Red dot scope on carry gun

[Ray Z]

It seems to me that there is only two ways to use this. Carry with the scope on all the time. Which will use up a lot of batteries and you'll never know when it's on. Or turn it on when you need it. That's " Wait a minute while I check my light. Or Wait a minute while I turn my light on." Something about the speed to protect yourself or your family just doesn't male since.

[Chucktshoes]

The average battery life of the optics designed for a handgun measure in the tens of thousands of hours. So you’re changing a battery every 1-3 years, if even that often. Something else that’s common is a “shake awake” feature where quick movement causes the RDS to turn itself on.
 

So when deciding whether or not to use a RDS on a handgun, the question of battery life has been asked and answered and it’s not a concern. 

[DaveTN]

I have Red Dots, but I don't need one on carry gun. If you want to do that you can either leave it on, if it doesn't automatically shut off, or get one with the shake awake feature. Get one that won't require the sight be removed to change the battery. 

[SRST51]

I don't use one on my carry gun, but my nightstand gun is a Sig X5 Legion with a Leupold Deltapoint Pro which has top access battery and shake awake.

I can't get on board with carrying one of these, I carry a 1911 with night sights and bobbed grip frame.  Just more comfortable for me.

[m16ty]

I've thought about this, but don't know if I trust them 100%. I'd like to try one on my carry gun, as my practice with them on my rifles I get noticeably quicker with target acquisition.  

[ehull20000]

I’ve been carrying with a Red Dot for many years.  They can fail.  So can irons.  I have a great deal of confidence in my RMR’s after many thousands of rounds.  

[btq96r]

8 minutes ago, ehull20000 said:

I’ve been carrying with a Red Dot for many years.  They can fail.  So can irons.

How would irons fail? 

[Chucktshoes]

23 minutes ago, btq96r said:

How would irons fail? 

Use your belt to rack a Glock with oem sights a few times and you’ll find out. 

[btq96r]

2 hours ago, Chucktshoes said:

Use your belt to rack a Glock with oem sights a few times and you’ll find out. 

That's a bit out past intended use to say the irons failed. 

[Chucktshoes]

1 hour ago, btq96r said:

That's a bit out past intended use to say the irons failed. 

I don’t really think so. Glock’s crappy plastic sights are a long-standing beef that even many of their most ardent fans have with them. 
 

As far as using the sights as the fulcrum point to chamber a round when doing a one handed mag change, that’s a pretty bog standard technique taught by most trainers. It’s the reason damn near everyone recommends changing out the OEMs on any Glock intended for defensive use. 
 

Other manufacturers’ sights can experience the same failure point, and there are plenty of pics on the net to prove it. I just like to pick on Glock’s crappy plastic sights because, well, they’re dumb. 

Edited July 30, 2020 by Chucktshoes

[quedz]

It's all fun and games till your "plastics" fail.

[deerslayer]

4 hours ago, Chucktshoes said:

I don’t really think so. Glock’s crappy plastic sights are a long-standing beef that even many of their most ardent fans have with them. 

...and the most ardent Glock fans change the sights within hours of buying the gun.  

[felinesNfreedom]

On 5/30/2020 at 8:52 AM, Ray Z said:

It seems to me that there is only two ways to use this. Carry with the scope on all the time. Which will use up a lot of batteries and you'll never know when it's on. Or turn it on when you need it. That's " Wait a minute while I check my light. Or Wait a minute while I turn my light on." Something about the speed to protect yourself or your family just doesn't male since.

Buy a RMR, replace battery on January 1st every year if you are concerned about life. I've had a RMR on my 19 for a couple years now and love it. I've yet to swap out the battery, the time is coming though.

[chances R]

I have seen front sights come off, fiber optics break as well.  Have experienced front and rear sights loosening and shifting as well.  Murphey's Law alive and well.

[TGO David]

Get an optic that doesn't eat batteries.  The Trijicon RMR is proven and built for battle.  I have four of them.  I change their batteries on my birthday and Christmas day.  I certainly don't need to change them that often but batteries are cheap and this is cheap insurance.

My Holosun 508T-v1 has even better battery life but I change it once a year as well.  The solar panel on top of it helps keep it running longer than optics with battery only.

I haven't had to change the battery in the Sig Romeo-1 Pro yet but I'll do it the same as the RMR.  Twice a year, for insurance.

 

Would I really own this many red dots on handguns and have switched to exclusively carrying handguns with red dots if they weren't proven and reliable and offered a significant advantage?

 

Stick to reputable brands with good track records and you will be fine.  Trijicon and Holosun, yes.  Sig Romeo, only if it's the Pro series.  Not a fan of the Leupold Delta Point Pro, Swamp Fox, or Vortex. 

Go watch any of the Sage Dynamics video reviews of red dot optics on YouTube.  Buy the ones that he beats the living hell out of and still work at the end.  (Pretty much the list I just posted.)

https://www.youtube.com/user/SageDynamics

 

 

[nightrunner]

22 hours ago, TGO David said:

Get an optic that doesn't eat batteries.  The Trijicon RMR is proven and built for battle.  I have four of them.  I change their batteries on my birthday and Christmas day.  I certainly don't need to change them that often but batteries are cheap and this is cheap insurance.

My Holosun 508T-v1 has even better battery life but I change it once a year as well.  The solar panel on top of it helps keep it running longer than optics with battery only.

I haven't had to change the battery in the Sig Romeo-1 Pro yet but I'll do it the same as the RMR.  Twice a year, for insurance.

 

Would I really own this many red dots on handguns and have switched to exclusively carrying handguns with red dots if they weren't proven and reliable and offered a significant advantage?

 

Stick to reputable brands with good track records and you will be fine.  Trijicon and Holosun, yes.  Sig Romeo, only if it's the Pro series.  Not a fan of the Leupold Delta Point Pro, Swamp Fox, or Vortex. 

Go watch any of the Sage Dynamics video reviews of red dot optics on YouTube.  Buy the ones that he beats the living hell out of and still work at the end.  (Pretty much the list I just posted.)

https://www.youtube.com/user/SageDynamics

 

 

Sage Dynamics is an excellent resource for RDS on pistols.

I agree that Trijicon and Holosun are the only ones durable enough for an EDC pistol that may get bumped around and depended on for your survival. However, an unpopular opinion, is that I would rather either use irons or work overtime/save a little longer and get a Trijicon. I’d prefer to support an American company vs Chinese and even more so, an American company with a reputation of making very hard use equipment for our military and putting biblical scripture codes on their products.

[TGO David]

1 hour ago, nightrunner said:

However, an unpopular opinion, is that I would rather either use irons or work overtime/save a little longer and get a Trijicon. I’d prefer to support an American company vs Chinese and even more so, an American company with a reputation of making very hard use equipment for our military and putting biblical scripture codes on their products.

Fundamentally I agree.  There are few things that the Holosun 507C an 508T bring to the table that I'd like to see Trijicon do, proving that Holosun really is out there innovating and not just following.

1. The Ring-Dot reticle can be very useful and is a nice option

2. The larger window of the 507 and 508 as compared to the RMR makes for quicker, easier dot acquisition without being as large as, and being more robust than, the Trijicon SRO.

3. The solar panel is a heck of a nice feature.

4. The V2 variants of those two from Holosun have that "FINALLY!!!" side-loading battery door that keep you from having to remove the optic from the gun just to change batteries.

 

I bought another RMR RM07 a few days ago to put a dot back on one of my M&Ps.  I wanted to do a Holosun HE508T-V2 but Holosun keeps dragging their butts on releasing it in any sort of quantity that effectively makes it available.

 

[nightrunner]

I would like to see a side loading battery for the RMR, always seemed odd that it didn’t have it.

 

 

[hipower]

David, I'm looking at the 507 C v2 green dot. I'm finding myself very drawn to it. From what I get from Kinzie Optics and Canik USA, it fit the Trijicon mounting plate for my SFX.

[TGO David]

Just now, hipower said:

David, I'm looking at the 507 C v2 green dot. I'm finding myself very drawn to it. From what I get from Kinzie Optics and Canik USA, it fit the Trijicon mounting plate for my SFX.

Green dots have some distinct advantages.  A lot of folks find the green dots / reticles a lot easier to see and faster to recognize.  The human eye sees green something like 30% easier than it does red, so as a result a green reticle or dot seems far brighter than a red dot or reticle at the same illumination level.  This means you can dial down the illumination on a green dot and get better battery life.

The one thing I've heard "against" green dots, and it's a very nit-picky sort of thing, is that they can be harder to see when the field of view has a lot of greens or brightly lit foliage.  It seems that just bumping the power up in those situations would be an easy fix.

I am also hearing that older eyes pick up the green dots easier too.  That's not a slight on you, Hipower.  My eyes aren't near as young as they used to be either. 

 

The 507C and 508T do both use the same mounting footprint as the Trijicon RMR and SRO.  Generally, they will be compatible with any mounting system made for the RMR.  The only exception might be a gun that was precision milled for an RMR.  My M&P 2.0 Compact is like that.  It was milled specifically for an RMR and the Holosun 508T that I have is just different enough around the leading edge radius that it won't fit that gun.  Really aggrivating.

But mass produced stuff?  Should work just fine!

 

[hipower]

Just now, TGO David said:

Green dots have some distinct advantages.  A lot of folks find the green dots / reticles a lot easier to see and faster to recognize.  The human eye sees green something like 30% easier than it does red, so as a result a green reticle or dot seems far brighter than a red dot or reticle at the same illumination level.  This means you can dial down the illumination on a green dot and get better battery life.

The one thing I've heard "against" green dots, and it's a very nit-picky sort of thing, is that they can be harder to see when the field of view has a lot of greens or brightly lit foliage.  It seems that just bumping the power up in those situations would be an easy fix.

I am also hearing that older eyes pick up the green dots easier too.  That's not a slight on you, Hipower.  My eyes aren't near as young as they used to be either. 

 

The 507C and 508T do both use the same mounting footprint as the Trijicon RMR and SRO.  Generally, they will be compatible with any mounting system made for the RMR.  The only exception might be a gun that was precision milled for an RMR.  My M&P 2.0 Compact is like that.  It was milled specifically for an RMR and the Holosun 508T that I have is just different enough around the leading edge radius that it won't fit that gun.  Really aggrivating.

But mass produced stuff?  Should work just fine!

 

Bang on, Sir. Having just eyeballed(sorry for the terrible pun) them and having a couple of green lasers, I'm definitely in it for the added visibility. Red dots just seem to all blur out on me, and I find them harder to find the dot. Now that might be just my inexperience with them, but I do favor the green.

Couple with the side access for battery, and the shake awake feature...I believe I've made my decision. 

[Guest BCR#1]

7 hours ago, hipower said:

Bang on, Sir. Having just eyeballed(sorry for the terrible pun) them and having a couple of green lasers, I'm definitely in it for the added visibility. Red dots just seem to all blur out on me, and I find them harder to find the dot. Now that might be just my inexperience with them, but I do favor the green.

Couple with the side access for battery, and the shake awake feature...I believe I've made my decision. 

You better jump Hipower, they only have one left in stock. https://www.kenziesoptics.com/product/holosun-507c-v2-elite-green-dot-sight/

Bill

[Guest BCR#1]

Amazing news. I just read where the mounting base for my Holosun 407C GR V2 has the same foot print and will fit my RMR. Oh happy day!

Bill

[Grunt67]

I have a Walther PPS M2 w/ RSMc red dot. It works for me . I carry it everyday. Also, I have Mepro night sights as well. The RSMC will co-witness with the irons. So you can see both,

 day or night. Not a problem.

From what I've read & heard, the Holosun would be a better choice than the RSMc. If my fails, I'm going with the 407K, which has the same footprint as the RSMC.

Red dots are here to stay, like it or not.  I heard a similar argument years ago when radial tires first came out. We know how that turned out.

[hipower]

On 8/1/2020 at 5:59 AM, BCR#1 said:

You better jump Hipower, they only have one left in stock. https://www.kenziesoptics.com/product/holosun-507c-v2-elite-green-dot-sight/

Bill

Well...I missed that one. lol Actually found, like most everyone else, that Holosun and others are in very short supply at this time.

I actually ended up spending close to 100 more and ordered an HE510c GRv2 from Amazon. It appears to be the next gen/model up from the 507. Supposed to be here on 8/4.

I'll be mounting it on my Canik SFX. Checked with Canik to be sure the Holosun products would work with the mounts supplied with the pistol. According to Canik, the Holosun has the same footprint as the #2 mount for Trijicon RMR. I guess I'll be able to verify that soon.