Handguns with Optics — See Better and Shoot Better

Shooting Industry Magazine has noted that “optics ready” handguns are becoming increasingly popular. These pistols are equipped with slides that can mount Red Dot Optics. Some of these handguns come with Red Dot Optics already installed and ready to use. The Smith & Wesson Performance Center M&P9 Shield Plus (above), for example, is sold with a Crimson Trace Red Dot mounted on the slide. The new FN FiveseveN is an optics ready pistol chambered in 5.7x28mm. Red Dot sights are a great tool for IDPA and gungames. The Red Dot is also useful for aiming a defense weapon at night. The Red Dot is not a laser mounted on a pistol, and it does not emit a bright beam that can pinpoint the location of the gun owner. The Shooting Industry article explains why optics-equipped handguns are becoming more popular. “Not too long ago, optics-ready pistols were a novelty.” Massad Ayoob is a respected gun writer and shooting instructor who says that optics-equipped handguns are very popular today: “Carry Optics are burning up the market today.” Some of my colleagues tell me that they teach general defensive shooting classes in which more than half of the students have guns with carry optics. These are compact versions of Red Dot sights. The police departments are rushing to buy them [optics-equipped pistols].” READ THE FULL STORY. Check out the article Modern Carry: Best Optics Ready Pistols on the CheaperThanDirt blog if you’re interested in a variety of optics ready handguns. This article highlights ten production handguns from Canik CZ FN Hechler & Koch Keltec SCCY SIG Sauer Smith & Wesson Springfield Armory Taurus. Below is the Taurus G3 T.O.R.O. (Taurus Optic Ready Option), which is a full-frame 9mm pistol with a 17+1 capacity. Learn More About Red Dot and Red Dot Reflex Sights For Pistols Do you want to know more about pistol optics. The American Rifleman of the NRA has a great article that explains how Mini Reflex/Red Dot Sights work. The shooter has the advantage of being able to simply place the Red Dot on the target. He doesn’t have to align the front and rear sights. This allows for MUCH faster target acquisition. “Red-dot style sights are faster than Irons and better in low-light.” They’re also more precise, especially at ranges beyond 50 yards, due to the fine dots and triangular shapes, which represent 2 to 13 MOA. This is more precise than front posts on modern pistols. Aimpoint was the first to create Red Dot sights: “In 1970s, the reflex sight that we know today was introduced by the Swedish company Aimpoint. It was powered by a light-emitting LED that allowed these compact tube-enclosed sights to work in darkness. The glowing’red-dot’ became the nickname for this sight. It took a while for some of the most advanced handgunners in the world to realize the advantages of this red-dot.