridge mount doesn't have any requirement for weight. You could run a scope if you wanted. A mount on the dovetail will be very weight sensitive, usually 2oz or less, and introduces the most points of failure. A milled-in mount is less weight sensitive, I've used a heavier RMR on a similar setup.

I would strongly caution against trying to go cheap, especially on semiautomatic pistols. Cheap bridge mounts can flex, and I don't need to tell you that's going to have you chasing flyers.

[Drm50]

Back when I was in my 40s I did scopes on several handguns for Varmits , this worked out OK
but I kinda got away from it. I'm not a world class pistol shot and when I started with the bifocals
and back problems I started loosing to a bunch of young guys. I went reflex and red dot. Didn't
help me. I think if you just have vision problems they may help. If you are having trouble holding
gun steady for physical reasons I believe you are better off with irons.

[Idaho45guy]

Well, took the pistol to the range yesterday as we had a rare break in the weather. Fired three shots and no holes on the target. Went to load another three rounds and noticed the sight was falling off the slide. Cheap $20 mount from Amazon failed in three shots. Garbage. Guess I will be ordering a $40 mount from a reputable source.

Then will have to wait another couple of weeks for a rare nice day of weather on my days off.

[gnostic]

I wish I could see with a with a RDS, it looks like a bunch of grapes. Iron sights still look sharp.

[GhostHawk]

Well you do not need to spend 3-500$ for a Red Dot sight for a pistol if you don't want to.

I have 3 Hipoint Carbines, pair of Ruger Mk III 22/45's 3 Handi Rifles, and a SKS. All sporting Red Dot sights, all under 60$.

Most of those have been there for the last 3 years.

I buy Truglo sights. I've had good luck with them.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002IWR98E/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I really like these
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000OICEUM/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

2x optical zoom. Brings 100 yard targets to look like 50's.
Reasonably small, lightweight, compact.

I have 4 and 4 of those first two.

Scattered on a variety of firearms.

This one is a touch more expensive at 65$.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004Z5BX8E/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Bought it for my wife, and worth every dime IMO.

If you are anywhere inside my house, showing an eyeball, she can put a round dead center in it.
I kid you not. 20 foot range.

Now if you want to spend more, feel free. No argument from me.

I was on a tight budget when I bought these.

First one was the last one listed, Oct of 2015. It is on the Ruger Mk III 22/45.
Then 4 of the simple cheaper ones. Then the first 2x tube sight in Sept of 16.

I have yet to have one fail. I have yet to have a serious problem with one. They only lose zero if the mount comes loose. And I have replaced 2 battery's. Both were left on for a few months.

Found them turned on and dead.

That is my experience, yours may vary.

[charlie b]

I too have aging eyes & use bifocal glasses. I've never used a red dot sight & I have never thought much about it. But here of late, I've been reading a lot threads extolling their virtues & I've seen pictures of our military using these on their rifles in combat zones. Now I'm curious. It looks like there are some inexpensive models available that can be tried without breaking the bank. I have a S&W mod 19 w/adjustable sight & a Colt 1911 with a dovetail on the slide. Here are my questions:

1) What would be an inexpensive red-dot model to try as a starter?
2) Are there mounts for these 2 pistols? (the S&W 19 is pristine; heaven forbid I put a scratch on it!)
3) Would the weight on the 1911 slide effect the function?

Good info in this thread. Thanks for posting!I got a cheaper copy of the Fastfire red dot for my wife's Colt Light Commander (.45ACP).

It had a mount that worked with the original dovetail.

Did not effect function and worked well, right up until the objective lens popped out at the range. Never found it. Bit the bullet and got a real Fastfire and it worked well. Used it for a while but my wife didn't like it. I used it on my MAK-90 and it was really nice. When I sold the rifle I gave the sight to a friend for his AR.

I had another red dot, an Aimpoint clone, around $100. The optics were good but the switch gave out after a few hundred rounds through the MAK-90 (it would turn itself off after every shot). I gave that one to a friend for his .22 rifle where it did fine.

Note that using a red dot sight on a pistol takes quite a bit of practice. The target alignment process is not as simple as with open sights. I had to practice for a couple of hours and then spent quite a bit of range time to get the dot in the field of view when the gun comes up.

[robertbank]

For me the excitement of using a red dot starts with the pull of the trigger. With spring here in full swing I have been busy playing with my PPQ and a Vortex Viper. I can see it takes practice not to chase the dot with your eyes. My results are slowly getting better. I hope to be ready for the WA State IDPA Championship in August. We shall see....I may be sticking with irons ...time will tell.

Take Care

Bob