# PISTOL RED DOTS - Everything you should consider

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1ck4z56LJM

[00:00] So, it's 2025 and pistol red dots are firmly a thing.
[00:05] Being a cringey influencer, I've been able to use most of the red dots over about that $150 price point.
[00:12] And leveraging my experience as a master rated competitive shooter, shooting exclusively red dots for the past 8 years.
[00:19] I'm going to go over the features, what's desirable, and what's not.
[00:23] We're at a point now where most of the red dots are good ones at this point.
[00:27] They're all pretty good options, but you've got specific needs.
[00:29] And I didn't even take the time to ask you about those because I'm an insensitive jerk.
[00:32] You'll get over it though, you pansy.
[00:36] So, we'll talk about the effect of the window size, the reticle option, the housing geometry and size, glass clarity, tint, all that stuff, and anything else I can think of to help you make a better selection if you're diving in.
[00:48] And before we dive into it, if you could consider subscribing to the channel, it helps me out and I really appreciate it.
[00:55] Plus, I just need more positive influences in my life and you could hang out with me more and I desperately need that.
[00:59] So, kind of
[01:01] the weird space that we get into is often with gear, dudes want like one solution that is going to solve all their problems.
[01:07] Like, if it's a gun, they want a gun that they can use for home defense and concealed carry and competition.
[01:13] And similarly, if they want a DOT, they want a DOT that's going to do all of those things equally well.
[01:20] Just like in the pistol space, there are no like, you know, one ring to rule them all type options.
[01:25] It's really just kind of compromises.
[01:30] And if you understand what the options available to you are, you can begin to make kind of informed decisions on what your needs are and what's going to meet those needs.
[01:38] But the problem with that is the only way you can really develop a preference is through trying a bunch of gear.
[01:44] Being in the pistol red dot space for over eight years at this point, I've tried a lot a lot of different optics and my preference has kind of evolved over time as I began to more understand what I liked, what I could exploit in competition and what kind of didn't matter and on the concealed carry front,
[02:02] like what really matters around having a dot on the gun.
[02:04] So, we'll walk through sort of all the considerations when you're selecting a pistol dot.
[02:10] what is generally true.
[02:12] There are kind of some big bold strokes that are generally going to be true across all segments and then we'll go into kind of the nuanced on the features and I'll finish with kind of my recommendations for the different optic footprints sort of at the end of the video.
[02:23] So, first things first, one thing you do need to understand and deeply appreciate is that my preference and what works with my eyes is going to be different from what works with your eyes and your preferences.
[02:34] So, take that one grain of salt and let's kind of get started.
[02:38] So, first things first, what's generally true, big bold strokes, a bigger window is going to be more advantageous to shoot with than a smaller window is going to be.
[02:47] Like, you kind of want the biggest window you can get given the application for the pistol you're shooting with.
[02:51] At that point, you are going to be forced to compromise on like reticle choices and sizes and all that kind of stuff because not all of the big window options have all of the reticle sizes that you may want or need.
[03:02] Some of
[03:04] the glass coatings on the bigger windows aren't going to work with your eyes.
[03:07] If you're a stigmatic, we'll get into that in a bit.
[03:11] Then some dots are going to present more clearly than other dots.
[03:13] And depending on the level of your OCD and how much you want that dot to be like this perfect circle versus kind of a starbursty mess, but generally speaking, a bigger window is going to be more advantage than a smaller window from purely a performance standpoint.
[03:27] Second bold stroke is you're going to want a CR 2032 battery because those are the biggest capacity small coin batteries that are commonly used in optics.
[03:37] But there's a lot of optics like this 507 comp takes a 1632 which has a you know about 20% less battery life in supply than a 2032 battery.
[03:50] But that's only about half the equation because the dot appearing to your eye is affected by the coating that's on the glass and the emitter that is used to project the dot onto the glass.
[04:01] So those are going to affect consumption with other things like shakea technology and those kinds
[04:05] of things as well can affect the battery life a lot.
[04:07] There are other options as well like the rechargeable options like this is an Osite S.
[04:12] This is that new one they announced at Shot Show this year.
[04:15] And then there's like the hollow sun SCS series which is like solar recharging optics.
[04:20] Those are a little bit different.
[04:23] They're not like a, you know, magic bullet that makes the battery thing kind of go away.
[04:27] They've got their own drawbacks and advantages as well.
[04:30] Third bold stroke is that a lower deck height like this shield RMSX that you see here is going to be more advantage than a higher deck height.
[04:35] And that's just the base of the optic size like on this Delta Point Pro.
[04:38] Delta Point Pro has better part of, you know, a half inch kind of standing the optic up, whereas the RMSX is about a less than a quarter inch or so.
[04:47] And you want that window to basically be as close to the slide as you can get it.
[04:53] Even fluent dot shooters will have a harder time finding the dot with a scope mount type optic like on a USPSA open gun.
[04:59] It takes them a second to kind of figure out how to
[05:06] present that dot and get it to show up in the screen when the dot is floating above the slide.
[05:10] That's generally going to be true.
[05:12] The lower you can get the window to the optic to where if you can get the dot to co-witness with like standard height iron sights, that's going to be better than a dot with a thicker housing that gets the window up over the top of the slide.
[05:23] It'll just be a lot easier to get the dot to show up in the middle of the screen.
[05:25] And before we move off the generally true stuff, the coating on the glass and like what color the coating is does not matter as much as many people will say it does.
[05:35] If you're using a dot correctly, you are keeping both eyes open and you are focusing on the target.
[05:41] Your vision will merge the two images in your brain.
[05:43] And that coding, especially at speed, is not going to really be observable.
[05:48] It's not a real consideration.
[05:50] It's something you're going to look at in the gun store or at the safe area, but it doesn't really affect how you're going to shoot.
[05:58] Now, in the past, I have criticized like back in the day, the old RMRS had a very, you know, distinct blue green sort of tint to it.
[06:04] I used to think that that
[06:07] mattered.
[06:07] It really doesn't matter.
[06:09] it does not matter at all because from
[06:10] the back of a galloping horse, which is
[06:12] basically what shooting at speed is,
[06:14] you're not even going to notice it.
[06:16] The lens coating has more to do with the
[06:18] battery life than it does to do with the
[06:20] performance of the gun.
[06:22] All right.
[06:22] Now, pivoting on to preference.
[06:26] Now, there is kind of a Goldilock size for big enough to shoot well with, but still robust enough.
[06:30] The window size is kind of a compromise because the bigger windows are going to be less rugged, less robust than the smaller windows, specifically
[06:39] the ones with the enclosed housings.
[06:41] Those are going to be the most rugged.
[06:43] But the open style site like the SRO, this is a reflex style site, meaning
[06:48] that there is one single lens and you can get a nice big, you know, piece of glass on the optic.
[06:53] The big piece of glass is important because you know if the dot when you're presenting it is going to be in roughly the lower quarter of the screen when you shoot the dot is going to lift and return to roughly that spot.
[07:05] A bigger window is going to allow
[07:07] you to track how the dot is moving in recoil.
[07:09] And with two hands on the gun,
[07:12] which a lot of people, you know, formulate these opinions because they go and practice usually it's one target straight in front of them at the range.
[07:20] They've got both hands on the gun.
[07:22] The dot may or may not leave the window as they perceive it.
[07:24] But what a big window does is it gives you more real estate to see how the dot is kind of moving.
[07:31] If you've got a hard target focus and you're focusing on that target, your body is going to subconsciously return that dot to the point you are looking at.
[07:38] And if you have a bigger window, you've got more opportunities for your body to kind of help steer the gun subconsciously back to where you shot.
[07:46] Smaller window optics like the Romeo X enclosed or the RCR or something like that have less real estate for you to be able to track how that dot is moving.
[07:55] You're not getting as much input from the dot on how the gun's moving.
[07:57] It becomes more difficult to track back the target.
[07:59] That begins to matter when you start thinking about the shooting positions that are non-traditional, not
[08:07] your sterile, like there's one target at whatever distance and you've got both hands on the gun.
[08:11] You can test this yourself.
[08:13] go find a barricade and shoot strong hand only from the opposite side of the barricade because at that point your stance isn't great.
[08:19] You don't have control with both hands on the gun.
[08:22] The gun's going to move differently.
[08:25] It just becomes harder to steer and even very seasoned dot shooters will lose the dot in these kinds of circumstances.
[08:32] If competition has taught me anything, it's that you can't train out all of the circumstances because, you know, shooting matches all over the place, there's always some new position that I hadn't thought of that affects how the dot is moving and that's when the big window really shines.
[08:46] It's especially true if you're shooting with the gun in your support hand only from the opposite side of a barricade or any sort of weird position with your body.
[08:55] It just it matters.
[08:57] So, if you are somebody who's firmly in the enclosed optic camp, be sure you are getting some reps in training with, you know, compromised positions.
[09:03] You know, strong hand only,
[09:07] support hand only, you know, leaning to the left, leaning to the right, and seeing how that dot moves so you don't lose the dot.
[09:15] Because if you lose the dot off the window, you're giving up time.
[09:17] Time is valuable in competition, and it's valuable in a defensive situation as well.
[09:24] And real quickly, I know there's some dudes down in the comments like, "Self-defense pistol, you don't need a dot."
[09:29] Blah, blah, blah. Dudes, you don't know what you don't know.
[09:31] If you haven't really learned how to exploit a dot, you're not really ready to comment on whether or not it's an advantage or not.
[09:40] At very specific distances, say inside 10 yards, they're roughly similar.
[09:43] You're going to have an easier time using shot calling with a dot than you are with iron sights.
[09:49] Shot calling is the process of knowing exactly where the bullet is going to show up by the time the gun starts to recoil, not when the hole shows up in the target.
[09:57] If you can shot call, you'll know whether or not a hit is acceptable before the bullet gets to the target.
[10:01] That allows you to shoot faster.
[10:03] That's something that's much easier to do with dots than it is with irons.
[10:04] You can do it with irons, but it is a skill that
[10:08] takes a lot longer to develop.
[10:12] Where the dot completely separates themselves from irons is when you're shooting at roughly a softball sized target at 10 yards plus.
[10:17] It's much easier to know where your rounds are going when you actually need aiming.
[10:24] And if you're a dude whose targets look like you're patterning buckshot at seven yards, then maybe sit this one out.
[10:30] Don't throw out those comments.
[10:32] They're not super useful.
[10:33] Now, just like you can set up a gun to be useful at kind of close range with your Zero or long range with your Zero, you can set up your DOT in the same way based on reticle size.
[10:45] A reticle that is finer like a two or 3 MOA dot is going to be more precise than a bigger reticle like a 6 8 10 or even 12 MOA dot which is going to be much bigger on the target but it's generally going to be easier to track and you're going to be a little bit faster with them.
[11:03] Now if your standard engagement is 100 yards then a two or three MOA dot
[11:09] really makes sense because you're able to be more precise.
[11:13] The problem is that if you have a gun that is super accurate and it shoots sub 1in groups at 25 yards, that means they're shooting 4in groups at 100 yards.
[11:22] If you've ever shot at 100 yards, you know that there is a ton of dot movement.
[11:27] You are not physically capable freestyle of making the pistol become a sniper rifle at 100 yards.
[11:32] These are not magnified optics.
[11:35] There is always going to be some wobble in the pistol if it's floating in front of your face.
[11:43] So the 2 to 3 MOA from a precision perspective isn't really an exploitable advantage in the way that a lot of people communicate that it is at about 50 yards and in pretty much any dot size up to about 10 to 12 MOA is going to be roughly similar both when you account for how much the gun is going to wobble in front of your face and with your ability to precisely aim and stabilize the gun through the trigger pull.
[12:04] Shooting pistols isn't easy.
[12:06] trigger pull does affect where the hits end up and your ability to
[12:11] stabilize it just simply to aim is generally not going to be good enough to really get a lot of advantage from a 2 or 3 MOA dot.
[12:19] It does start to matter when you consider how you're perceiving the dot based on your specific eyes.
[12:23] Some people who have a stigmatism, a 2 or 3 MOA dot looks like a 6 or 7 MOA dot, so that makes more sense for their eyes.
[12:31] But generally speaking, the brightness is going to affect how clean that dot presents to you.
[12:38] Smaller MOA dots, people are generally going to want to, you know, dial up the intensity of the dot.
[12:41] And that's not a great thing because at that point, you've got this like glowing ember in front of your face.
[12:47] That's going to suck your vision onto the dot.
[12:49] Now, as I mentioned, target focus shooting, you want to be looking at the target, and you want to see the dot.
[12:55] The point is to look at the target, then move the dot over what you're looking at on the target.
[13:01] If the dot is too hot, you're more likely to suck your vision back into focusing on the dot.
[13:05] So that wobble that we talk about is going to, you know, get a lot worse if you're dot focusing versus
[13:12] Target focusing.
[13:14] You can't fully stabilize the dot ever.
[13:16] And that's just kind of the reality of shooting handguns.
[13:19] And before we geek out too much on the reticle sizes, it's summertime, guys.
[13:23] You're wearing your short shorts.
[13:25] It drives everyone wild.
[13:27] It embarrasses your wives and children the right amount.
[13:29] And you don't want to wear a belt or whatever, that's where offbody carry is going to shine.
[13:35] And Grabag Gear makes offbody carry solutions that allow you to pop out, run to the store, and get stuff.
[13:43] You've got pockets for your wallet and keys and things like that.
[13:47] But at the same time, within the grab bag, there are holsters.
[13:49] It's equivalent of like a battle belt, but you can just run to the store in them.
[13:53] It's super useful if you don't want to go put on a holster and all that kind of stuff.
[13:58] And the bags come in two different sizes.
[14:00] That one will take up to about a Glock 17 size, whereas your smaller kind of slimline guns will fit in the smaller version of it.
[14:06] But it's not just offbody carry.
[14:08] They do make inside the waistband holsters that are pretty legit, honestly.
[14:12] And they even have outside the waistband holsters with
[14:14] thigh tie downs, all that good stuff right there.
[14:16] Super high quality gear.
[14:18] Thanks to Grab Bag Gear for sponsoring the video.
[14:21] And before we go any further, what kind of trees give the best high fives?
[14:24] Palm trees.
[14:27] So reticle sizes is obviously an insanely personal solution.
[14:29] A stigmatism, as we've said, matters, but at the same time, I used to be somebody when I first got into the DOT game that, you know, at the time there were basically two options to put on a pistol.
[14:38] It was the Delta Point Pro and the RMR.
[14:40] The Delta Point Pro had a bigger window.
[14:43] The RMR had a smaller window, but the Delta Point Pro came in a 2 1/2 MOA and a 7 MOA triangle at the time.
[14:50] Just to clear up language, MOA means minute of angle.
[14:53] It's how much of the target at 100 yards the aiming device is going to occupy.
[14:57] Smaller is obviously more precise because it takes up less of the target, but at the same time, bigger is going to be a grosser sight picture that's easier to see what's going on with and how you have it aimed at the target.
[15:09] So, it's a little bit quicker on sight acquisition and you can kind of see how the dot is moving a
[15:14] little bit easier.
[15:16] And back in the day, I convinced myself I liked 2 and 1/2 MOA because that was the dot size that was kind of available to me at the time.
[15:22] And I was convinced that I could make the dot kind of bloomed out and bigger and make it function like a bigger dot.
[15:28] But that's not really what happens because we're doing the whole focus on the target thing.
[15:33] If you have this super bright dot in your face, you're going to have your vision sucked down onto the dot and not onto the target where it belongs.
[15:39] When you actually dot focus, what you'll notice is the dot starts moving a whole lot and you're trying to stabilize it, but you're not anchoring on the target.
[15:47] you're anchoring on a moving object and you just get more movement.
[15:50] So, you really want to get a dot that is something that you can see but not look at.
[15:55] You're looking at the target.
[15:58] You're seeing where the dot is relative to where you're looking.
[16:01] That's the correct way to use a red dot.
[16:03] So, a typical just standard dot reticle.
[16:07] If I don't get, you know, an option for like a circle dot or something like that, I tend to prefer a six to roughly an 8 MOA dot.
[16:12] Those are kind of a sweet spot for speed and accuracy inside 50 yards.
[16:14] All
[16:17] the dots are going to perform roughly the same because if you think about it,
[16:20] a 6 MOA dot at 50 yards is going to be occupying about 3 in of the target.
[16:23] Your gun is not mechanically capable to deliver better accuracy than that.
[16:28] And if your gun can, there's a good chance the ammo you're using can't.
[16:32] The big dots are just easier to read an acceptable sight picture on a target.
[16:36] And you don't have to use as much brightness and able to see the dot on the target.
[16:42] So, if you're a stigmatic, the bigger dots are generally going to behave a little bit nicer cuz you don't have to use as much dot brightness.
[16:47] Now, I've kind of evolved on what my reticle taste is in competition.
[16:49] Right now, I have the Hollow Sun 507 comp set up on my competition guns with the 2 MOA dot with the 20 MOA circle.
[16:59] Full transparency, in my initial review of the 507 comp, I panned it for having the multiple reticle sizes.
[17:05] And that's because I didn't make the adjustment to be able to learn how to exploit it through actually reviewing the Sig Sauer Romeo X series of dot with a 220 circle.
[17:17] All of a sudden, it just kind of clicked and my vision was able to use the big circle when I was shooting at close range stuff like say 15 yards and in.
[17:25] I could then use on the far stuff I would use the 20 MOA circle to kind of bracket what I was looking at.
[17:30] Then use the fine dot in the middle to kind of make sure I was at the middle of what I was shooting at.
[17:36] And I find this to be true when I'm shooting even from a rest at 25 yards.
[17:41] I can use the 20 MOA circle to bracket a B8 bullseye and then the 2 MOA dot to make sure it's kind of in the center.
[17:48] There's just kind of two aiming devices there.
[17:50] It sounds like it takes a long time to use both reticles, but if you train with them, your brain will automatically make the adjustment based on the level of engagement depending on how much you shoot.
[17:59] It takes a while to be able to learn how to do that.
[18:01] It took me a couple years of messing with them before I was able to like just aha and I understood how to use the circle dot.
[18:08] The other benefit of the circle dot view is that I see less starbursting cuz I am a stigmatic as well.
[18:14] And because I don't use as much brightness, I'm getting a
[18:19] clearer sight picture from the reticle, which is awesome.
[18:23] Reticle choice is incredibly personal.
[18:25] Everybody's got a different, you know, what they like.
[18:27] But I would encourage you, unless you've done like actual serious work trying to determine whether, you know, a reticle size is the right choice for you.
[18:34] Just be open to the fact that your mind can change on what you prefer as you continue to develop as a shooter.
[18:40] Real quickly before moving off of kind of the dots and talking about that kind of target focus.
[18:44] If you're not certain whether or not you are target focusing, what you can do is get some painters tape, put it over the front lens of your optic on this plane, and then present to the target.
[18:55] If the target completely disappears, then it means that you are probably more likely dot focusing.
[19:01] You can actually shoot and get good accuracy with the dot oluded as it were.
[19:06] and you're just learning how to merge your vision into looking at the target.
[19:10] This is a great way to train.
[19:12] Some people actually compete with a cover on the front of their lens.
[19:14] This is super useful if there's like a low angle of sun and you're getting starbursting with multiple dots.
[19:19] A lot of the big window
[19:20] optics will have false dots when the sun is like right over the edge of the burm and you're shooting into it at sunrise or sunset.
[19:26] I'll even olude the front of my lens in those situations just simply to give me one dot to shoot with.
[19:33] But if the target is completely disappearing with the optic oluded, you'll know you've got work to do on your target focusing.
[19:38] I've done a video on that as well.
[19:40] You can check it out.
[19:41] Now, the bezel around the window is another consideration.
[19:42] You know, a thinner one like is on the SRO versus kind of a thicker one on the RCR.
[19:48] The sides of the RCR are very thin, but the top is very thick where the battery goes.
[19:51] It can create a tunnel vision effect.
[19:52] If you're only ever shooting at one target at a time, it becomes less of a consideration because you don't know what you don't know.
[20:00] If you have multiple targets, then kind of your vision and your ability to move from target to target to target kind of matters.
[20:06] The thinner bezel optics will give you better vision in kind of your peripheral.
[20:11] What I've noticed with my shooting is that the tunnel vision effect of like an RCR, specifically the Acro P2, like that one's one of the biggest offenders
[20:20] because the bezel is super thick all the
[20:22] way around. It's like looking through a
[20:24] drinking straw on top of the pistol and
[20:26] you're just having some of the
[20:27] information from one of your eyes being
[20:29] restricted by looking through this kind
[20:31] of drinking straw thing at the target.
[20:33] Generally speaking, a finer bezel is a
[20:36] little bit nicer. This is one of those
[20:37] compromise points because the finer
[20:39] bezels aren't as rugged. So, if you need
[20:41] ruggedness, something like an RCR is
[20:43] pretty brilliant because it's super
[20:45] thick. But the RCR has this higher deck
[20:48] height. The Romeo X enclosed, as you see
[20:51] here, gets the window of the optic
[20:52] basically to the top of the slide. It's
[20:55] an enclosed optic with a thinner bezel,
[20:56] but it's got like a growth on the side.
[20:58] Just something to consider. It's not a
[21:00] major consideration, but some people
[21:02] really can't stand it, and some people
[21:04] are okay with it. You'll figure out
[21:06] where you fall on that. So, durability
[21:08] is obviously a consideration, but at
[21:10] this point in the product cycle, pretty
[21:12] much all the optics won't rattle
[21:14] themselves to death. Back in the day,
[21:17] the RMR kind of won, and that's the
[21:19] reason it's the standard footprint was
[21:21] because it was the only optic that
[21:22] wouldn't rattle itself to death under
[21:24] recoil. Delta Point Pro figured it out
[21:26] and resoldered all their contacts, so
[21:28] the contacts wouldn't rattle loose. Now,
[21:30] everybody is more or less making a
[21:31] properly ruggedized sight that won't
[21:34] rattle itself to death under recoil.
[21:36] It's almost as common right now for a
[21:37] DOT to have the glass come delaminated
[21:40] from the hood and pop out than to have
[21:42] the electronics rattle themselves to
[21:44] death. The other consideration is
[21:46] obviously durability. When you drop the
[21:48] things, the smaller windowed ones,
[21:50] specifically with the enclosed emitter
[21:52] optics, are going to be more rugged.
[21:54] That's just kind of the way it is cuz
[21:56] you have, you know, a bigger shroud
[21:58] that's transferring force down onto the
[22:00] pistol. Some of the cheaper dots will
[22:01] have the actual lens of the optic extend
[22:04] proud of the face of the hood. And if
[22:06] that's the case, if you were ever to hit
[22:08] like a barricade or something like that,
[22:09] you're breaking the glass in your optic.
[22:11] Not good. But to kind of that point like
[22:13] the SRO is not going to be as rugged as
[22:15] an RCR or an RMR HD which have more
[22:18] robust hoods. Now distortion on glass is
[22:20] a thing. It's kind of a slight warping
[22:22] or magnification. It's not a huge
[22:24] concern when the dot is in the middle of
[22:26] the window. But if you're ever in a
[22:28] compromised position where you're
[22:29] shooting at the edge of the glass where
[22:30] the dot is like kind of right at the
[22:32] edge of the glass. This is usually in
[22:33] like a hard lean type situation. The
[22:36] point of impact can shift a little bit.
[22:38] You can experiment with this on your
[22:40] own. You can put dots on the target.
[22:43] Just, you know, one in the middle, one
[22:44] in the top, one in the bottom, one in
[22:45] the left, one on the right. Shoot the
[22:47] dot in the middle with the dot in the
[22:48] center of the glass. Shoot the dot at
[22:50] the top with the dot at the top of the
[22:52] glass. So on and so forth. And you can
[22:54] see just how much the point of impact is
[22:56] deviating based on the distortion on
[22:59] your optic. It's not a huge
[23:01] consideration. It's just something to be
[23:02] aware of. That distortion comes from the
[23:04] fact that there are basically two types
[23:05] of lenses going into optics. There is
[23:06] mangan, which is even what's in the high
[23:08] dollar trigicon optics. And then there
[23:10] is a spherical. Aphherical is going to
[23:13] be pretty much distortionfree,
[23:15] but at the same time it's not super
[23:17] common in this era of dots. The Vortex
[23:20] Defenders, the Delta Point Pro, the Sig
[23:23] Romeos, the Seymour RTS. Oh, the guns
[23:26] are moving. Even the $700 RCR has a
[23:29] mangan lens. And when I swirl it around
[23:31] at the objects on my desk, I can see
[23:33] slight warping and distortions as I move
[23:35] it around. Footprint is obviously
[23:37] concerned, but it's it's kind of
[23:38] something you adapt to. It's not
[23:40] something you kind of steer it to unless
[23:41] you have an optic you absolutely have to
[23:43] have like because of duty considerations
[23:45] for concealed carry. The RMS footprint
[23:47] is generally going to be prized because
[23:49] the skinnier slides will accept the
[23:51] screws from the RMS pattern. The RMR
[23:54] pattern is honestly terrible for pistols
[23:56] because the screws are so far apart. It
[23:58] requires the slides to be thicker in the
[24:01] back. You can see this is a 1911 slide
[24:03] on this Platypus, but it gets fatter in
[24:05] the back to accept the screws from the
[24:06] RMR. The other issue is how the
[24:08] electronics kind of house in the optic.
[24:10] Like the SRO has this cantal lever
[24:13] forward. It seems to be true on all of
[24:15] the RMR footprint optics with bigger
[24:16] windows that they have to cantal lever
[24:18] the lens forward. Whereas like the Delta
[24:20] Point Pro or whatever, the lens comes
[24:22] straight up off the edge of the housing
[24:24] doesn't have to can lever forward. The
[24:25] Delta Point Pro footprint's another
[24:27] great footprint because it fits on like
[24:29] 1911 thickness slides which is cool, but
[24:32] again the Delta Point Pro is kind of
[24:33] older tech with that higher housing. The
[24:35] RTS footprint is incredibly common on
[24:37] stuff like USPSA open guns, but the
[24:40] optics are usually so long it doesn't
[24:42] make sense for a lot of slide ride
[24:44] applications. There are pistols that can
[24:45] take them, but a lot of pistols can't.
[24:47] And a lot of times they have to sit on
[24:49] top of the slide, even if it's milled,
[24:51] because the optic is so long. Zero
[24:54] distances. Now, this matters in so much
[24:56] as that the dudes who are zeroing at
[24:58] like 10 yards aren't validating their
[25:01] zero at like 25 yards. So, while it
[25:03] looks like the gun is zeroed at 10
[25:04] yards, if it's just a little bit to the
[25:06] left, it's a lot to the left at 25
[25:09] yards. So, I zero my guns at 25 yards
[25:13] because that way I know that they're
[25:14] hitting true at, you know, kind of a
[25:16] greater pistol distance inside of that.
[25:19] I do have to do a holdover, but at the
[25:21] same time, height over boron optics on
[25:23] pistols isn't a big thing. So, like a
[25:25] less than half an inch kind of
[25:27] deflection from where the dot is zeroed
[25:29] is pretty common at like the three yard
[25:31] distance. So, not a big deal to realize
[25:33] to kind of do a a slight hold over on
[25:35] very close-range stuff, but shoot with
[25:37] confidence at the longer range stuff.
[25:39] And if you do zero it at 10 yards, just
[25:41] be certain that you are grouping at 25
[25:44] yards to make sure that the dot is truly
[25:46] zeroed as far as windage left to right
[25:49] is concerned. Real quickly, let's talk
[25:51] about enclosed emitter optics. These are
[25:53] the most robust and they're not going to
[25:55] get stuff on the back of the optic lens.
[25:58] Where this is really important is if
[26:00] you're shooting in the rain like a duty
[26:02] scenario or at a match or something like
[26:04] that, you can't get water on the back
[26:06] side of the lens because if you get
[26:07] water on the back side of the lens, then
[26:08] you see about a million dots and that's
[26:10] not good. for concealed carry
[26:12] considerations. If you're carrying with
[26:14] the gun under a shirt, then you're
[26:15] getting shirt lint on the back side of
[26:17] the lens and eventually it's going to
[26:18] get onto the emitter lens and then
[26:21] you're going to have to clean that and
[26:22] that's a pain in the butt to do because
[26:24] it's going to like give you artifacts
[26:26] with how the dot is projecting on the
[26:27] screen if you just leave the dust there.
[26:29] Enclosed emitter are fantastic. There's
[26:32] a bunch of different options at this
[26:34] point. The RCR's one, the Sig Romeo 2 is
[26:36] kind of slept on. It's honestly a great
[26:38] dot with kind of a removable shroud.
[26:41] It's not fully like nitrogen purged, but
[26:43] at the same time, I've carried this and
[26:44] it doesn't get any clouding on the
[26:46] inside of the optic as a result of it.
[26:49] It's a pretty solid sight. The Osite S
[26:51] is also enclosed on both the RMR and the
[26:54] RMS footprints of optics. And honestly,
[26:57] it seems pretty good. It's still early
[26:59] days in kind of testing it, but it seems
[27:01] like it's actually pretty solid. The
[27:02] Wolf EDG from SY has an enclosed on the
[27:05] RMR footprint and it's got a pretty good
[27:07] window size. It seems pretty strong so
[27:09] far, but again, early days in testing.
[27:11] And possibly my favorite enclosed site
[27:13] is the Hollow Sun EPS. It's got a low
[27:16] deck height. It's got a pretty big
[27:17] window, pretty thin bezel, pretty good
[27:19] battery life. It's just a really solid
[27:21] site and it doesn't cost a ton either.
[27:22] And I would kind of draw that
[27:23] distinction kind of right there. For
[27:25] competition, pure competition guns, I
[27:26] would go with an open reflex site with
[27:28] the biggest window that makes sense for
[27:29] that gun. On the concealed carry stuff,
[27:31] I really do like the enclosed emitter
[27:33] optics. They're kind of my preference.
[27:34] If you've got a 2011 with the RMS
[27:36] natively milled into the slide, then
[27:38] like the Shield RMSX.
[27:40] RMSX.
[27:42] There we go. The Shield RMSX is a good
[27:45] option with a bigger window for a, you
[27:48] know, full size gun. It's been pretty
[27:50] good. I've got it on a couple different
[27:51] guns. Moving on to the RMR footprint
[27:53] side of the house. I kind of hesitate to
[27:54] recommend Trigicon cuz I feel like
[27:56] they're getting greedy. the value of the
[27:58] Trigicon offerings versus like having
[28:00] mangan lenses with kind of the coatings
[28:03] that are a little bit polarizing.
[28:05] They're durable optics that won't rattle
[28:06] themselves to death, but at the same
[28:08] time, are they really worth 2x what the
[28:10] rest of the field is? Not really.
[28:12] Obviously, I'm a big fan of the Hollow
[28:14] Sun 507 comp. I think it's one of the
[28:16] better big window options going. The
[28:18] Wolf EDG, as I mentioned, from Sil seems
[28:21] to be pretty solid. Uh the Osite X, the
[28:23] big one, seems pretty good so far, too.
[28:26] I've only got about 1,000 rounds on one
[28:28] of those. We'll see how long that
[28:30] internal battery life thing is going to
[28:32] go, but it seems okay if you're on a
[28:34] budget. There are some other really good
[28:36] budget offerings this day and age. The
[28:37] Swamp Fox Justice 2 seems pretty solid
[28:39] so far. There's the Gideon Optics
[28:42] Granite, which seems kind of cool. I
[28:44] don't actually have one of those, but
[28:45] I've got buddies with them. They're
[28:46] pretty happy with them. There's just a
[28:48] ton of optics at this point on the RMR
[28:50] footprint. The Trigicon stuff is nice,
[28:52] specifically if somebody else is going
[28:54] to pay for them because they're
[28:55] expensive. But, you know, there you go.
[28:57] On the Delta Point Pro side of the
[28:59] house, at this point in time, I really,
[29:00] really like the Vortex Defender XL and
[29:03] the Defender ST. The ST is more of like
[29:06] an RMR size window, but it's a little
[29:08] bit taller, whereas the XL is like a
[29:10] Delta Point Proiz window, but they both
[29:13] have a spherical glass. They've got
[29:14] robust hoods. They've got a bunch of
[29:16] different dot brightness and reticles
[29:18] and sizes that I like for like the Acro
[29:20] and the 509 footprints. I mean, all
[29:22] those are pretty, you know, solid
[29:24] options. They they're okay. I don't love
[29:27] kind of any of them, and I've tried a
[29:28] bunch of them at this point. I prefer
[29:31] the traditional optic footprints sights
[29:33] over those. Although, arguably the way
[29:36] that those dots mount is better, but at
[29:38] the same time, they move the glass for
[29:40] the bottom of the lens of the optic up
[29:42] over the slide quite a bit in most
[29:44] applications. So, that's really it about
[29:45] optics. You can check out this video on
[29:47] aigmatism, the effect of dot perception.
[29:49] Um, and I appreciate you guys.