Sorry to clutter the board with another red dot posts. No experience with any of these and still pretty new to handgun hunting. Want one to put on my 629-6 for the purposes of a hunting trip. Feral swine and yotes, in low light/night conditions, shots to be taken at 50 yards or less presumably. Budget 250. or less if I don't need to spend that much. Hoping I can get away with something smaller and not bulky/scope-like, maybe not much magnification needed? I like the looks of this Burris fast-fire, or at least that design type. Is this all I need to do what I intend? Recommendations and opinions desired and appreciated. Thanks. The red dot will only be on the gun during these limited times of use. Primarily in dark.

All my red dot experience is with the old tube style and while they worked very well technology has left them far behind. The newer styles like the Burris Fast Fire are much more compact and if I ever go red dot again it will be something like that. Surely some one will chime in with real experience with such style red dots. I actually prefer the red dots to handgun scopes.

I own several Burris Fastfire's, one mounted on a 1911 .45acp. Works well, and has stayed reliable for about 6-700 rounds now. Same with the one on one of my AR-15's.

My Ruger Red Hawk in .44 mag. has had a one inch diameter "Ultra Dot" red dot sight mounted since the 1980's. It is compact, reliable, and has accounted for more than a few deer. Pictured.

Either are in your price range, and have worked well for me. Stay away from the inexpensive holographic / tube type sights. My experience with them is they might do OK on a .22 rifle, but do not hold up under recoil well, certainly not well enough to risk a big game hunt on.

Trijicon, Aimpoint, Leupold, ect. make very durable sights, but are out of your price range. The Burris and Ultra Dot are about the cheapest I have used that hold up like they should.

Larry

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Really don't think the Burris fast fire's are a solution over the long term given the recoil of a pig slaying .44 Magnum; but the bigger limitation is the optical light gathering and clarity needed in low-light/night hunting. At a minimum a Sig Sauer Romeo 4, but that is $150 over budget. At any rate, if you can boost your budget a little the Sig Sauer Romeo 4 is arguably a great balance between Burris or Vortex optics and higher end optics like Aimpoint Micro T-2 and the Trijicon MRO.

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Aimpoint Micro T-2, vintage Nikon has served me very well. I wouldn't buy no name sights or a sight that doesn't have a life time warranty. I have had 2 other red dots quit working working or come apart after using them on my 44 mag pistols. Red dot sights all look alike but are not built to the same standards in my experience. Your mileage may vary.

With "Red Dots" you DO get what you pay for.

I sound like a broken record whenever I post in a red dot thread, but it's something prospective owners need to take into account. Before you buy any red dot, look through one. Doesn't matter a lot on which one, as they all operate with the same principle, but look through one and see if the dot looks round or not. I have an astigmatism in my dominant eye that makes the dot a fuzzy distorted smudge. It is somewhat correctable with glasses, but that's another added expense, and note the term 'somewhat'. It looks that way with my Aimpoint as it does with my Fastfires. I don't have any really cheapo red dots, but I can't imagine they would any better. Leupold made a sight that they discontinued that was perfect, in that it contained a round circle with a center dot reticle was illuminated instead of relying on a reflected LED, and my astigmatism had no effect on it. I have no idea why it was discontinued other than the fact it are batteries, even when "off".

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So many S&W's, so few funds!!

I tried the FFIII and found it difficult to find the dot at times. For the same price you can get a C-More which I have found to be much more superior. You can also get it in colors and different dot sizes.

+1 for Ultra Dot. Holds up on my 454 Casull.

Whether tube type or reflex type most of my experience with red dot sights has been with Ultras. If the dot is blooming(flaring) try turning the rheostat down, works with my eyes but, everybody is different.
reflex

tube

the bigger the diameter the quicker you can pick up the dot.
Steve

My Ultradot 30 on my Super Redhawk in 480 Ruger is flawless in durability and accuracy, allowing groups that surpass iron sight groups I was quite proud of. I would have no problems with 30 min post sunset shooting in the woods, which has been a problem with plain iron sights in the past. If Ultradot could make the red dot magically collapse and fit in my standard holster, they would be perfect. The Ultradot added another 60 minutes and 60 yards to my handgun hunting.

Thanks for the direction all. And taking the time to post.

I don't know the latest models out there but I can tell you not to carry under a coat cuz the glass will fog when you bring it out in the cold. (experience)

I don't see where a Romeo 4 has any advantage in light gathering or clarity, if anything it has less with more glass to pass through.

I have two Sig Romeo 4's I bought the first one with my Sig MCX and it was a single dot. I upgraded to the Romeo 4 that has a 65MOA circle around the dot to match the Eotech that is on my Windom Weaponry AR-15. Getting that model would make a difference

I find the circle around the dot makes acquisition of the dot much faster. I put the single dot Romeo 4 on my model 69 but didn't care for the result, too bulky for a holster, and the single dot was still hard to acquire.

I found the Raptor mount to be the solution, with a Burris FastFire 3 on it and like the results very much. Whether it will hold up to thousands of rounds will take years (for me) to tell but so far it has held zero for a box of MagTek 240 gr and half box of Hornady 225 gr XTP's (not much of a test but it's all the data I've got) and is much faster to pick up than the single dot Romeo 4 (not looking through a narrow tube).



digiroc

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If I were to go Hog hunting I'd want to take the MCX. It's 300BLK and would make more of an impression on a charging hog than any handgun. (I'd also want to be hunting from a tree).

My model 69 would be on my hip though in the front break Don Hulm holster:



digiroc

Therein lies the definition of "sport". I'm plenty comfortable on the ground with a hog and a double action .44 mag.

Me too Mr. Harry,my son and I both took a Russian in Vermont while on the ground.

Steve

I've had three over the last 10 yrs or so. Burris FF (original), JPoint, and C-More STS. The FF didn't last long (gussing IIs or IIIs have been improved). Here's picture of the C-More STS (Small Tactical SIght), alchin (SP?) mount on a 629 Classic DX and the J P Enterprises JPoint on a Freedom Arms M83 .454 C.

The C-More is the clearest and the dot is always "round" and crisp.

FWIW,

Paul

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Why is it sometimes the pictures on this forum won't load(Paul105's for example)?
Steve

No idea why, but it loaded for me.

I have 3 Burris III and two II. One of the fast fires is on a S&W 460 and I have had no problems. I also have a couple Redfield's and a Weaver and Bushnell but they are all on 22's. No problems with any of them and they all are about the same size as the Burris. I have 2 JP's also on S&W MP performance center again no problems.

I don't want to derail this thread, so I'll be brief. If you are having problems viewing pictures, it's most likely on your end. I suggest you make a post in the "Forum Office" section asking your question and list the following information: the address of the specific post in which you can't see the picture, how you are viewing the forum (cell phone, tablet, PC along with the make), and what software program you are using. Given that info, I'm sure an answer can be found.

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So many S&W's, so few funds!!

I went with a Vortex Venom on my 6.5" 629 classic. No issues so far. Plan to put one on a 6" 29.

I'll leave the 2x Nikon on the 8 3/8". Big gun, big optics! lol