Red dot host pistol choice

[dmodde]

I am interested in outfitting one of my existing pistols with a red dot sight and looking for opinions and advice. I am 62 with bi-focals and old man eyesight withtwo pistols I love that I would consider either getting milled, or even bite the bullet and purchase a second slide to host one of the green dot sights from Holoson. The 2 pistol choices are a CZ Shadow 2 (blueDA/SA) or a Sig P226 Legion SAO. I know I can get good aftermarket slides for both, for the obvious premium $ from CGW, Sig, Primary Machine, etc. These are both primarily range and home defense guns, and at the end of the day I just want something I can really see what a red dot could do for my accuracy and general fun factor at the range. 

My consternation around getting the current slide milled are simply resell value and the fact if the red dot experiment fails, I can just go back to status quo and sell off the spare kit. I have no concern about having co-witness backups; IMO having 2 sighting systems just doesn't make any sense for my needs. And I have no interest in parting with either gun at this point because they both rock in their current form. Thanks in advance for opinions and experiences...

[rdcinhou]

I suggest that you borrow someone's gun with a red dot sight and try shooting it first before you commit to milling a slide and buying a sight.

My wife's boss borrowed one of mine and had a lot of issues trying to use it because of his astigmatism.

[kabong57]

Have you considered trying a mounting base that replaces your rear sight ? Might be the least expensive and intrusive aproach to see if it meets your needs. I may have a spare that may fit your CZ.

[Claymore504]

I would focus on the P226. The way I would look at this is, Sig has excellent customer service and lifetime warranty, so milling that P226 slide might cause an issue if you ever need to send it in. I have a P226RX Legion SAO with the factory Romeo1 Pro and it is excellent. I would look at purchaing a P226RX slide for your Legion. or look at purchasing a P226 slide and having it milled. That way you have the original Legion slide and like you said, you can just sell the optic slide and go back to stock set up.

As previously mentioned as well, see if you can borrow someones dot gun and see what you think. I am always willing to let someone check out mine and see if it works for them. You live in the Houston, TX area by chance?


https://www.midwestgunworks.com/sig-sauer-p226/parts.html#/filter:hierarchy:Gun$2520Parts$253ESig$2520Sauer$253EPistol$2520Parts$253ESig$2520Sauer$2520P226$253ESlide

[M1A4ME]

I have that issue (astigmatism).  Makes the battery powered red dot pistol sights look like a banana sort of mark vs. a round dot. 

They say you can reduce the brightness setting and that will reduce the long curved appearance of the dot.

Wearing the right glasses (I wear my driving glasses usually) and that helps some but it's still not a nice sharp round dot.

Trijicon makes a red dot (RMR) that uses fiber optics when there is enough light and tritium when there isn't enough light to use the fiber optics.  I have two of those on CZ pistols (P07 and P09).  That dot is much sharper for me but isn't adjustable for brightness like a battery operated red dot would be.

Dots can be different sizes.

Dots can be expensive or cheap.

Dots can be durable or not so much.

Dots can be different colors.

Dots can be different shapes (not round.)

Dots (the sight, not just the dot) can be different sizes.

What a dot does for our not so sharp eyes is it allows us to not have to focus on the front sight, while keeping the front and rear sight properly aligned while keeping the front sight where we want it on the target.  Three things to keep lined up and one thing to keep a sharp focus on .  With the red dot it's like shooting a pistol with a laser.  You look at and focus on the target and the dot will be there on the target.  Put the dot where you want and squeeze the trigger.  Your eyes and your mind work together and the bullets go where the dot is.

I wasn't sure of about it when I had the P09 done.  It came back, I went to the range and saw the difference on paper.  A few days later the P07 slide and RMR was boxed up and on their way for the same treatment.  Since then I've had red dots put on two other pistols.  I'll be doing another one in a couple months (I hope).

One other "secret" you almost never hear anyone talk about.  The dot does not have to be centered in the lens.  At least not with the RMR sights I mentioned with fiber optics/tritium.  You can shoot five shots.  One shot each with the dot in each of the four corners of the lens and the last with the dot in the center of the lens and you'll have a nice group on the target.  Did that one day just to see for myself.

[2morechains]

Get a second slide and have it milled!  I did something similar, I sent my original Shadow 2 slide to Fire-4-Effect to be milled with their RDOMS system for the RMR/SRO/Holosun optic cut.  In my opinion F4E’s RDOMS is a solid design, one deserving of consideration as it has at the heart of the design two inserts which are dovetailed into the slide and secured with screws. It also positions the optic (SRO in my case) super low which makes transition from irons to red dot easier.  The Shadow 2 (and it’s mate) are my main competition guns in USPSA’s Carry Optics division.

I later purchased a stock slide with irons for whenever I wanted to shoot the Shadow 2 in Production division.  The slides are interchangeable and don’t require fitting.