Red dot longevity?

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valnar

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A few years ago I remember reading a review of several red dot sights. They tested a bunch of them on a pistol and calculated how many slams with the slide it took to kill it. I think Trijicon RMR came out on top (never failing), and the rest failed after xxx or xxxx rounds. I can't find that review.

Does anyone remember it?
 
I would be skeptical if Leupold, Burris, Trijicon, Aimpoint, Vortex, Holosun, Sig, Crimson Trace... didn't all last at least xxxxx rounds. Basically, I would put forth the conjecture that if you buy a reflex sight that is at least $200 Amazon, Midway, OpticsPlanet etc. price, then it can be expected to last well over 10,000 rounds without an issue -- probably closer to a six-figure round count, but let's face it, not many people are going to test that. We discussed losing screws in another red dot thread recently. They must be torqued properly, preferably with an actual torque driver, and anaerobic threadlocker (Loctite) must be used.

Now there are some red dot sights that were always made for frame mount and not slide ride. The Leica Tempus or the Noblex C Sight for examples. Presumably great sights from high-end brand names. But you could kill them on a slide because they were not made for that. I also suppose there's sub-$200 junk that will work for plinking but die after a couple thousand rounds.
 
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Agree with Labnoti.
Much depends on the use. I tried a cheap red dot on a SIG522 and it was generally okay but the zero changed over time. I put that on a 12 gauge shotgun for one sighting-in session and that put paid to it. The glass was loose in the window and when I put it back on the SIG522 I got two distinct groups, depending how the glass was situated at the time.

However...I've not had that issue with either of my Burris Fast Fire IIIs. They've been on several .22s, on my shotgun and back on the .22 again with no problem so far. The glass hasn't moved and I don't get a wandering zero.
 
A more modern torture test would be great. Burris and Trijicon can’t be the only good options? Obviously price does not dictate robustness.
 
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