Have You Installed A Reflex Sight On Your Pistol?

[VMI77]

I had an FNX-45T up until a few weeks ago. The first optic I installed was a dual-illuminated RMR and I really disliked it... unless I was in bright daylight, the triangle was never bright enough. If you were in a dark room aiming into light, you couldn't see it at all.

I installed a Burris Fastfire III and it was much, much better. Quick acquisition and VERY fast transitioning, and followup shots were much improved as well. I could clear a plate rack at 25 yards with the red dot as fast as I could at 10 yards with irons. Steel torsos were easy to hit at 100yds as well.

I used an OTG (Off the Grid Concepts) custom Kydex holster for it.

Seems like having to use batteries would make it impractical for EDC?

[The Annoyed Man]

I had an FNX-45T up until a few weeks ago. The first optic I installed was a dual-illuminated RMR and I really disliked it... unless I was in bright daylight, the triangle was never bright enough. If you were in a dark room aiming into light, you couldn't see it at all.

I installed a Burris Fastfire III and it was much, much better. Quick acquisition and VERY fast transitioning, and followup shots were much improved as well. I could clear a plate rack at 25 yards with the red dot as fast as I could at 10 yards with irons. Steel torsos were easy to hit at 100yds as well.

I used an OTG (Off the Grid Concepts) custom Kydex holster for it.

Seems like having to use batteries would make it impractical for EDC?

Dual illuminated Trijicon RMR uses both battery AND/OR tritium illumination: https://www.trijicon.com/na_en/products ... lluminated

[Charles L. Cotton]

I had an FNX-45T up until a few weeks ago. The first optic I installed was a dual-illuminated RMR and I really disliked it... unless I was in bright daylight, the triangle was never bright enough. If you were in a dark room aiming into light, you couldn't see it at all.

I installed a Burris Fastfire III and it was much, much better. Quick acquisition and VERY fast transitioning, and followup shots were much improved as well. I could clear a plate rack at 25 yards with the red dot as fast as I could at 10 yards with irons. Steel torsos were easy to hit at 100yds as well.

I used an OTG (Off the Grid Concepts) custom Kydex holster for it.

Seems like having to use batteries would make it impractical for EDC?

The latest American Rifleman has an article about reflex sights. The battery life for the Fastfire seems to be very long, but I don't recall exactly what the article claimed. I believe it said the sight could be left on over a year. I thought about the Burris Fastfire III for an M&P 9mm C.O.R.E, but the base is too tall to be able use even the very tall iron sights as a backup. If the battery life really is 12 months, then you could change it every six months and a 100% margin.

Chas.

[VMI77]

I had an FNX-45T up until a few weeks ago. The first optic I installed was a dual-illuminated RMR and I really disliked it... unless I was in bright daylight, the triangle was never bright enough. If you were in a dark room aiming into light, you couldn't see it at all.

I installed a Burris Fastfire III and it was much, much better. Quick acquisition and VERY fast transitioning, and followup shots were much improved as well. I could clear a plate rack at 25 yards with the red dot as fast as I could at 10 yards with irons. Steel torsos were easy to hit at 100yds as well.

I used an OTG (Off the Grid Concepts) custom Kydex holster for it.

Seems like having to use batteries would make it impractical for EDC?

Dual illuminated Trijicon RMR: https://www.trijicon.com/na_en/products ... lluminated

I get the Trijicon.....but the Burris sights are battery powered. To me a sight that I can pretty much only use at the range is useless. Unless always on battery life is measured in months the only kind of handgun dot sight I'd consider for EDC would be the tritium powered sights. Another alternative would be instant on dots that are activated like Crimson Trace laser sights.

[VMI77]

I had an FNX-45T up until a few weeks ago. The first optic I installed was a dual-illuminated RMR and I really disliked it... unless I was in bright daylight, the triangle was never bright enough. If you were in a dark room aiming into light, you couldn't see it at all.

I installed a Burris Fastfire III and it was much, much better. Quick acquisition and VERY fast transitioning, and followup shots were much improved as well. I could clear a plate rack at 25 yards with the red dot as fast as I could at 10 yards with irons. Steel torsos were easy to hit at 100yds as well.

I used an OTG (Off the Grid Concepts) custom Kydex holster for it.

Seems like having to use batteries would make it impractical for EDC?

The latest American Rifleman has an article about reflex sights. The battery life for the Fastfire seems to be very long, but I don't recall exactly what the article claimed. I believe it said the sight could be left on over a year. I thought about the Burris Fastfire III for an M&P 9mm C.O.R.E, but the base is too tall to be able use even the very tall iron sights as a backup. If the battery life really is 12 months, then you could change it every six months and a 100% margin.

Chas.

I have glanced at the magazine but haven't read the article yet. 12 months would work for me....maybe even six months with a change every three months. I see mixed info from the Q&A on the Burris sights at Amazon. One guy saying they shut off automatically after so many hours (which wouldn't work for me) and one guy saying it stays on until you turn it off (works for me). On battery life one guy says a long time without being specific, another guy says he left his on and the batteries went dead overnight (which could just mean he had a bad or already nearly exhausted battery).

OTOH, the Burris sights have better customer reviews than the Trijicon sights, but in all the reviews I've had time to read through so far no one talks about using the Burris sight for EDC. However just looking through the AR article my first thought was a new handgun that comes able to accept one of these sights, and a sight, would be a good next purchase. I might already have one but I haven't wanted to modify any of my existing guns to take the sight and I'm not particularly fond of the under rail mounts.

How about cowitness with iron sights? My concern there is that once I've accommodated myself to the dot I'll be slow off the mark to line up on iron if there is a failure. I have Crimson Trace lasers on several guns and I find that my eye is drawn away from normal sight alignment to the laser with the result I'm not looking at the iron sights, and I lose time in reorientation when the laser doesn't activate because my grip is a little off.

[bcooper]

I had an FNX-45T up until a few weeks ago. The first optic I installed was a dual-illuminated RMR and I really disliked it... unless I was in bright daylight, the triangle was never bright enough. If you were in a dark room aiming into light, you couldn't see it at all.

I installed a Burris Fastfire III and it was much, much better. Quick acquisition and VERY fast transitioning, and followup shots were much improved as well. I could clear a plate rack at 25 yards with the red dot as fast as I could at 10 yards with irons. Steel torsos were easy to hit at 100yds as well.

I used an OTG (Off the Grid Concepts) custom Kydex holster for it.

Seems like having to use batteries would make it impractical for EDC?

Dual illuminated Trijicon RMR uses both battery AND/OR tritium illumination: https://www.trijicon.com/na_en/products ... lluminated

mmmmm that's gorgeous!!! I want lol

[Seabear]

OK, I have two M&P CORE 9mm Pro. One is factory sights the other is my "Open" competition gun with a Leupold Delta Point and a Carver Comp. When I got my first CORE I carried it as an EDC with the Leupold on it. It fits most of my holsters with or without the optic. I didn't find it any harder to conceal, however I did know quite a bit of the finish on the front edge of the sight but it has never bothered it. Once I got my Carver Comp I went almost all out with the open gun including an Apex trigger and all the springs etc. I use the iron sight CORE as an EDC when I am not carrying my Shield. I like them both.

If I wasn't using the optic on my open gun I would carry it, the comp just makes it a little long

Now for some details, I thought I wanted the RMR, I was very impressed with the demo a factory rep did where he took a Glock with an RMR and beat the sight on a table. Didn't seem to damage it, but I couldn't hit squat with it. Maybe it wasn't sighted in.

I went to my local GS and checked one out . The first thing I didn't like was the slight tint of the lense. Second, there is a slight magnification you will notice as you pan across targets. Kind of like holding your bifocals out in front of you and seeing things jump in size. I didn't care for that. SO I looked at the Leupold, clear lense, no maginification, larger window, and I love the triangular 7.5 MOA dot.

Fast forward, I have two of the Leupolds, one on my M&P R8 I use for steel challenge and similar matches. That revolver and sight have over 60,000 rounds down range, and I have only changed batteries twice that I recall. They say it will last up to two years and that it will begin to blink a few hours before going out. I've never seen it blink, but after about 8-9 months of heavy use it starts to get just a touch dimmer so I change it out.

The M&P CORE has not had as many rounds through it, maybe 20,000-30,000 but under much tougher conditions in 3-gun matches, getting tossed into grounding boxes and banging into barricades not to men getting blasted by the comp. I have no blast shield on it.

So, after all that my vote is YES, if you have a weapon that you can put an optic on, do it. Once you get used to it you will not believe the increase in speed getting shots on target.

In addition, another plug for the Leupold, I hate round dots. With my rx glasses I always see a blob or kind of a star. With the triangle it is crisp and in focus. Not sure why but I'll take it. The Leupold also comes with multiple mounts for different guns so you might not even need to have anything altered.

[VMI77]

Fast forward, I have two of the Leupolds, one on my M&P R8 I use for steel challenge and similar matches. That revolver and sight have over 60,000 rounds down range, and I have only changed batteries twice that I recall. They say it will last up to two years and that it will begin to blink a few hours before going out. I've never seen it blink, but after about 8-9 months of heavy use it starts to get just a touch dimmer so I change it out.

I've had Crimson Trace lasers on several guns for years and never changed batteries...but they only come on when activated by my grip. When you say they last up to two years how many hours on per day are you talking about? Is that 24/7? Having to turn the sight off every night would just be begging to forget to turn it on the next day...for me anyway. 8-9 months of heavy use doesn't sound like 24/7....do you know what battery life to expect if the sight is on continuously?

[Jago668]

There are some crazy long run times on stuff now. I know some of the Aimpoint stuff has like 50,000 hour run times. So it wouldn't surprise me to find that even a small one on a pistol might run for 10,000 to 20,000 hours.

[Seabear]

I've had Crimson Trace lasers on several guns for years and never changed batteries...but they only come on when activated by my grip. When you say they last up to two years how many hours on per day are you talking about? Is that 24/7? Having to turn the sight off every night would just be begging to forget to turn it on the next day...for me anyway. 8-9 months of heavy use doesn't sound like 24/7....do you know what battery life to expect if the sight is on continuously?

The Leupold I have which is the older model does not have an on/off switch. I Like that because I never forget to turn it on, when not in use or covered up it goes to it's lowest setting then when you draw it adjusts to the conditions. I shoot A LOT. This time of year I shoot 3-4 times a week for practice and shoot matches 2-3 weekends each month. Trust me, when they say the batteries last a LONG time, they mean it.

[Seabear]

There are some crazy long run times on stuff now. I know some of the Aimpoint stuff has like 50,000 hour run times. So it wouldn't surprise me to find that even a small one on a pistol might run for 10,000 to 20,000 hours.

The light that generates the point is about the size of a very sharp pencil tip. Maybe smaller, it can't be drawing much for sure. I'll see if the paperwork says how much.

[MadMonkey]

I had an FNX-45T up until a few weeks ago. The first optic I installed was a dual-illuminated RMR and I really disliked it... unless I was in bright daylight, the triangle was never bright enough. If you were in a dark room aiming into light, you couldn't see it at all.

I installed a Burris Fastfire III and it was much, much better. Quick acquisition and VERY fast transitioning, and followup shots were much improved as well. I could clear a plate rack at 25 yards with the red dot as fast as I could at 10 yards with irons. Steel torsos were easy to hit at 100yds as well.

I used an OTG (Off the Grid Concepts) custom Kydex holster for it.

Seems like having to use batteries would make it impractical for EDC?

Dual illuminated Trijicon RMR uses both battery AND/OR tritium illumination: https://www.trijicon.com/na_en/products ... lluminated

Actually dual-illuminated doesn't use any batteries... like the Truglo TFOs, it uses tritium and fiber optic. That's why I originally got it :)

But, since that turned out to be a bad idea I switched.

As for battery concerns, I don't really have any. I shot my FNX quite a bit and was still on the original battery when I sold it. Regardless of battery life, you can still see the irons through the optic, so even if the battery DID die, you have a backup.

[The Marshal]

There are some crazy long run times on stuff now. I know some of the Aimpoint stuff has like 50,000 hour run times. So it wouldn't surprise me to find that even a small one on a pistol might run for 10,000 to 20,000 hours.

Yes, but Aimpoint owns this market with their battery conservation technology. Not aware of any other (Real) manufacturer claim like theirs.
I think their PRO has a 3 year constant on. Yowsa.

[The Annoyed Man]

Actually dual-illuminated doesn't use any batteries... like the Truglo TFOs, it uses tritium and fiber optic. That's why I originally got it :)

But, since that turned out to be a bad idea I switched.

Why did it turn out to be a bad idea?


(Oh, and thanks for the correct. I actually have a dual-illuminated ACOG, and in the back of my mind I knew it didn't sound right when I typed battery....)

[CleverNickname]

CleverNickname,

Who did the milling of the slide and if you don't mind, what did it cost?

Thanks!

L&M Gunsmithing, they're one of two companies authorized to mill ATOM mounts in slides. IIRC the price for the milling was around $250.