Dot for Metal Frame CO Gun

[Tanders]

Due to a widespread wave of poor judgment and moral depravity, most of the Production shooters in my region have begun bolting vile red dots to their guns in a misguided attempt to attain new levels of hot and nasty speed.  Since I am slowly being driven mad by the solitude of being one of the few remaining adherents to the one true faith of Iron Sights, I am tempted to shake hands with the Devil and fasten his aiming device to the previously undefiled slide of my SP-01 Shadow.  However, I have heard tales of metal-framed pistols exorcising the spirit of many a red dot (likely a protest on the part of the handgun for having such an unholy monstrosity affixed to it).  I therefore present the membership of this forum with the following query: if I am to sell my soul and descend into the cesspool of Carry Optics, which electronic aiming abomination would serve me best in my shameful quest?  The Deltapoint Pro seems to be favored by much of the CO rabble, but I wonder if this abhorrent device will be able to bear the righteous scourging my metal-framed weapon is certain to wreak upon it.

[ClayBuster]

I had one delta point pro, it made it about 600 rounds on my Shadow, sent it back and bought a RMR it made it about 1000 rounds on the same gun. Sent the RMR in for repair and it's probably got 6000 rounds on it now but the window it too small.  Just ordered a new 5moa SRO for the 2011 and it's going to be amazing 

 

 

They all break have a couple extra on hand to swap out while the broken one is getting fixed.

Edited July 15, 2019 by ClayBuster

[GregJ]

I have 2 DPP for my CZ S2. Between the 2, they have been back 4 times.  Same with Venom, and FF3.  Ditto above, whatever you buy, get at least 2. 

 

 

[MemphisMechanic]

 Right now the Deltapoint Pro is indeed the best option. Expect to have issues at some point…

 

I’m over 5000 rounds without any so far. But I’m aware I’m on borrowed time and ready to buy a back up.when needed. 

[zzt]

Which dot you prefer depends on what window size you want and what you are going to shoot with it.  A Burris FF3 8 MOA with a new battery is bright enough for USPSA, but not for steel challenge in bright sunlight.  The FF3 will last seemingly forever when slide mounted.  The oldest of my five has been mounted on one of my 1911 45s for years.  40,000+ rounds of bullseye (156PF0 and major (172PF) later it is still going strong.

 

I love the glass on my RTS2v4s, But At 6 MOA on steel the battery is drained in one match. I have one directly mounted to the slide of a custom 1911 45.  No issues so far.

 

I've switched to DPP 2.5s for Open and Steel.  It is the brightest of all the dots I've tried.  It holds zero on Open guns, even when slide mounted and the battery lasts a long while.  It is a little heavier than the others, so to keep your slide speed up you should have the slide milled for a mounting plate rather than use a dovetail adapter.

[cjmill87]

To echo everyone else, all of the currently available micro red dots will die at some point.  So make sure whatever you chose you a) buy 2 or more of them b) make sure they have a great warranty reputation and support.  I'm a fan of the DPPs but I'm also going to try an SRO to see if it can improve on the life span issues.

[RAP]

My first DPP lasted somewhere in the neighborhood of 15,000 rounds, maybe more I don’t remember. It finally went out during practice. Sent it in for repair put my back up on until it came back. Put it back on and got another 3,000 plus rounds on it. Battery contact slipped, sent it back in they repaired it quickly and it now back on and seems to be fine. Expect to have some issue so have a back up. I believe manufacturers are improving reliability of them. But, they still have a little ways to go.

It reminds me when the first hunting scopes came about years ago. Reliability was very questionable and rifles still had iron sights as back ups because you’ll most likely need them. Now reliability is stellar and most rifles don’t have any sights on them outside of a scope.


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[tbarker13]

Shot CO for about 6 months. Had a rotation of 3 DPPs. There were two times during those six months that 2 of those optics were at the factory getting electronics replaced. One of them went out on me within the first 500 rounds. Twice, the automatic off feature stopped working. No big deal, other than the fact that the optic would automatically turn off after 10 minutes, regardless of what I was doing with the gun. So it could shut down during dry fire. During practice. Or during a stage run.

To Leupold's credit, they were quick to get them back to me - particularly when I would mention that they had two of my three units.

The only mildly annoying thing was the last time I called with a problem - the tech guy expressed shock that I would be having any issues. He wanted it sent straight to him. So, I guess he was the one who got to replace the circuitry on that unit.

 

Now, I'm waiting for an SRO from Trijicon. Hoping for a better experience. But I'm not terribly optimistic.

 

 

[ronin16]

Played with the SRO earlier today at USPSA Match

I prefer a larger dot for CO but the 5MOA isn’t out yet. Field of view was pretty amazing , IMHO it was similar to a C more slide ride but with the ruggedness of RMR

Dont hesitate to grab one 

[echotango]

6 hours ago, ronin16 said:

 but with the ruggedness of RMR

 

I wouldn't bet on that yet.

[Dazhi]

I have gone through 8 FF3 and 3 Venoms so far on my Stock 2.  The longest lasing is one Venom for around 10k rounds, though the next Venom only went through 3500 rounds before it broke.  The shortest was a FF3 for 200 rounds.  They all have great customer service, e.g. they send you a brand new one on the same day they receive the broken one. 

 

I do believe all metal guns are harder on the dots.  I have friends who run Venoms on Glocks and X5, and they have not broken any yet, although they do shoot less than I do. 

[ClangClang]

Another anecdote - I have two DPP. One on a SP-01 Shadow (~8k rounds) and one on a SP-01 Phantom (2k rounds). Never had any issues or any problems of any sort with either one of them. Of course, I'm almost certainly jinxing myself with A8 championships coming up in a month.

[alma]

The 6MOA SIG Romeo1 is definitely an option that should go on the list as well. It's under 1oz and holds up well under normal use if you tighten down the battery compartment enough. 

[Southpaw320]

On 7/21/2019 at 6:15 PM, alma said:

The 6MOA SIG Romeo1 is definitely an option that should go on the list as well. It's under 1oz and holds up well under normal use if you tighten down the battery compartment enough. 

Or you could buy a Romeo 1 install and zero, then go shoot a match.  Shut unit off and go to dry fire 2 days later and no dot.  Made sure the battery cover was tight, no go.  Changed battery out for a new one with the same outcome.  This unit was purchased through Amazon and I filled out the exchange info last night.  They say a new one will be delivered by tomorrow, we will see.  As long as I can get another one delivered within a couple of days and I have my back up gun with me, it will just have to be an annoyance I will live with.  

 

Just had an issue with a Vortex Venom.  Battery contacts came apart during a match.  Luckily, I had a squad mate who shoots the same setup and he let me use his rig for the last stage.  I will say this, I sent my Venom in for repair on Monday, fixed unit arrived at my doorstep Friday.  

 

Take the aforementioned advice and have multiple sights sitting around if CO is your choice.  

[SimonM]

Try the Aimpoint Acro. Me and my friend have been shooting ours for a while now and the only issues we’ve run into have to do with loosening of the plate that comes onto the slide. I’ve taken the sight off two or three times since I noticed a very slight amount of wiggling and reapplied your normal Loctite, but now I cleaned every surface properly and decided to try the stronger version of Loctite. Let’s see how that goes.

 

I know that the SRO for example will be tons better than Acro when it comes FOV, but for know I haven’t come across any issues with the durability with the Aimpoint sight itself. For me atleast, that is very important, because I want this to be as trouble free as can be; just load and shoot, without worrying about tinkering with your equipment or that it failing on you. I bet this is true with many other CO/Production Optics shooters, especially when many of them/us are coming from the very maintenance free Production class...

 

In all honesty I have to say that I haven’t got tons and tons of rounds through the Acro yet, but I’m fairly optimistic at this point.

[clw42]

Everything is anecdotal with these things.  You're going to get a bunch of folks who swear by 'x' and a bunch of folks who've had 'x' fail.  I don't think there is a best one at this point.  They're all living on borrowed time.  Maybe someday there will be one that's above the rest, but for now I think we're rolling the dice with whatever we choose.  I had high hopes for the SRO, and maybe that one will prove to be a winner, but there's already been reports (anecdotal of course) of failures.  Not surprising since it's brand new, but I'll wait a while before dumping the cash. 

[tbarker13]

14 hours ago, clw42 said:

Everything is anecdotal with these things.  You're going to get a bunch of folks who swear by 'x' and a bunch of folks who've had 'x' fail.  I don't think there is a best one at this point.  They're all living on borrowed time.  Maybe someday there will be one that's above the rest, but for now I think we're rolling the dice with whatever we choose.  I had high hopes for the SRO, and maybe that one will prove to be a winner, but there's already been reports (anecdotal of course) of failures.  Not surprising since it's brand new, but I'll wait a while before dumping the cash. 

 

So true. I'm still hoping the SRO proves to be reliable once it works some kinks out. But I won't be surprised if it encounters the same problems all the others have. The serious competition shooters really put these things to the test.

[mveto]

I’ve had good luck so far with the Venom mounted on two SP-01’s, have over 1k on them but I know I may be on borrowed time. I have backups for them just in case, but hopefully if they do fail it won’t be at a match.