Over the years, I’ve been reading a good bit about the red dot on pistol, from Kelly McCann, to Suarez, more notably the Roland, etc. In the earlier days, guys like the man behind the Roland Special, as well as others around his circle argued that there was no benefit to running a 34 with a red dot, over something like a 19, since the sight radius was moot. The argument typically would go further to say that the faster cycling slide of the 19 was an advantage over a 34 slide.
Fast forward to today, and you have Chuck Pressburg, Bill Blowers, Matt Landfair, etc. all using 34/35 length guns with red dots on them. Personally, I’m still not authorized to carry a red dot gun, but I generally carry a 34 iron sighted gun. My training gun is a 34.5 with an RMR and as soon as I’m authorized to carry it, I’d sure like to. But while I love the RMR on the 34, I have nothing to compare it to, to say that this is the best setup.
Now with that background, where are we really at today with ideal slide length for a PMO? The Glock 45 MOS is out, the 34 MOS has been around for awhile, there’s various guns like the CZ, H&K VP9, etc with various slide lengths. The STI staccato 5” isn’t available optics ready, but the 4.15” is available as such. Etc.
What are your experiences in an ideal slide length for a PMO gun, what have you tried, and what type of performance are you getting from a shorter vs longer slide?
Thanks for the thoughts.