How Will Red Dot Sights Help My 1911?
Adding a red dot sight to your 1911 is like adding a touch of futuristic precision to a legendary classic. Aside from boosting accuracy and velocity, a red dot invites you to shoot with both eyes open—which maintains situational awareness and keeps threats fully threat-focused.
To mount a red dot on your 1911, you’ll need to purchase a mounting plate or adapter. Then, meticulously follow the manufacturer’s instructions to fasten it to your slide or in some cases have your 1911 machined to fit the red dot.
Improved Accuracy
Red dot sights allow a shooter to acquire a sight picture more quickly than with traditional iron sights. This enables the shooter to get on target more quickly and improves accuracy.
Many red dot sights use an LED as a reticle instead of more complex optical elements, which simplifies them and makes them more reliable. Additionally, the LED uses very little power and can run for hundreds or even tens of thousands of hours.
The Trijicon RMR Type 2 Adjustable LED Reflex Sight is the best red dot for a 1911 pistol because of its high-end features and durability. It has a rugged aluminum housing that’s waterproof and fogproof, with a built-in motion sensor that shuts off the optic when it’s not in use to save battery life.
The Leupold DeltaPoint Pro is also a good choice because it’s lightweight, durable, and has excellent optics. It also has an intuitive interface, tool-less battery compartment, and a battery-saving mode.
Faster Target Acquisition
Many old-school shooters look down at red dot sights with disdain, considering them “cheating.” But these optics are incredibly useful for speed shooting and allowing you to maintain situational awareness while keeping your eyes on the threat.
The illuminated reticle and target appear on the same optical plane, eliminating the need for aligning traditional iron sights. This makes the pistol easier to use in fast-changing scenarios, a major advantage in combat and law enforcement operations.
To mount a 1911 red dot sight, first ensure the gun is unloaded and observe all standard safety precautions. Then, remove any rear iron sight and install a red dot sight mounting plate or adapter on the pistol’s slide. Once firmly fastened, carefully follow the manufacturer’s instructions to ensure proper alignment. You may need to test and adjust the sight at a range to make sure everything is working correctly.
More Intuitive
While red-dot sights are great for a 1911, they do not provide the opportunity to hone and develop fundamental shooting skills like sight alignment or target acquisition with iron sights. Furthermore, reliance on a red dot sight increases the likelihood of malfunctions or battery drainage, and requires the use of specialized holsters that can accommodate mounted optics.
There are several different options for mounting a red-dot sight on a 1911 pistol. One popular option is to use an existing accessory rail built into many 1911 frames, which provides a secure platform for mounting a red-dot scope. Another option is to purchase a 1911 slide that features an integrated mount for red-dot sights. This type of slide typically has a recessed aiming window and large steel recoil shoulders that protect the optic from damage during slam cycling. It also makes re-zeroing simple by requiring only the removal of two fasteners to check zero. There are a variety of these slides on the market from various manufacturers.
More Versatile
There is no longer much debate that red dot sights are superior to iron sights for target shooting at close and moderate ranges. Many competitive shooters, military units, and police departments have adopted these sighting systems.
The most popular red dot optics feature an illuminated reticle that automatically adjusts to ambient lighting conditions or is manually set to a specific brightness level. This allows the user to keep their eyes focused on the target and the reticle instead of having to continually find the dot in various lighting conditions.
Most 1911s can be outfitted with a red dot using a dovetail mount. This is a non-permanent modification that can be done by any professional gunsmith. The only drawback is that some red dot sights require a special footprint that will not fit into the standard mounts found on most 1911s. These include the Sig Sauer Romeo 1 and Holosun Paralow 403A. A solution for this is to have a custom 1911 slide milled to accommodate the special footprint of these sights.
