reflex sights opinion

[vrwc]

I was just wanting opinions on which sight would be better or reliability reports for this setup:
ruger min-30 with flattop mounting kit (http://www.ultimak.com/buy.htm)
I have 3 of them so cost is sort of an issue, this is a defensive social work weapon plan on keeping one in the house and one in each truck.
I know i want a reflex style sight so is the meprolite 21 or trijcon rx01.
i know this is a opinion thread and not a fact i just want to hear what people have to say

 

[Bartholomew Roberts]

In my experience the Trijicon Reflex suffers from the following problems:

When shooting from a dark area into a light area (covered firing line onto sunny range), the Reflex is unable to gather enough light to illuminate the reticle and the reticle washes out (disappears or becomes very hard to see)

Also related to the above, flashlight use can washout the reticle.

The blue tint of the reflective lens necessary for the reticle makes targets dark and difficult to distinguish - particularly a problem in low light.

The amber reticle disappears entirely under certain lighting and backgrounds.

I haven't used the Meprolight; but from what I understand it suffers from all the same shortcomings. In my opinion the Aimpoint and EOtech sights are much better and in a similar price range. If you are buying used and getting a deal, the the Reflex may be worth the savings if you can deal with the above issues. Also take a look at the OKO sights for a good value oriented dot sight.

As far as Mini-30 reliability goes, I haven't heard good things about them but haven't used one either. The criticisms I'd heard weren't from random Internet warriors but from respected firearms trainers at Gunsite and others (Related note: http://www.defense-training.com/quips/24Aug03.html ).

 

[vrwc]

thanks

appreciate the info, My solution to the mini-30's reliability was to get good 30rd mags and fill them with 25 rds and replace the crappy springs in the aftermarket mags with stiffer ones from hardware store, also one of the rifles had the bluing coming off so i stripped,fine sanded/polished all the moving parts and parkerized it. that made such a difference i did it to the other 2 as well. Having fond memories of the m-14's that would be my second choice of a defense rifle if i could have whatever i wanted, the first choice being the hk-91/g3 series in 7.62nato, but i needed to go with something that the wife would shoot and a common ammo between our firearms, so i cant afford 3 hk clones even if i could find them, i keep one in the house with 4mags, the wife keeps one in her suv with 2mags, and i keep one with 4 mags in my truck, so we all can use the same mags.

I guess I could consider ak clones but having put all the work into parkerizing and polishing these i kind of hate to get rid of them.

perhaps i should just get some of that glow in the dark sight paint and mount some surefires to the barrels? but my wife can't shoot with both eyes open using iron sights, and that was one of the main considerations into the reflex style sights

 

[Bartholomew Roberts]

I'd really look at the Aimpoint. It is a tough sight that has a virtually unlimited battery life (10,000 hours on a single battery - 8,760 hours in a year). It is far superior to the Reflex.

Brand new they run about $30-50 more than the RX01 you mentioned and you can sometimes find good deals on used sights. You'd have to buy mounts for it as well; but that's also true of the RX01.

If the mounts are a deal-killer then the EOtech has a built in Picatinny rail mount at the same price; but also has worse battery life, the built-in mount isn't the best and it exhibits parallax at the extreme right and left - still better than the Reflex for the same money though.

I've used the glow in the dark paint in the past and its useless. It has to be exposed to light in order to glow (to get "charged up") and the glow only lasts about 20 minutes after you remove it from a light source. Totally impractical for a weapon.

If you go with a Surefire light, make sure you look at one designed for weapons so that the recoil or muzzle blast doesn't break your lamp. I've seen lots of complaints of this happening, though I've been using the Surefire G2 (not designed for weapons) with no issues so far on an AR15.

 

[TechBrute]

I'm going to ditto pretty much everything Bart said in his 2 posts. I have used a mini-30 and was not impressed with its accuracy. I think it may be an inherently inaccurate design because the mini-14s seem to have the same issues. I was so un-impressed with it that I didn't even bother to shoot it enough to find out if it functioned reliably over the long term.

I have an Aimpoint M2, and I love it. Regarding the price factor, you can buy 3 Hakko sights for less than the price of 2 Aimpoints with mounts. The catch is that they aren't near as rugged. The EOTech and Aimpoint have it for rugged reliability, but again, you have to pay for it.

I don't think I'd want a battery powered sight on a truck gun. It might be OK for an AR if you co-wittness it with some good BUIS, but on a mini-30, I believe you'd lose the functionality of the sights altogether (correct me if I'm wrong). Truck guns usually get jarred around alot, stuff sat on them, banged on things as you slide it around, etc. I'd want to stick with either a super-reliable sight like the Aimpoint or EOTech, or just the iron sights. I wouldn't want to rely on optics as my only aiming point on a truck gun.

PS. Hi Bart.

 

[G&R Tactical]

What BR and TB wrote is very good. I would also consider the EOTech. The 502.A65 model is only $220.00 and is an excellent optic for the money, especially since you don't need to buy a mount!


www.gandrtactical.com

 

[TechBrute]

Hi Grant,

Are there durability differences between the 510 and the 550? I'm not concerned with water resistance, as the 10ft submersion depth of the 510 seems perfectly satisfactory to me.

On the AA models, does the lenghtened front end need to be on the rail, or can it overhang slightly?

T

 

[G&R Tactical]

Hey T, the 510 and 550 series are the same except for the NV capability and rubber face plate. The 512 and 552 can hang over your HG's because the part that attaches to the rail is in the middle of the optic...


Grant

 

[TechBrute]

Do you sell the 512? How much. I assume that the $220 is the price you sell the 502 for.

 

[G&R Tactical]

T, I sell all the EOTech's and accessories. My price on the 512.A65 is $295.00 + $7.00 shipping...

[email protected]

 

[vrwc]

thanks for all the good info,
after much thought I am thinking about perhaps switching rifles for this purpose, the optionsI am considering:
whats a good common ak clone and whats a good common ar-15 clone?
hell i really want a mp-5 for a truck weapon and a mp-5 would be perfect for the wife but the only legal way to do that that i know of would be to go back to being a leo
i think you used to be able to get a semi only mp-5 but i think they cant be imported anymore

 

[TechBrute]

If you want to buy a complete AR, I've found RRA to be a good bang for the buck. I prefer to build my own, and you can do that for around $500. I have no experience with AKs.

 

[G&R Tactical]

RRA is an excellent AR15. I know of a couple good RRA dealers if interested..

 

[cookie]

I have to agree with Bartholomew Roberts. I had a Reflex II, and really wanted to like it - but it suffered from every problem he described. I'm much happier with the Aimpoint ML2.