Help with a Red Dot for my new Canik TP9 SFx

[tsyarnall]

I don’t know a thing about what a good red dot would be and there is lots of “Advertising” to sift through. I’ve had one on an AR-15 (Aim Point) and took it off. Had one on my Turkey gun (cheap) and took it off. Here I would prefer to “Cry Once”...... Any help would be greatly appreciated. Oh, this would be for local club shooting. So, while I want to cry once, well, you get it.

I was thinking and maybe a good question would be what size dot should I get. What type of competitions that I will be shooting may determine the dot size. If that is the case, then my answer to the type is I don’t know, yet.

 

[Adam in WI]

Holosun. I paid about $300 for a 407. It has auto off/motion sense on and uses solar for auxillary charging and auto dim/bright depending on conditions.
And is small enough it wouldn't look ridiculous on a pistol.

 

[Mark M.]

Check out Trijicon

 

[tsyarnall]

Check out Trijicon

A Trijicon SRO with a 5 mil dot sounds nice..... Will it hold up?

 

[Mark M.]

A Trijicon SRO with a 5 mil dot sounds nice..... Will it hold up?

I would give them a call

 

[cjmill87]

In the slide ride micro red dot optic segment right now, you have two main routes you can choose; robustness or size (of window). In the robustness category you have optics like the Trijicon RMR and even many of the Holosun offerings. These optics have faired well in the Sage Dynamics torture test which seems to be the current popular yardstick for optics taking a beating and continuing to work. The downside (from a competition standpoint) of these optics is they generally have smaller windows than their competition-oriented cousins. From a competition style optic perspective, the 2 current top offerings are the Trijicon SRO and the Sig Sauer Romeo 3 Max or XL. These optics offer large windows and straight forward reticle options but they certainly come with a high price tag and they may or may not be ideal candidates for defensive use.

If you are looking for a true buy once option for competitions, as of right now I would recommend either the SRO or the Romeo 3 (I personally use the SRO). That being said, they are both harder to come by now so if you are just looking to get up and running there are a myriad of options to choose from.

One thing to note is that any of the current red dot options can and may at some point fail. Some have certainly proved to be better than others but none of them are indestructible. If you eventually get serious into pistol competitions with red dots, the general rule is 2 is 1 and 1 is none.

 

[Hino895]

I second the holosun.
I’ve shot most of the RMRs and out of all I prefer the 407.
You don’t have to go searching for the dot it’s just there.

 

[Knotwild]

Try some of your friend's sights that are shooting at your club.

Scroll down just a tiny little bit and it addresses red dot sizes.
Red Dot Explained

 

[Spike A]

Ive used the leupold micro delta point a few times and have liked it ... I’m an iron sight person on a pistol or I would put one of those on for sure

 

[Richard Coody]

I had a Trijicon RMR on my .45 and took it off. It made the pistol fast to aquire the target and improved accuracy. I just couldn't ever get used to how high it sat. Possibly with the slide milled to accept it it might have worked better.

 

[Forum Boss]

Test BEFORE you buy. I have astigmatism, and EVERY red dot I looked through had a double image and the main dot had a spikey flare around it.

What is the purpose of the pistol? If you are just going to shoot 3-4 IDPA matches a year, I wouldn't bother. I have won a couple IDPA matches shooting a snubnose pistol with nothing but a groove rear sight.

Here's that pistol mentioned by the thread starter BTW:




Personally, for daylight use, I found that a TALL iron front sight with a Big Hi-Viz color dot combined with a large ghost-ring rear was very fast. These can be hard to find, but they also let you compete in NON-optics class.

 

[Alguapo]

Mine came with the Vortex Viper and it works great. You can dial the brightness and size of the dot up or down. Just make sure and get the right plate that will work with your Canik. Mine came with several plates in case I wanted to change the optics.

 

[GunzRUs]

Another vote for the Vortex Viper, the TP9SFX kit comes with several different mounting plates to mount almost every red dot out there. My Viper has been very reliable so far, even if it breaks they will fix or replace it for free and its reasonably priced

 

[Oso]

Eye Stigma's can be issue with Red Dot. Test using a couple before your buy one. The temptation to go wiht the larger models has a drawback with the extra size getting in the way especially if you might also carry this gun.

It takes some time to adjust to Red Dots, especially in a dynamic timed shooting situation. Most people have a tendency to tip the muzzle of the barrel downward even though they think it is level. You will see people hunting to find their Red Dot in the viewer. A trick to quickly finding/aligning the Red Dots is to initially use your iron sights. Initially sight the pistol using your iron sights and "Tadda" there is the red dot sitting dead center in the view screen. No hunting no wasted time... bang bang mag dump. Mozambique out!!!

 

[tsyarnall]

Ok, lots of great input. I purchased a Trijicon SRO. Now it’s time to start shooting. Thanks a bunch!

Scott