Ruger Ready Dot sight.
I guess this would go here.
A few weeks ago I bought a Taurus G3 "T.O.R.O." just sort of for grins and giggles. It was on sale, I had a couple of gift cards from the store, so it was even cheaper, I'd never owned a Taurus semi so, why not. The gun has been very good for the 400 or so rounds I've fired through it. No malfunctions of any kind. I shoot it no worse than I do any other 9mm.
The "TORO" part means "Taurus Optical Ready Option." I didn't even know what that was, or even that it was on the gun when I got it. Turns out it came with a bunch of screws and mounting plates. I had no intention of putting a "dot" on it, so I just tossed that stuff back in the box, and shelved it. I couldn't see putting a sight on the gun that cost more than the gun itself.
Then Ruger announced their Ready Dot" sight. No batteries. No sight in required. Just mount it and shoot. MSRP was $99.00.
I decided to order one from a large, well known online gun store when I saw they had them for $65.00...shipping and tax got it up to about $80, still less than the MSRP. It uses fiber optics to generate the dot. It's not a precision sight, but is intended for what they call "self-defense" ranges. I guess you can sort of think of it as a fixed sight red dot.
I got it a couple of days ago, and mounted it on the G3. The screws that came with the sight were too short, but Taurus had a selection of screws and plates, so that wasn't a real problem.
When I got it to the range, man, I was all over the target for the first ten shots. That's when I found out the screws were too short. Fortunately I had bought along the extra screws and screwdriver so I got it back into action again quickly. The screws stayed tight this time, but I'll probably add some blue locktite to them later if I decide to keep it on the gun.
Figuring out where to hold the dot was no harder than doing the same with a set of conventional sights. I can't say I shot any better with it, but I didn't shoot any worse. Learning to pick up the dot is probably the hardest part. That and fighting off my tendency to try to line the dot up with something, the front sight usually. The dot is a sort of soft orange color that gets brighter the brighter the available light.
Which brings us to the down side. It's sold as a self-defense tool, but in really low light conditions, at least I can't see the dot. Which makes sense, fiber optics gather the available light. They don't work well in low/no light. The iron sights on the G-3 are co-witnessed, so you still have those, but I suspect one reason people will want this type sight is for low light conditions. The indoor range is not brightly lit, but it worked just fine there. Last night, in my bedroom, lit only by my computer screen, no go. Of course it was probably too dark to really identify a target anyway.
I didn't get it for a self-defense tool. I don't carry the G-3, it's a little bigger than I like. I got it for a "range toy" gun and for that it works great. I've used dots before, but not a lot. They take some getting used to it seems and I thought this would be an inexpensive way to get some range time with one. If I really like it, I figure I can upgrade at some point.
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John 3:16 .
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