red dot for .357

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anothernewb

anothernewb

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Any thoughts on a red dot tough enough to handle being mounted on a GP100? Without being a $400+ trijicon or something like that.

Bought a basic one - which lasted 15 shots before shattering.
 
I have had a Vortex Venom, Burris Fastfire and a Bushnell trophy on my Blackhawk and Gp100. All held up well under the medium loads I use.
 
I put a Firefield Impact Mini Reflex on my 686 and so far so good. The dot gets a little fuzzy if cold but for $70.00 it was a good way to try one without spending the $400 plus. Going to get a FastFire next though.
One could argue not to waste dollars on a cheap one but this Firefield has held zero and will go on one of my 22 handguns when I get the FastFire.
 
I have a Burris Fastfire III on a 686 that has seen 3500+ rounds. The 50 yard zero has never been off more than an inch or so if I remember correctly.
 
anothernewb said:
Any thoughts on a red dot tough enough to handle being mounted on a GP100? Without being a $400+ trijicon or something like that.

Bought a basic one - which lasted 15 shots before shattering.
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Keep in mind the stress is much less on a revolver than on the recoiling slide of a semi-automatic. Any of the popular mid-priced models should do fine.
 
I had an expensive red dot break its glass on a .22 rimfire bullseye match gun but have run a slide mounted red dot on a long-slide 1911 bullseye pistol for 6 years now without a problem. Makes me wonder it it could have been a poorly tempered piece of glass.
 
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I had a Fastfire III that I swapped back and forth between my Mark II and my 357 revolver. Great optics, adjusts like it should, holds zero. Well worth the money IMO.

I'm now looking at a Vortex Crossfire to go back on my 357, it's a mini tube style sight for $150. There are now several other mini tube style sights out there that are like the Aimpoint Micro, but more affordable. I like the closed design of the mini tube sights, especially for snowy/rainy conditions.
 
I have a couple of Center Points mounted on a 8 3/8" and 7" Model 686. I really like them as they have a red and a green dot. Also have several different reticles other than the dot. I think they are around $50 from Natchez. I also have a Simmons red dot mounted on a 586. All have held up real well so far and hold zero. I'd guess around 300 magnum rounds fired with each and probably over 1000 .38 target loads. Not a problem .I think both brands are bargain at $50-60. I have also used the Tasco 30mm Red Dot that can be purchased from Walmart for around $35. 1st one lasted about 100 rounds then died. I have a replacement but hasn't been used enough to see if it will hold up. the only hold back to the Center Point and the Simmons is they are around 25mm. I would like them to be 30mm but for the money I'm very satisfied.
 
Eddietruett said:
I have a couple of Center Points mounted on a 8 3/8" and 7" Model 686. I really like them as they have a red and a green dot. Also have several different reticles other than the dot. I think they are around $50 from Natchez. I also have a Simmons red dot mounted on a 586. All have held up real well so far and hold zero. I'd guess around 300 magnum rounds fired with each and probably over 1000 .38 target loads. Not a problem .I think both brands are bargain at $50-60. I have also used the Tasco 30mm Red Dot that can be purchased from Walmart for around $35. 1st one lasted about 100 rounds then died. I have a replacement but hasn't been used enough to see if it will hold up. the only hold back to the Center Point and the Simmons is they are around 25mm. I would like them to be 30mm but for the money I'm very satisfied.
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The important question is how bright are they. I thought my Sightmarks were just fine until I tried to use one in bright Nevada sunshine. The darn thing was invisible. I had to spend a little bit more money to overcome that issue.
 
rpenmanparker said:
The important question is how bright are they. I thought my Sightmarks were just fine until I tried to use one in bright Nevada sunshine. The darn thing was invisible. I had to spend a little bit more money to overcome that issue.
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The Center Point have 11 different brightness settings if I remember correctly and you can change from red to green. I usually wind up with mine set around 7. I tend to like the green more than the red especially when it is sunny. The Center Point has a 5 MOA dot and that size does fine for most of my shooting which is 20-80 yards. The Simmons had red only with about the same number of brightness settings but the MOA can be changed from 3,5,8 and 10. the 3 MOA is small but very precise and works great unless the sun is really bright.. I like the tube or scope style red dot sights and personally think they do much better in bright sunlight. I wish the Simmons was available with the 2 different colors but only think it is available in red.
 
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