Poking the bear so to speak (red dots)

[Marshian]

In the firearm section, there is a lively thread about 10mm for bear protection. Coincidentally, I carry a 10mm (Glock 20) for bears but was never good shot with the original iron sights. A friend gave me a red dot for my 22 pistol and my accuracy and acquisition time improved dramatically. So a few days ago, I bought a reflex red dot (Vortex Viler) and an aftermarket mounting plate and shot it for the first time yesterday. The result again were impressive to me and profoundly better than before. Plus, the gun and sight still fit in my holster. Anyone else have red dots on their bear protection gun? I know people will argue back that it’s one or thing to fail, but I’ve read the more LEOs are using them and their reliability is actually excellent. And in the end, I can hit what I’m aiming at much better and faster and it’s more fun to practice now.

 

[elkantlers]

Honestly, If I pull my pistol on a Bear it's going to be real close and I doubt which sights I have on the gun will make much difference.

 

[Salmonchaser]

I’ve a couple of DLP shootings; sights are important and I’ve really liked the Leupold Delta points quite well. One of the Delta points is on my 45/70, been there for 11/12 years. In and out of boats and float planes. Banged rattled vibrated soaked submerged stepped on slimed by salmon and pissed on by guys who can’t get it over the side. Zero adjusted on day one, new battery every spring, it works every time.
Have not put one on the454 but do have one on the 10mm.

 

[Salmonchaser]

This guy was 12 feet away, one of my young guides had a 10mm; I had a rifle and spray. Spray worked just fine, probably a500 pound 8 footer. Youngster thought the 10 felt awful small.

 

[HandgunHunter]

I hunt with red dots a good bit. But prefer a tube style.
The open style collect dirt and snow and become useless.
If the gun was only for defense I’d stick to irons.

 

[EastTNHunter]

My limited experience with reflex sites left me with concerns about sun glare from certain angles. Granted, that was a cheap reflex, and better ones may have better anti reflective coatings

 

[HandgunHunter]

My limited experience with reflex sites left me with concerns about sun glare from certain angles. Granted, that was a cheap reflex, and better ones may have better anti reflective coatings

Even the higher end open style ones do that when looking somewhat towards the sun

 

[CubSlayer]

I'm a bit of a hypocrite here. My .44 magnum revolver has a full 2X Leupold scope on it. I got the scope for target and hunting, but for defense, I would rather use irons. I'm not a fan of stuff sitting so high on top of a defensive handgun, so red dots are a no-no for my personal carry guns.

 

[roger1shot]

I am setting up my Super Redhawk.44 mag for a red dot,the Sig Remo X .
Who has done this with a Super Redhawk .44 mag? I have the rubber finger grips .That came off a Ruger. 454 . The grips have tamed the Redhawk alot.

 

[MTLabrador]

I’ve carried a Trijicon RMR on a Glock 17 in my professional capacity for the last 3-3.5 years. I carried iron sights on both Glocks and an M&P before that. In my experience there’s positives and some substantial negatives to consider with red dots on a handgun that you’re going to use for serious business instead of plinking at the range.

One of the biggest negatives that I have found is that auto brightness on most red dots doesn’t work very well (the Holosun SCS is about the only one I have used with good auto brightness) and the dot on my RMR is usually way too bright. If on manual brightness you run the risk of your dot being on the wrong setting. For example having your dot nice and dim for dark conditions and not being able to see it in headlights, or stepping out into bright sunlight after carrying at night.

It’s also another point of failure with the glass being snowed on, rained on, or broken on the less durable options. The Trijicons, Aimpoints, and MAYBE a few of the Holosuns are the only ones I would trust.

You also need to put a ton of rounds down range with them to become proficient. For what it’s worth, my work gun has a red dot, and my concealed carry or outdoors guns have good iron sights. There’s a very strong likelihood I’ll go back to irons on my work gun as well, I shoot them just as well as I do a red dot and there’s a lot to be said for simplicity and reliability.