Red Dot Sights

[jerrydm60]

looking at a trijicon type 2 red dot for my 686+ anyone have one on their pistol and do the hold up?? Pros and cons please! thanks Jerry

 

[75Vette]

Jerry, I'm not familiar with the Trijicon but I have 5 Burris FF3s all riding on top of 29/629s. Never a problem and they have a lifetime warranty if something does go wrong. The Trijicons are twice the price of the Burris or Vortex models so they'd BETTER hold up!

 

[NavySCPO]

Those are a bit too expensive for my tastes.

I own two of the Vortex Venom (Viper battery loads from the bottom, stay away from this if you can). The Venom has held up extremely well on my Kimber 45 acp, which probably has similar recoil to the .357, but that’s just my feeling, and remember the slide action on the 1911 adds it’s own additional wear. Hundreds of rounds and no issues at all.

The other one is on my Ruger 57, so obviously recoil isn’t an issue there.

Both when sighted are tack drivers, I absolutely love the Vortex Venom. BTW one has the 6 MOA and the other is a 3 MOA, 69 year old eyes can’t tell that much difference, but for finer target shooting the 3 MOA is likely better. I would recommend the 6 MOA for shots at 25-30 yards and on out.

The Venom retails for around $250, but can be had on sale for under $200. Never used it, but by all accounts their lifetime warranty is excellent.

 

[Irate45]

I also have the Burris Fastfire III. Very happy with it on my 24-3, which was converted to .45 Colt.

 

[Oracle]

I recently put a Trijicon RMR2 on my model 629-6 44 magnum 6 1/2" barrel.

Pros: The Trijicon is rock solid, it has over 600 rounds of 44 magnum and survived my teenage grandson dropping it and the 629 down a flight of concrete stairs, the red dot is still 100% dead on. The military uses Trijicon RMR's, the sights endure very harsh environments and very harsh handling and don't fail.

Cons: Only one con, the battery is accessed from the bottom of the sight BUT the sight won't need another battery for thousands and thousands of hours.

Members of this forum steered me to Raptor Sight Mounts (S&W Reflex Sight Mounts), the raptor mount gets the RMR sight super close to the revolver.

I highly recommend the Trijicon RMR2 and the Raptor sight mount.

Don

 

[Benchrest1]

Vortex Venom on a Raptor mount.

 

[505Gibbs]

I've used the Vortex Razor on several guns. No issues at all + a great warranty!

 

[malph]

I recently put a Trijicon RMR2 on my model 629-6 44 magnum 6 1/2" barrel.

Pros: The Trijicon is rock solid, it has over 600 rounds of 44 magnum and survived my teenage grandson dropping it and the 629 down a flight of concrete stairs, the red dot is still 100% dead on. The military uses Trijicon RMR's, the sights endure very harsh environments and very harsh handling and don't fail.

Cons: Only one con, the battery is accessed from the bottom of the sight BUT the sight won't need another battery for thousands and thousands of hours.

Members of this forum steered me to Raptor Sight Mounts (S&W Reflex Sight Mounts), the raptor mount gets the RMR sight super close to the revolver.

I highly recommend the Trijicon RMR2 and the Raptor sight mount.

Don

I have several Trijicon RMRs and a few others. I put the RMRs on my "working guns". They are the gold standard as far as durability goes in a handgun mounted red dot.

On a gun that's a plinker for the range, like my 617, I'm favoring Vortex Venoms right now.

I was late in moving to Red Dots but I'm really glad I did. Once you get past the transition phase, it's a really nice way to shoot, particularly for those of us with mature eyes.

 

[GuyMontag]

RMR has best the profile and ergonomics, but is also the most expensive of the group, best on a carry gun for sure but they do have longevity issues.

Holosun is as good or better an optic (though not as ergonomic and not made in the US like the RMR) but unlike the RMR hasn't the reticle problems that often appear after only 6000-8000 rounds.

Red Dots are fantastic, way of the future for sure.

 

[series guy]

I have 5 guns with Fastfire III mounted on Raptor or Alchin mounts. All work very well. I had one FF III that I bought used that I couldn't get sighted in (maybe why it was sold). Burris replaced it no questions asked. I love these sights.

 

[Paul105]

Just starting to dip my toes in these waters. The Raptor mount is low, sold and avail for various models of guns and Red Dots (Alchin Sp? is also good). If I remember correctly (too lazy to go and look) the sight windo is larger on the Leupold and Holosun vs most of the others that I've got (J Point, Trijicon, Holosun, Leupold & C-More) .

All mounted on 2 3/4" M69:

Trijicon on EGW mount (Egw mount - only one screw to frame and lug not solid against rear sight cutout)

Deltapoint pro on Raptor mount:

Cmore on Weigan

FWIW,

Paul

 

[Oracle]

Those are a bit too expensive for my tastes.

I own two of the Vortex Venom (Viper battery loads from the bottom, stay away from this if you can). The Venom has held up extremely well on my Kimber 45 acp, which probably has similar recoil to the .357, but that’s just my feeling, and remember the slide action on the 1911 adds it’s own additional wear. Hundreds of rounds and no issues at all.

The other one is on my Ruger 57, so obviously recoil isn’t an issue there.

Both when sighted are tack drivers, I absolutely love the Vortex Venom. BTW one has the 6 MOA and the other is a 3 MOA, 69 year old eyes can’t tell that much difference, but for finer target shooting the 3 MOA is likely better. I would recommend the 6 MOA for shots at 25-30 yards and on out.

The Venom retails for around $250, but can be had on sale for under $200. Never used it, but by all accounts their lifetime warranty is excellent.

You are entirely correct senior chief. I am awash with Vortex optic, binoculars, range finder, rifle scopes, AR scopes and red dots. I had an offer I couldn't refuse, Trijicon RMR2's on sale, and repeat customer reward value points brought the Trijicon price well below Vortex. If the Trijicon doesn't perform I am not out a huge chunk of change.

 

[bangbig]

3 vortex venoms, 2 on 44 mag and 1 on 357, no complaints except I wish they had a lower brightness. I use the lowest setting on the 3moa dot and it's too much most of the time when precision shooting. All with raptor mounts which are awesome.

2 ultradot matchdots (not the ii version) that I picked up cheap on sale. Excellent units and I can find the dot much quicker with tubes. But they do add weight.

 

[SLT223]

x2 on the FF3 suggestion. I followed 75Vette's advice a couple years ago, and it has worked out very well. I also recomend the Raptor mount from forum member ph_raptor. I think it's still the lowest mount on the market, and very well machined & easy to install.

 

[WR Moore]

I'm experimenting with a RMR type 2 adjustable. Two modes of operation: automatic dot brightness adjustment or manual. Manual, you-hit either the + or - button for about 1 second and you have max brightness. Auto/off you have to hit both buttons at the same time and hold them for about 3 seconds to get on/off. This can get challenging.

I find the auto setting brighter than optimal in direct light. Dim light seems OK.

The military versions are actually much more expensive. Also, remember that if they get a failure, they trash it (OK, turn it in at supply-who may/will trash it) and requisition another. I expect a DOD contract gets superlative customer service that individuals won't. I also expect that the primary DOD use will be special operations or others using night vision gear.

I'd have preferred the Deltapoint strictly for customer service, but it's larger and would overwhelm the handgun involved.