The move towards red dot sights

jpk said:
I know this is possibly taking it over the top but if red dots for pistols had a similar quick disconnect/removal option as aimpoints/trijicon (think larue style mount functionality) I would be more inclined to jump on the bandwagon
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No need. Just look through the red dot at the backup iron sights.
 
Red dots are great for fast target acquisition, especially when your eyes start to go. I'm at the point now where I can't see my front sight clearly so I've been putting RD's on many of my pistols, including my EDC P365.

I've tried several, but my new favorite is the Shield Reflex Mini. It has a center channel in the rear that allows you to co-witness without having to use massive suppressor height sights. For glock MOS you would need the low profile mounting plate.

P365.png
 
sigfanboy13 said:
Since this is a red dot thread now. What would y'all recommend for a 12ga. It'll have to be able to take a recoil beating.
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Any red dot which survives on the slide of a centerfire pistol is going to do fine on a shotgun. I realize that the recoil impulse is a little different on the shotgun, but really, living on the slide of a pistol is a tough life. So any of the well regarded red dot sights will do fine.

The more important questions for choosing a red dot for a long gun are:
  • how much do you want to spend?
  • what will it be used for?
  • how much experience do you have with dot sights?
  • do you have a preference about tube style or open style?
The answers to all of these questions will shape the recommendations. And you might consider starting a separate thread if you want good answers for your specific needs.
 
For what is worth, I did a stage with an M4 with irons only, 600m running down to 25m. It started pouring and everyone on the line using M4s couldn’t see the target because of the rear sight oval ring retaining water droplets blocking the aperture. CCO’s had no issue maintaining visibility of the target.

90% of the line was rendered useless since we were busy trying to clear the rear sight because we couldn’t see anything.

Additionally, considering how a quality RDS is engineered nowadays if you manage to break one you would have bigger problems anyways.
 
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sigfanboy13 said:
Since this is a red dot thread now. What would y'all recommend for a 12ga. It'll have to be able to take a recoil beating.
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I modified one of our Remington 870s for home defense. I replaced the factory forend with a Surefire tactical light forend. I added a mag tube extension (6 rounds), a top-folding stock and a sidesaddle shell carrier (6 rounds. The Surefire will take the abuse of 12 gauge recoil with ease and provides plenty of light.
 
jpk said:
I know this is possibly taking it over the top but if red dots for pistols had a similar quick disconnect/removal option as aimpoints/trijicon (think larue style mount functionality) I would be more inclined to jump on the bandwagon
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41H42RA37hL.jpg
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Amazon link
 
An added feature of shooting the Carry Optics division is that there's always some a-hole on your squad who's pistol doesn't run, and when it occasionally does actually fire he can't even hit the close ones with it, who your dot gives him the excuse that real men shoot irons, and if you weren't cheating with that dot he'd be beating the tar out of you.
 
BrianWilson said:
An added feature of shooting the Carry Optics division is that there's always some a-hole on your squad who's pistol doesn't run, and when it occasionally does actually fire he can't even hit the close ones with it, who your dot gives him the excuse that real men shoot irons, and if you weren't cheating with that dot he'd be beating the tar out of you.
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There's always that a**h***. I had a guy say that every rifle needs a scope when he saw my AR (he meant it towards me). He wasn't happy when he was missing so bad and I may have said "only idiots buy cheap scopes/mounts" as I packed up and left.
 
I managed to skim the entire thread without losing my mind, so I'll just toss out my personal experience. I have one red dot pistol, and I convinced our department to make the switch to red dots a little over a year ago. I don't find that my red dot is any faster inside of defensive distances like supermoto is talking about, but one of the reasons we went to them was to at least provide some kind of equal footing if an officer doesn't have time to get to their rifle to be able to shoot at distance. That being said, our qualification scores have gone up easily 25% since we switched to red dots. I'm the instructor.

The issues in the rain are real. I know everybody wants to be super right and have gear that has no flaws, but recognize it and move on. another issue that I have encountered, is going from an air conditioning car out into a humid environment. There has been two occasions where condensation fogged up my red dot. Fact. That doesn't mean I'm throwing out the baby with the bath water. Every tactic is a compromise.

I don't carry a red dot pistol off duty, but I do compete with it occasionally to keep skills up.
 
Roland Deschain said:
I managed to skim the entire thread without losing my mind, so I'll just toss out my personal experience. I have one red dot pistol, and I convinced our department to make the switch to red dots a little over a year ago. I don't find that my red dot is any faster inside of defensive distances like supermoto is talking about, but one of the reasons we went to them was to at least provide some kind of equal footing if an officer doesn't have time to get to their rifle to be able to shoot at distance. That being said, our qualification scores have gone up easily 25% since we switched to red dots. I'm the instructor.

The issues in the rain are real. I know everybody wants to be super right and have gear that has no flaws, but recognize it and move on. another issue that I have encountered, is going from an air conditioning car out into a humid environment. There has been two occasions where condensation fogged up my red dot. Fact. That doesn't mean I'm throwing out the baby with the bath water. Every tactic is a compromise.

I don't carry a red dot pistol off duty, but I do compete with it occasionally to keep skills up.
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Which RDS does your department use? I haven’t noticed fogging and I carry one daily.
 
GoodWillHunting said:
I’ve got aimpoint t2s on my 870 and 1301 with aridus mounts.
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I would also add that the Primary Arms knock off of the Aimpoint micros has been tested heavily with shotguns. If one is just using it for the range/hunting, it is a great cheap alternative. I’ve been impressed with the quality of the one I picked up, but I’m not trusting it for life or death situations though.

Primary Arms Silver Series Advanced Rotary Knob Microdot Red Dot Sight MD-RB-AD
 
Roland Deschain said:
Vortex Venoms. It's not something that happens very often. It takes a really specific set of circumstances, but it can happen.
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I will try and replicate that with my RMR. Just recently I shot a stage at the NRA LEO tactical competition and I was in and out of the vehicle with my RMR in ac since it was very hot and humid outside and didn’t notice any fogging.

I have however experienced fogging with my Vortex razor hd2.
 
I also haven't seen it happen with my RMR, but that's my personal gun, and I don't typically sit in my car in air conditioning for the amount of time that I do. For what it's worth the only two times that ever happened were at the range during an insanely humid day
 
M1911 said:
I had it happen once with my RMR. Going from a cold, air conditioned basement to outside on a very hot and humid day.
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That's pretty interesting. How where you carrying it?
I carry AWIB with a G19 (mostly in fall/winter/spring) which keep the gun covered and close to the body where its pretty warm which probably mitigates that issue.
Some folks swear by this crap:
Cat Crap (EK Products) Archives - Big Tex Outdoors
 
Very interesting... ;)

US Secret Service Adopts Glock 19 MOS Gen 5 in 9mm - Soldier Systems Daily

US Secret Service Adopts Glock 19 MOS Gen 5 in 9mm

Earlier today in an internal message to the Secret Service, Director James Murray announced the adoption of the same technology as recently selected by the US Customs and Border Protection, the 9mm Glock 19 MOS Gen 5.

Everyone in Secret Service, including uniformed division members, will be issued the G19 MOS Gen 5 9mm to replace their current SIG 229 pistol in .357.

Additionally, SOD will issue the G47 MOS Gen 5 and G26 Gen 5 in 9mm.

Members will receive new equipment training and be issued the new sidearm along with Pistol light and Holster.

The weapons will be purchased off of the CBP contract and transition will be completed by 2021.
 
Roland Deschain said:
I managed to skim the entire thread without losing my mind, so I'll just toss out my personal experience. I have one red dot pistol, and I convinced our department to make the switch to red dots a little over a year ago. I don't find that my red dot is any faster inside of defensive distances like supermoto is talking about, but one of the reasons we went to them was to at least provide some kind of equal footing if an officer doesn't have time to get to their rifle to be able to shoot at distance. That being said, our qualification scores have gone up easily 25% since we switched to red dots. I'm the instructor.

The issues in the rain are real. I know everybody wants to be super right and have gear that has no flaws, but recognize it and move on. another issue that I have encountered, is going from an air conditioning car out into a humid environment. There has been two occasions where condensation fogged up my red dot. Fact. That doesn't mean I'm throwing out the baby with the bath water. Every tactic is a compromise.

I don't carry a red dot pistol off duty, but I do compete with it occasionally to keep skills up.
Click to expand...

Re: qual scores - awesome!

Re: fogging - I haven't tried this stuff yet, but I'm told it's the bees kneees on eye pro as well as reflex sights.

 
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allen-1 said:
I've got Burris Fastfire III's on four other guns that I use for pins and plates - a S&W 1911, a S&W 617, a Browning Buckmark and a Ruger GP100.
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How did you mount the Fastfire on the 617? (I use a Fastfire III on my Mark II and my Buckmark for bullseye.)
 

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