Techno sights for my pistol

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Besides being old, my eyes are bad to begin with. -5.5 on nearsight, +2.75 far sight, 090 axis for astig. Wear progressive lenses, and things aren't as bright as they used to be. I know they say to sight on front or back, sighting on front means I don't have target in focus, too far away, then spend too much time trying to get the right part of the lens in front of the proper sight, glasses slip between shots. Etc. Etc.

So I have been thinking about laser or possibly even red dot for S&W MP. Someone mentioned to paint rear sights white, front sight orange, or something to try to call out the difference.

Just wanted to hear from others if they have found if something more technical than irons has helped in sighting. Laser would be simple, others have talked about red dots on pistols, but not sure how secure they are, how they fit, can you use them in a holster. Any thoughts appreciated.
 
h2363B152
 
Someone mentioned to paint rear sights white, front sight orange, or something to try to call out the difference.
yeah, i tried painting the sights. i used regular, fluorescent, day glo paints and so on, and nothing worked really well. that was probably my eyes so take that with a grain of salt. i tried fiber optic...red out front and a contrasting yellow in the rear. tru glo brand. so far so good, i can see 'em now so thankful for the small things.
 
I use red dots on some of my pistols. You can get mounting adapters that replace the rear sight. You can also get slide mounted sight rails. These are a bit bulkier but are an alternative if you don’t want to replace the rear sight. I’ve been happy with my red dots so far. It’s expensive to put them on every pistol though, so I still use irons on most of my stuff.
 
I use red dots on some of my pistols. You can get mounting adapters that replace the rear sight. You can also get slide mounted sight rails. These are a bit bulkier but are an alternative if you don’t want to replace the rear sight. I’ve been happy with my red dots so far. It’s expensive to put them on every pistol though, so I still use irons on most of my stuff.

Thanks. Could you tell me what brand of red dot?

Also, have you tried a laser?
 
I shoot bullseye pistol and have used a red dot scope for a long time. Up until recently I used Ultradot scopes for everything. This season I switched to a Burris Fastfire lll reflex sight for the reduced weight and so far I am very pleased.
 
I have a number of Vortex Venoms. I’ve heard the Burris mentioned above is also good. $230 for the 3 MOA Vortex. EGW makes rear sight adapters for many popular pistol makes/models. I have tried lasers before and didn’t care for them. But just a personal preference.
 
Lasers leave a lot to be desired when it comes to maintaining zero, turning it on/off which presents a concern with CCW since you'd have to train the extra step on the draw to turn it on (there are auto-on with holster extraction and other options for this though). Also take into account battery life concerns and difficulty tracking the laser in daylight (especially if you have vision concerns to begin with).

Red dots, depending on which you buy, are very reliable, many are purpose-built to withstand use on pistols and rock-solid at maintaining zero, and several can be left on for well over a year on a single coin battery. I run the Trijicon RMR on several firearms which is often considered the gold-standard for micro red dots on handguns and its pretty bomb-proof. The Burris Fastfire is more affordable and has good reviews, the Sig Romeo is in a similar category as well. The Leupold Deltapoint Pro is another gold standard and many prefer it for competition use with its wider field of view. There are new products released in the last year including the Aimpoint ACRO (which is pretty large) and the Trijicon SRO (larger field of view like the Leuopold DPP). Eotech did make a Micro Red Dot as well to little fanfare or use.

These optics are supported by many holster manufacturers, you can even make your current holster compatible by taking a dremel tool to the kydex, it just needs a relief cut around the optic housing.

Due to riding slightly higher on the slide, you'll have to train to acquire the red dot, which can initially be frustrating but you get the hang of it pretty quick, once you have your draw down acquiring the sight picture is pretty seamless. I have young eyes, but also have astig and while the dot is not a crystal-clear point as someone without astig (you will get a little bit of starbursting), it doesn't affect aim and it definitely improves accuracy once zero'd. Virtually parallax free, no aligning of sights, just point of aim = point of impact shooting.
 
I just replaced my DPP (which is for sale, btw) with an SRO, but have other red dots on other rifles and pistols and they do make target acquisition much easier as I have older and tired eyes as well. If you have lenses for an astigmatism then you shouldn’t have any of the “starburst” effect mentioned above, and the red dot should be very clear and concise.

Depending on where you’re located, I’m happy to show you both the DPP and SRO and you can make a determination for yourself.
 
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