Red Dot Sights on Pistols

Red Dot equipped pistols have been around for over two decades. In the 1990 USPSA Nationals Jerry Barnhart used a red dot scope to win and the same year Doug Koenig won the IPSC World Shoot with a red dot equipped CZ.

The first defensive gun I saw with a red dot was in a

Kelly Mccann video

back in the late 90's. He had a Doctor Optic mounted to a Glock 19 and I thought it was the most revolutionary thing I had ever seen. After getting one and shooting with it, I quickly lost interest. The window was too small, the optic was too fragile and I had no back up sights.

Fast forward to 2010 and I was reading about Gabe Suarez mounting an Aimpoint T-1 to a Glock. While I liked the idea, the T-1 was still way to big for a carry gun.

A few years earlier, David Bowie of

Bowie Tactical

, was starting to mill Glocks and M&Ps to accept micro red dots. The major difference between what Bowie and Suarez offers is where the rear sight is positioned. David strongly prefers to put the rear sight in front of the optic and Suarez prefers to put it behind the optic.

In the last year an exciting new mounting option has come out from

Unity Tactical.

The ATOM mount allows users to change the mounting plate to accommodate the use of different optics. I see this as a critical feature moving forward to provide a platform that can evolve with optics technology.

Presently the best option (in my opinion) for slide mounted red dots comes from Trijicon in the form of their

RMR

(Ruggedized Miniature Reflex). The RMR provides the end user with an extremely durable, small, lightweight design that works well with most pistols. Other options such as the

Leupold DeltaPoint

are OK but the general consensus is the the RMR is tougher and more user friendly.

The adjustable LED model has been criticized because it has a tendency to get inadvertently turned off by holsters and other incidental contact. other than the ability to manually adjust the LED brightness, it is the same as the other LED model.

Let me first say, there is a learning curve to shooting a pistol with a red dot optic. Don't expect to pick one up and be shooting better right away.

Upon shooting, the first thing you will probably notice it how much the dot feels like it is moving around; this is the same thing most people notice when first using a laser. Don't worry, your iron sights are moving just as much, you simply don't notice it.

From a weapons manipulation standpoint, having the RMR slide mounted doesn't change much, but it does make one handed reloading and malfunction clearances much easier.

There are some great write ups from Hilton Yam at Modern Service Weapons on the Pros and Cons of red dot equipped service pistols you can also see a number of great threads on Pistol-Training.com.

Here is my Pro/Con list for the RMR