November 30, 2020: Red Dot Sights on Handguns

According to an article by Patrick Sweeney of Guns and Ammo, the first red dot sights appeared on handguns in 1990. Jerry Barnhart configured a red dot sight on his gun and won the 1990 USPSA Nationals. As with many innovations the objects are taken from their original intended use and configured to work in another environment.

The winning results of the innovation pushed other shooters to use, and manufacturers to adjust to the new use. Today, many handgun manufacturers are offering their guns complete with red dot sights installed. Other manufacturers are offering “Optics Ready” guns, but whose optics?

RMR (Ruggedized Miniature Reflex) is a trademark of Trijicon.

MRD – Micro Red Dot,

MRDS- Micro Red Dot Sight

Smith and Wesson C.O.R.E. ( Competition Optics Ready Equipment ). Their line of M&P (Military & Police) full size guns have some C.O.R.E. models. The Performance Center Shield 4″ barreled gun that includes a 4 MOA (Minute Of Angle) Red dot doesn’t specify it as a C.O.R.E. mount.

Glock MOS ( Modular Optic System ).

FN Low Profile Optics Mounting Systemâ„¢ (U.S Patent No. 10/352,654) on some of the 509 series.

The FNX-45 Tactical is not as specific: Slide cut and threaded for optional electronic red-dot sight.

Slide mounting can be accomplished in two ways. Where slides are already cut to be “optics ready”, you match the gun manufacturers specific cut to a red dot manufacturers product. It reminds me of the word match problems from grade school. You have two columns and you have to draw a line between matching components.

When a slide doesn’t have an “optics ready” cut, you select an adapter plate for your gun manufacturers rear sight and the base of the red dot sight manufacturer. Push out the rear sight and then mount the adapter plate in it’s place.

To get some experience with a red dot I took this route so I would only be investing $100 for a red dot and a mounting plate. This option would also allow me to swap the red dot among multiple manufacturers guns with just the purchase of an additional adapter plate. I started with an adapter for a Glock on my “experimental” target gun.

Using a sight pusher, I removed the rear sight off the Glock like slide and installed the adapter plate and an UTG 4 MOA red dot sight. There are several vendors of adapter plates and I chose the UTG because it was thinner. With the rear sight removed there are no good options for shooting when the electronic sight fails. For a target gun or a student gun this is not a huge contraindication.

I was surprised at the usefulness of the red dot sight. Once I became accustomed to the slightly different level of the gun, I was impressed by the ability to pick up the dot and target for followup shots. Being able to keep both eyes open is also an advantage.

I bought an adapter plate for S&W M&P and moved the UTG sight to a 5″ barreled gun with an Apex Trigger. I shot a 192 out of 200 for an untimed AP-2 target at 15′ following the Distinguished Expert protocol. That’s 5 two handed strong side, 5 one handed strong side, 5 two handed weak hand, and 5 one handed weak hand.