milling a Shield Recomendations?

[Pastor Spomer]

Washout?

I bought a Shield RMS (Reflex Mini Sight) from Suarez International last month and had them mill my S&W Shield slide and mount it. The work looks very good, but I believe they have stopped working on S&W guns.

SI gets the Shield RDS sights from England in small batches, apparently. They often appear on backorder, but I believe they get shipments about 1x month. I don't know who else is importing them now. Brownells pops up on a Google search but then does not list them.

The Shield Sight is an upgraded J-Point with the same footprint. The Shield sight's narrower footprint also attracted me as I did not want to have an RDS hanging off both sides of my slide. Compared to the J-Point, it is more robust and has better electronics, at a higher price. I got the 4 MOA version. There is also an 8 MOA. I prefer the smaller dot for better accuracy.

It does have a side-mount battery compartment that does not require the sight to be removed from the slide for battery replacement. It appears the dot has a brightness auto adjust feature that actually works well without getting either too bright nor too dim.

My standard height Ameri Glo night sights barely co-witness through the bottom of the screen. I cannot find any taller "suppressor" sights for the Shield pistol, but if there are some, they would probably be too high since the bases on other RDS are taller than the Shield (or J-Point) sight.

I will be ordering the Heine Straight Eight Night Sights to replace my current sights, as the Ameri Glo orange front sight with the big circle is too wide for me. Heine has a narrow tritium vial (no extra ring) front sight with a wide rear notch.

I have my slide, but SI is doing a grip enhancement for my frame, so I have not yet shot it. I am also waiting on a threaded barrel because . . . I want it. Apex parts installed over a year ago. I'll post pictures in another thread when the project is complete and I can display a holey target. Amen.

ETA: Sorry for the hijack, Steved13. I think your project has turned out great and I hope it meets your needs. Best of luck--and skill.

If you are indoors and you point it out the widow on a sunny day, is the dot washed out? And how is the 4 Moa compared to your front sight?

 

[okiegtrider]

If you are indoors and you point it out the widow on a sunny day, is the dot washed out?

You didn't ask me specifically, but I'll chime in anyhow. I learned from talking a little with a couple guys here on the board that the washout effect happens with the dual illumination models. Simply put, if your gun is in the dark and depending on ambient light to illuminate the sight, it just doesn't work. In theory the tritium kicks in to overcome the lack of ambient light. In practicality, it just isn't enough. Washout isn't an issue with the LED models. There is quite a bit out there on the net written on the washout issue.

Washout is probably not a big deal if your red dot gun is a range toy. Might be inconvenient at times, but not particularly risky. If you have other plans for the gun like some kinds of competition, self defense, or a duty gun, then the problem becomes more critical.

Rastoff and Steved13 are the guys that pointed this washout business to me. I'm betting CB3 will also come along with the benefit of his experience too. I'm sure there are others, but these posters have shared a lot here about their use of red dots.

 

[CB3]

If you are indoors and you point it out the widow on a sunny day, is the dot washed out? And how is the 4 Moa compared to your front sight?

I wanted to check specifically what you asked about with my Shield on my Shield.

The dot never washes out or flares under any condition. It is very bright, but small in dim light. It stays about as bright but appears a little larger in bright sunlight.

I have a Trijicon RMR 06 with what they advertise as a 3.5 MOA dot. It is actually larger than the Shield 4 MOA dot and not quite as bright. The RMR is a manual adjust unit, and leaving it on setting 3 or 4 of 8 works acceptably all the time. Shooting outdoors in bright light I'll bump it up to 5 or 6, but never higher. In dim light I'll go down to 2 and it is fine, not as bright as the Shield and the RMR dot appears a little larger to me.

Since the Shield has a smaller widow, I like the smaller dot. I have a narrow front iron sight, and the Shield dot is not as wide as the sight. It is about as wide as the Trijicon tritium night sight tube in the Heinie Straight Eight front night sight.

The Shield is a very useable sight, especially for the money. In the three months I have been shooting it I have found no drawbacks.