Question about Red Dots on pistols

[The Annoyed Man]

A week ago, I bought a Gen6 G19 COA. That’s the one that comes with the factory-installed Aimpoint COA sight. My eyesight these days is such that I really need bright-looking sights to differentiate them properly, and it’s my hope that an RDS will fix the problem. Either way, this is the first truly ambidextrous Glock I’ve ever owned. Being a southpaw, this makes me happy.

This is my first RDS on a pistol. I have two on carbines and really like them, but I’m a little confused by the one on this Glock. From the factory, the windage seems properly lined up, but I’m a little confused about the elevation. When I line up the iron sights (a little difficult because they’re not suppressor-height, so they sit right at the very bottom of the sight window), the red dot sits right on top if the front sight post, also very low down in the sight window.

Is this how it’s supposed to work? I always imagined that the proper sight picture would put the dot square in the middle of the window, rather than at the bottom. Any suggestions would be welcome.

[srothstein]

TAM, I do not think the RDS and regular sights can are co-located where you can line it up together like that. I can do it on the Glock 17 MOS I have but it came with the higher (suppressor level) sights. In your case I would suggest ignoring the iron sights and just keeping the red dot in the center of the scope to sight it in. Practice with the RDS turned off so you can use the iron sights if it is ever necessary, But I doubt you will ever do so other than in practice.

I do not know enough about the RDS to say which are good or bad, but I have a Holosun with a green dot that I find easier to see than the red ones I have used. It also has a solar power charger built in so that the batteries almost cannot go dead. I have been pleased with it so far, and my groups are much tighter when I use the RDS without over thinking it. That took some practice, but I have become a believer that the RDS will improve people's shooting with practice.

[RoyGBiv]

All of my pistol red dots perform similarly TAM.
Sig Romeo-x compact
Sig Romeo-X compact enclosed
Holosun 407cx2 (6moa dot)

1. Shoot the iron sights, confirm they are aligned correctly and where the holdover is at your sighting in distance
2. Adjusting the dot to line up with the front sight, when the iron sights are aligned, should get you the same shot placement
3. When your sights are not aligned, the dot is where your shot should go.
4. Having the iron sights co-witnessed in the bottom of the dot window leaves the field of vision as free of distractions as possible.

This approach has worked for me but I'm looking forward to any differing opinions.

[The Annoyed Man]

Thank you both for your input. I wish I could use suppressor height sights on this pistol, but the one drawback, for lack of a better word, is that until Glock or someone else manufactures a suppressor height rear sight for it, you’re pretty limited. The way the COA sight attaches to the slide is different from any of the others. The front lower edge of the optic toes into a wedge-shaped undercut in the slide, and then the rear of the optic is locked down by the rear sight, which has a screw on either side that screws down to the slide. The images below might explain it better.





As you can see, the rear sight is an integral part of the wedge system. You can’t just swap it out for a taller sight, unless the new sight has the correct shape and can take mounting screws.

There were two reasons I went with this optic/pistol combination rather than others. (1) I wanted to stay with Glock, but I also wanted to have a 100% ambidextrous pistol; and (2) I watched torture tests done by Kentucky Ballistics and others where it was subjected to unbelievable amounts of abuse up to and including sledgehammers and run over by a truck…TWICE…and it never even lost zero, let alone came loose. But I didn’t realize the iron sights would be a problem.

In the picture below, you can see how very low the rear sight notch sits relative to the bottom edge of the glass.

[The Annoyed Man]

I tried to take a picture of what you see in the optic. With the iron sights lined up, the dot sits right on top of the front sight, but the dot is smaller than it looks in this picture. As you can see, it’s all right at the bottom of the glass, and it’s hard to pickup. Also the glass only becomes visible in the upper third or so of the rear sight notch.