Thinking about a red dot

Look at Burris Fast Fire III

Jp mounts are good to go. I have use them on glocks as well as Ruger SBH, RH, and SRH's. An adapter plate is used to convert JPoint foot print to Docter/Fastfire/venom compatible.

ColtPythonElite said:

Look at Burris Fast Fire III

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I'll second that within your budget constraints.

How much are you being charged for the machine work? I charge $55 for straight cuts, $65 for a single radius and $75 for a double radius. Obviously includes drill & tap. Whether or not they get radiused depends on the sight, not a customer option in my shop.

Walkalong said:

http://www.egwguns.com/pistol-scope-mounts/docter-sight-mount-for-glock/

Replace the rear sight with this adapter/plate, screw the red dot to it. This one fits the Venum, Viper, Doctor, and Fastfire, they make them for other brand red dots as as well.

I do not have this gun anymore, but that is a JP adapter that went into the dovetail and that is J-Point on it. I do still have the adapter and red dot.

View attachment 764755

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I wouldn't trust that to hold up long term. There's a good reason we mill the slide rather than just drill & tap. I cut .100" deep, match the radius if there is one, and make it a snug fit. Also, even the tallest suppressor height sights won't co-witness if the slide isn't milled.

How long is long term? This type of mount has been around for a long time - they weren't new in 2000-ish when I put one on a Glock for 3 gun running, and plenty of guys were running them on high volume pistols. I'm sure there remains to be a goodly number of guys running the same mounts at high volume on entry level pistols. If there was a durability issue with this type of mount, we'd have hundreds of pictures flying around of broken mounts, reviews would mention the breakages, and the products would have stopped selling years ago.

I see the co-witness thing being kicked around in recent years as if it were the most critical attribute of the firearm. There are guys online who know which red-dots cowitness lower 1/3 vs. absolute vs. different riser combinations, but who also haven't ran more than a thousand rounds through any firearm in their life. Personally, I've never given any second thought to cowitness. I put a FF on a G17 to use in competition, if it went down in a match, I could either pack up and leave, borrow a pistol, or use my G19 or P97. I put an RMR on my G19 using a Jp mount to keep on my nightstand - I'm not going to be in a sustained gunfight in my bedroom. I've used a similarly attached JP mount on 44mag, 454C, and 475Line revolvers for hundreds of rounds - thousands on the 44mag. They're not so dissimilar in mounting to any of a number of optics mounts for handguns or for rifles.

Better is better, and milled is better, but good is also good.

I have a J Point on one of my two G-19's. Works great and if changing the battery the red dot stays put.

Walkalong said:

But the adapters work for folks looking for an easy way to try out a red dot on a pistol, and if they don't care for it, they can undo it.

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Very true.

I didn't know you did that service. I'll keep it in mind.

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If you need it, I'll take care of THR members for the figures above to include return shipping (as long as it's a normal sized slide). I need whatever sight is being used, though. I have dimensions for the common ones, but like I said, I like to make them a snug fit so that the small screws (they're pretty much all #6-32 or #6-40) are only holding them down, not coping with the momentum and inertia forces the slide imparts during firing.

Unfortunately, I don't have any photos of the ones I've done (duh, right?), but you guys know my work. I always seem to remember to snap shots of barrel thread jobs, but never occurred to me on the sights. Speaking of, you guys will like this one I just did. It's a Tikka in .338 win mag. Usually I thread skinny sporter barrels 1/2-28, but that's a no-go over .30 cal, so this one had to get the custom shoulder treatment. It's 5/8-24, and the barrel is threaded 1.125" back, then I make a .500" thick shoulder piece, crank it on with red Loctite, and profile to match the barrel:

Try before you buy. If you have any meaningful degree of astigmatism, you can use a dot sight but you will always feel that something is not as it should be. The dot may be a comma, or a cluster of grapes, or something like the planet Saturn.

I have a Burris Fast Fire III on my G35 it works very well with no gunsmithing work done at all.
Depending on what you plan on doing with the gun, and unless you are planning full time carry with the sight on all the time, you don't really need iron sights as a backup. Burris has the mount to attach to the rear sight dovetail, and the whole thing is in your budget.

If you decide that you are going to use the gun in a full time possibly dangerous application (IE: LEO or Military or a body guard etc.) then you should look at a Trijicon sight and get the slide milled. This installation will cost you $600-700.

Believe me for anything less including competition, the Burris with the rear mount will be entirely adequate.

With all Red Dot sights Rifle or Pistol there are very good entry level optics that are entirely suitable for most uses and then there are the "Professional Grade Optics" (Aimpoint, Trijicon) that are battle proven and are more appropriate for life or death scenarios.

It is pointless to put a $700 Aimpoint on a AR if you aren't going to use it in a battle or very serious competition. The less expensive sights will do everything you need for a lot less money. Resale on these optics is not all that so don't plan on getting your money back by selling it.

Randy