Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns Red dot ??

Or maybe a pistol question. I have a gen 1 M&P 9 and a gen 1 Shield, like them both a lot but have been thinking about going to a red dot after listening to some experienced shooters (and getting older).

Plenty of places that will mill and cerakote them, my question is which pistol would you suggest i try first? Love my Shield and carry it the most cause it's so easy to conceal but it is also winter and I have no problem packing the bigger pistol which means I can do without either the duration of the work being done. These are the two I have the most holsters for and prefer carrying.

Would it be better to learn on one or the other because of size? Does it matter cause I will probably wind up doing both after shooting the first one.

Thought about trading up to a 2.0 already milled but the money works out pretty close and I already have these guns.

Glynn, I have experience with Trijicon’s on handguns and use them for hunting and on carry pieces. Love them. I don’t have experience with any other brand but would love to hear from some folks on durable small red dots.

The Holosun red dots have a pretty good reputation. They produced some of the sights for Sig, not sure if they still do.
I have one on a .22 LR semi auto pistol and a Sig P365 and am happy with them.

I have Holosun and Trijicons and I feel both are good.
I looked at milling and Cerakotoing the slide on mine as well. By the time you pay for that it was way cheaper to sell or trade in my S&W M&P and buy one already set up for a red dot.
I took another route and bought a M&P compact already set up for a red dot. Sometimes you can catch them on sale for under $500. They are just a little bigger than my Shield Plus and a hair smaller than my full size M&P, plus they are 15 round mags.

Glynn,

I've got a Shield RMSc, no issues to date (had it about 1 1/2 years). Like it as it is like my Trijicon... always on, auto-adjusts to the light conditions, and battery life is over two years (I change them out once a year). Some folks had issues with the plastic window getting damaged from brass, they offer it in glass now. Midway sometimes has some pretty good sales on them. Like that it co-witnesses with standard irons (not suppressor height), should say that this is without an additional mounting plate under it. I feel co-witnessing is important as it is kind of like training wheels for quickly acquiring the dot.

Got the Sig Romeo Zero, the first ones had issues, haven't had any problems, but don't have enough time with them yet. They are all plastic and I don't feel like I am holding a quality piece, going to just use them on my Ruger 22 LR pistols.

The Shield RMSc and the Sig Romeo Zero are much smaller than the Trijicon. Trijicon did come out with a smaller red dot sight, but they used a unique footprint, otherwise I would of picked one up.

I keep hearing good things about the Holosuns, but have no experience with them.

You might be better off tripping your present pistols and buying the latest version, most are set up for an optic mount now.

Your present holster may need to be altered to work, or you may need a new one that will work with an optic.

Jerry

from pullit; "I took another route and bought a M&P compact already set up for a red dot. Sometimes you can catch them on sale for under $500."

I believe S&W has a $50 rebate until the end of the year.