Why I HATE pistol red dot sights…

[Warped Mindless]

Let me start out by saying… I am not a fudd. I realize and recognize the abundant benefits of a red dot on a pistol.

I would also like to mention that I am not a new shooter nor am I ignorant on firearms in general. I’m not a GM or shoot competition but I can shoot and pass the original federal Air Marshal test cold from concealment. Best shooter ever? Hardly! But I reckon that makes me decent.

So why do I hate RDS on pistols?

Because I have the worst luck in the world with them!.

Can you tell I’m agravated right now?

First ever RDS was Trijicon on a Glock 19. It WOULD NOT hold zero. Even gave it to a buddy (who is a Master in USPSA) who had multiple Trijicons so he could tell me what I was doing wrong. His conclusion? I got a defective RDS.

Ok, next up I went to Holosun. Got one, it held zero, I put in the reps to get good with a RDS. Things were great and I was finally a IG worthy “cool kid” with the latest and greatest… for about two weeks.

Doing some drill in a class I dropped my optic on gravel and the dot window cracked and ceased to work.

I’m sure Aaron Cowan is about to descend from the tactical heavens and tell me all about his drop test. Good for him, my RDS did not pass this unintentional drop test.

Bought another Holosun 507k x2 to use on a sig 365xl. This one, no matter how many times I changed the battery, would not work longer than an hour.

Now lets try a sig optic!. I borrowed one from a friend. This one was mounted to a sig that he never used and he told me I could borrow it for a RDS class. Cool! Guess what happened… the optic stopped working mid way through the class. Multiple people tried it and no joy. battery replaced… nothing. (NOTE: Sig did replace the optic but I never used it after that and I’m not sure he has either.)

Because I’m a stubborn fool I bought another holosun 407k x2. Mounted it to a sig 365xl and I have had it for over a year and have multiple thousands of rounds through that gun. Not a single problem with that optic!

Decided to buy another holosun for my new sig macro. Arrived in the mail, mounted up, fresh batteries in place and… it refuses to hold zero.

“No problem, I’ll just calmly contact Holosun and see what they have to say.” I thought to myself.

Log onto Holosun “state of the art website” and click on their “contact” button.

Name: *check*
Email: *check*
Phone number: *check* (even though it was optional I was feeling nice)
Message: Typed and fully explained.

Click “submit” only to be presented with a nice “error” page.

Try again…

“Error, message not submitted.”

Et tu, Holosun?

There are an awfully lot of benefits to red dot sights but I think I’ll just stick to irons. At this point I dont even want to carry the sig with the one working optic because I just dont trust it.

You all enjoy your red dots, I guess I’m going to go hang with the retirement folks, shoot my irons, and complain about kids being on my lawn or something.

[Wake27]

Did you quit on Trijicon after the one? Did you reach out to their CS? I really like some of the Holosun offerings and am all in on them right now but I don’t expect any of mine to take a bad fall.

Are you sure the zero things aren’t platform related? I don’t know anything about most of those but I’d blame the MOS system on my Glock before any of those dots probably.

That said, I’ve broken a Razor 1-6 and had a defective KAC, Geissele, and maybe now BCM (need to troubleshoot more) uppers from the factory. Sometimes it happens.

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[Warped Mindless]

Did you quit on Trijicon after the one? Did you reach out to their CS? I really like some of the Holosun offerings and am all in on them right now but I don’t expect any of mine to take a bad fall.

Are you sure the zero things aren’t platform related? I don’t know anything about most of those but I’d blame the MOS system on my Glock before any of those dots probably.

That said, I’ve broken a Razor 1-6 and had a defective KAC, Geissele, and maybe now BCM (need to troubleshoot more) uppers from the factory. Sometimes it happens.

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To many people rocking Holosuns on their sigs for me to expect the gun is the problem. And the one optic I have that works is on a sig and I have 0 problems from it. But one out of six just arent good odds for me.

And no, I never did contact trijicon. Back then I wasn’t that worried about it. Figured I would just try another offering from another company.

[Wake27]

To many people rocking Holosuns on their sigs for me to expect the gun is the problem.

And no, I never did contact trijicon. Back then I wasn’t that worried about it. Figured I would just try another offering from another company.

That sounds discouraging for sure. Still, the benefits to my accuracy are so stupid over irons that I wouldn’t quit on them. YMMV obviously.


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[Warped Mindless]

That sounds discouraging for sure. Still, the benefits to my accuracy are so stupid over irons that I wouldn’t quit on them. YMMV obviously.


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With all the competition between RDS companies, and the continual explosion of growth, I anticipate that the technology is going to keep getting better. I’ll come back in a few years and try again.

[JCN]

@Warped Mindless

I haven’t had any Holosuns fail to hold zero.

I wonder if your screw length is an issue. Just because Holosun provides screws doesn’t mean they’re suitable for your application.

A screw that bottoms out will allow micro shifts in the optic and feel like a failure to hold zero but it’s just not properly mounted.

Right @Clusterfrack ?

[Warped Mindless]

@Warped Mindless

I haven’t had any Holosuns fail to hold zero.

I wonder if your screw length is an issue. Just because Holosun provides screws doesn’t mean they’re suitable for your application.

A screw that bottoms out will allow micro shifts in the optic and feel like a failure to hold zero but it’s just not properly mounted.

Right @Clusterfrack ?

I’m going to check that!

But I’m not sure thats its because its not “micro shifts” in the zero. The zero is drastically different than where it should be and when i readjust it, it will quickly go to another new drastically different spot.

Worth checking though so thanks for that tip!

[MVS]

That is bad luck. As far as slide mounted pistol optics since 2010 I am 0/3 on Vortex, 3/5 on Trijicon, 1.5/2 with Sig, 2/2 DPP, 5/5 Holosun.

[ECK]

Dang, if I had your track record with red dots I’d be against them as well. But, fortunately I haven’t. The six or seven I own have run well. Well, there was this one, but it doesn’t have a very good rep. That one was semi-permanently loaned to a shooting buddy who wanted to try out a red dot, and he hasn’t complained about it...

[JCN]

I’m going to check that!

But I’m not sure thats its because its not “micro shifts” in the zero. The zero is drastically different than where it should be and when i readjust it, it will quickly go to another new drastically different spot.

Worth checking though so thanks for that tip!

No, the physical optic body will shift and it’s sometimes hard to tell from the outside.

But it’s markedly different of a zero like 6-10” sometimes.

Basically take the optic off and hand thread the screws into the plate.

Make sure they’re the right pitch and double check the length isn’t too long.

If it is, grind down the ends of the screws with a file or a Dremel.

This is a common thing with Holosuns and some of the P365s, IIRC.