Mini Draco w/ red dot?

[Ak Guy]

Anyone have experience w/ a red dot on a Mini Draco? I just got my rail on, a Midwest, and if I mount a red dot on the front, it will need to fit the 2.75" rail. (My Eotech is too long). But I'm not sure if the front is where I want a red dot. I don't have a rail on the back yet, but maybe that's where I should be thinking.....(?) Any thoughts? ........Thanx........

 

[wally]

I put one of the Texas Weapons systems Gen2 rear sight replacing rails on my mini-Draco SBR. With a Bushnell TRS-25 red dot I get a nice lower 1/4 co-witness with front and the optional rear aperture sight they sell.

I really like the setup and the cost is reasonable. I'd have used another of the Primary Arms red dots but they were out of stock.

An EOTech would work fine on this rail but you'd need to forget about the BUIS unless you used a quick detach mount for the EOTech.

I'm less that thrilled with the battery life of my EOTech, seems it doesn't ever really turn completely off, so I have to remember to open the battery compartment cover when I put it back in the safe, otherwise the battery has a good chance of being dead next time out

 

[Girodin]

I'm planning an aimpoint micro for my Draco once I get my stamp for it. I've been very happy with the aimpoints I have on my other guns including a T1. You could mount it on a TWS or something like this:

I haven't tried it but I think I might on the mini to keep it light and slim.

 

[gunnutery]

Since you've already got the rail on the gas tube, why not get one of the micro RDS's? There's some decent ones for $80 and up.

The other mounts listed would work great, but since you've already spent the money on the gas tube rail, why not use it? Otherwise it's just sitting there empty unless you get an off-center mount for a light to attach to it.

http://shop.ehobbyasia.com/5ku-one-o-clock-side-mount-black.html

 

[Destructo6]

I put a US Palm/MI 30mm upper rail section on my Midwest Industries railed handguard and put a Vortex Strikefire/Aimpoint in it. It cowitnesses the irons in the lower 1/3 to 1/4.

The US Palm setup is pretty nice and they make several models to fit many different optics.

I found that an Eotech mounted on the upper rail was a bit too high for me- had to get a sort of chin weld that wan't very stable.

 

[wally]

I have one of the MI rear sight replacing mounts, the T1/VS model. Didn't work worth beans on my mini-Draco as it flopped around under recoil and thus wouldn't consistently hold zero unless I reseated it after every shot.

It now lives on my converted Saiga and functions fine there. Its a good setup, but unless they've changed something since I got mine (not quite a year ago) with the mount or the mini-Draco rear sight block, its not a good choice for a mini-Draco.

It may or may not be OK on a Draco, but with the Draco you can easily cut down an Ultimak mount and get pretty much the same results with the stock rear sight. On a co-witness setup I much prefer the rear sight to be in front of the optic like with the Ultimak or TWS rail and rear aperture. The Parabellum Arms rail is nice and has a replacement rear sight built in, but like the MI mount the rear BUIS is in front of the red dot, which just doesn't work as well for me, YMMV. Maybe it don't matter for young eyeballs

 

[Ak Guy]

wally.........trust me....these are NOT young eyeballs !!

Thanx to all for all the input. I've decided I'm going w/ the Texas Weapons System dust cover / rail, and put my Eotech on it. I've already got the Eotech, so no + $$$ there; so why screw around w/ funky rails & cheap red dots (and untold + $$$$) when I'm PRETTY sure this will work for me. $150 to TWS and I'm done. If I do SBR it later, it can't hurt me. (Please don't give me any good reasons not to do this......I've already ordered it !).

gunnutery.......the MI rail on the gas tube is not a TOTAL waste, since I'm using the bottom of it for a Strike Industries Cobra grip. It's sort of a funky looking thing, but it feels damn comfortable.... (I say that w/o having fired it yet). And, hey, I'll admit it, I like the LOOK of the rail........tacticool !

Destructo.......Good point on the chin/cheek weld. That could become an issue if I SBR it, but at this point (Mini Draco pistol) I'm not expecting ANY face / gun contact........

 

[Girodin]

If you SBR it later you can go with a stock that allows a cheek riser to give you a proper cheekweld. For example:


On the gun pictured the rear iron is in the right place for a standard stock. As you can see that means the aimpoint with an AR height mount is MUCH too high for a standard stock. One could remove the spacer in the mount and bring it down a lot. However, this particular gun is set up to work with a magnified scope that sits at that same height. With the cheek riser, one can achieve a solid, repeatable, cheek weld with both of those optics.

You can see an eotech sits about the same height and presents the same issues.

Now, if it were me, and I was going to use only a RDS, I would want it mounted lower than the one on the pictured gun and lower than your eotech will sit. It is better to not needlessly place optics higher over the bore than one needs to. For a short range weapon like a mini having the optic that high over bore is something you will need to account for. I'd prefer something that sat low like this:

View attachment 638264

Of course like you I wouldn't want the cheapo knock of RDS, I'd get an H1 or a T1 depending on intended use.

I'd imagine with the gun in pistol configuration the eotech will work fine for basic fun gun shooting. IMHO it is not the ideal set up. In as much as you already have the eotech, it makes sense to give it a try though.

I have one of the MI rear sight replacing mounts, the T1/VS model. Didn't work worth beans on my mini-Draco as it flopped around under recoil and thus wouldn't consistently hold zero unless I reseated it after every shot.

That is interesting to hear.

 

[Motorman2061]

Keep the info coming.

Thanks