For years I was reluctant to put a red dot optic on a pistol. There were just too many downsides, real and potential, I thought. The battery wouldn’t last long enough. And when it did run out, it would be at precisely the moment I truly needed it to function – not at the range, but in a self-defense situation. Then there was the optic itself. Everyone’s eyes are different. And when I tried red dot equipped pistols owned by friends, my particular eyes just didn’t pick up the red, plus the dot was either too small or too large. Finally, the cost was just too high, often easily half the cost of a modern defensive firearm – or more.
But I’ve now opened my eyes to recent developments. The phrase “optics ready” has become almost as prevalent on new pistols as the phrase “Picatinny rail” is on rifles. And even an old guy, like me, can see their major advantage – they are so easy to use. Just put the dot on the target and pull the trigger. That’s faster than iron sights that require you to line up the target, the front sight, and the rear sight. (For those of you that put Wyatt Earp to shame, and you really don’t need any stinkin’ sights to hit your intended target at any range, skip the rest of this. For the other 99.7%, including me, keep reading.) But there’s another key advantage. Front sights can be pretty big. Even the smaller ones can still obscure targets, more so at greater distances. A smaller dot makes it easier to see the target, and if a target is easier to see, it is easier to hit.
Or not to hit! The truly great shooter knows when not to shoot. Like if the perp coming toward you wasn’t really a perp, but you couldn’t see enough of him before you pulled the trigger and it was some truly innocent person. Individual citizens don’t get to claim collateral damage.
Take the Holosun HE 307C-GR X2 for example. Mounted on a Walther WMP .22 Magnum. It weighs almost nothing. 1.5 ounces. It’s a green optic, not a red, and for me I see green much, much better. It’s actually three optics. You can go with just the 2 MOA green dot. Or press a little button and change that to a 32 MOA green circle with four small tics on it at the 12, 3, 6 and 9 o’clock positions. Or press the little button again and your third option is the green dot in the center of the green circle. You’ll find the one you like, and you might like different options for various types of shooting you do. You can also change optic brightness to one of 12 settings.
The sight uses a CR1632 battery that you can get almost anywhere, Walmart, CVS, etc., for just a few bucks. Battery life is claimed at 50,000 hours, which seems incredibly high, some 5.9185 years! Perhaps it’s that long, as you can have it go into sleep mode if it isn’t moving. And it has a feature called shake-awake, which turns it on by movement, so you don’t have to fumble around in a tense situation. There’s one more failsafe. In natural light, or bright artificial light, it’s tiny “solar panels” will power up the optic! But always have a spare battery.
Using the dot inside the circle, because it has up-down and left-right zeroing screws, with a HYSKORE sighting rest I could shoot all rounds of Speer 40-grain Gold Dot Personal Protection ammunition inside a one-inch circle. At 50 feet. Magnification is 1. So that means no enlargement. That’s good. Many shooters starting with red/green dots believe they need to focus on the dot when in reality, they need to focus on the target. You must look through the optic. Shooting with both eyes open, your binocular vision allows you to use this shooting method.
I turned the optic off and shot the pistol just looking through the sight window, in case of a catastrophic failure. It wasn’t nearly as accurate, but could do in a pinch. For me and this particular Walther, I tilted the barrel up and down until I could see the top of the front sight, because the rear sight is blocked. Put the top of the front sight on the center of the target and all rounds hit 4-6 inches straight up but not in a tight group.
It’s still expensive. Generally half the price of a Trijicon RMR. Box says it has a 3 year warranty. Not being a lawyer, can’t comment on how easy, or not, it is to return if you have problems. What weapon will you mount the optic on? Many gun manufacturers now include several different adapter plates – as did the Walther mentioned above – to ensure that you can mount most mainstream red/green dot options. But what about mounting it on something you already have? That may take a gunsmith to at least give you some cost options. And maybe do the work, so you don’t butcher it up.
Regardless of how compact, for concealed carriers, optics make the gun a bit larger and bulkier. So you have to plan ahead. But that’s the fun part – getting smart on the tools you have or plan to acquire. Because the best tool you have in your toolbox is not your pistol, or any type of sight. It is your brain and your ability to think.