Since I dont hunt anymore none of the handguns I own are for hunting. I dont feel the need for an optic on a pistol I rarely shoot beyond 25 meters. One of my ARs has an Aimpoint the other an EOTECH. I find both sights very quick on  target and both are are very well built and sturdy. I do have BUIS on my flattop.

TRUGLO on all my long guns

ELGATO hope I wasnt stepping on toes, just trying to help keep the exchange of ideas going. M,W,F, is fine by me. Just hope I dont run out of semi-intresting questions.

There are so many choices of different kinds of sights for a shooter, it absolutely boggles the mind.

 

If you're going to add opticals sights to your rig, you need to consider several things. 

 

Scopes:

1.  Long eye-relief or short eye-relief.  Short eye-relief scopes are primarily for rifles and shotguns and most shooters are familiar with them.  They have about 3 to 4 inches between the ocular end of the scope and your eye with the average being 3-1/2 inches.  Once you get the correct eye-relief, you can focus the scope to suit your vision.  Long eye-relief scopes are found on some rifles -- called scout rifles -- and handguns.  On rifles the scope is mounted at a point on the barrel; in the case of handguns, the scope is mounted on the frame, but only becomes usable when the shooting arm is extended -- hence, "long eye-relief" scope.

 

2.  Magnification.  Most shooters go with variable power scopes, usually 3 to 9 power.  But do you need a variable power scope?  Would a fixed power do?  Should it be a low magnification power or a higher magnification power?  The answer to these questions depends on the kind of shooting you are going to do.  Low power scopes have the largest field of few for quick target acquistion.  As your maginification goes up, your field of view gets more and more restricted so it is harder and you take longer to acquire targets.  Hint: match your magnification to your shooting.  Another problem with the higher magnifications is that they will pickup and display to the shooter both his breathing and his heartbeat.  In a very high power (24X) scope this can be maddening because the crosshairs actually move around the target with every breath and every heartbeat.  Hint: Lower powers are better because they don't affect the crosshairs' position on the target (at least as far as the eye is concerned).

 

Brightness.  In scopes, this refers to the light gathering ability of the optics.  This can be done in several ways: (1) high quality optical glass -- that drives the price of the scope upwards; (2) a large objective lens -- 40 to 56mm; (3) light transmitting coatings applied to the optical glass (to make up for lesser quality); (4) a larger scope tube -- 30mm -- as opposed to the standard 25mm.  A "dark" scope -- one that transmits light poorly -- is no bargain.  Look throught the scope and several others to see the difference in light gathering of your scope and those others.  Go with the scope that seems "brightest" to your eyes.  You can get an idea of how good the optical glass in the scope is, by looking through it backwards against a light background.  The imperfections in the glass will show up.  Get the best scope you can afford.  A poor quality scope is no bargain.

 

Repeatability.  This refers to the windage and elevation knobs and their ability to adjust the internal crosshairs of the scope.  On cheaper scopes, the adjustments are not precise.  Worse, you may crank-in adjustments, the cross hairs stay the same, you crank-in additional adjustments, and then all of the adjustments are applied causing over-adjustment.  This can be maddening for the shooter trying to dial-in his scope.  Make sure you know what kind of adjustment each increment means.  That is, some scopes are 1/4-inch (or 1/4 inch at 100 yards) and some are 1/8-inch (1/8-inch at 100 yards).  A quality scope will move its crosshairs precisely every time you make an adjustment.  You will be able to both feel the adjustment and hear the adjustment "click" as you make it.  Cheaper scopes give no feel or audible indication as you move the windage and elevation dial. 

 

Focus.  This is adjusting the scope to your eyesight.  It is a combination of eye-relief and adjustment of the ocular end of the scope to match the prescription of your shooting eye.  Some scopes have a side focus (or parallax) adjustment.  On these scopes, the side focus allows an additional focus (or sharpening of target definition) at long ranges.  Side or parallax focus is found on the higher end (price) kinds of precision rilfe scopes.

 

Reticle.  Commonly called the "crosshairs", the reticle can be more than just a simple pair of crossed lines that give you an aiming point.  Some can be used for calculating ranges (such as the Mil-Dot), some like the duplex have two distinct thicknesses -- thin where they cross, thick ends -- so that the scope can be used in lower light conditions, some have an illuminated reticle so you can use the scope in dusk or dark conditions, other kinds of reticles are designed for quick reaction targets -- the post or post and crosshair.  The kind of reticle that you choose depends on the shooting you want to do and the light conditions under which you will do it.  Cheap scopes have a problem with keeping their reticles centered.  Here's a quick way to check a scope.  Choose a small cardboard box that's wide enough to support the tube of the scope and deep enough so that the windage and elevation knobs don't touch the bottom.  Make two 90 degree V-cuts directly across from each other so the scope will be supported in the V-cut.  Make sure the length of each side of the V-cut is equal (1-inch).  Put the scope in the V-cuts.  Look through the scope while pointing it at a bright background.  Slowly rotate the scope and observe the position of the crosshairs.  The crosshairs should stay centered.  If the crosshairs appear to move or wander, then don't buy the scope.  Do this test by looking through the ocular end (small end) of the scope and then though the objective (large end) of the scope.  If you perceive a "wandering crosshair" while looking through either end, buy another scope.

 

Quick Reaction Sights:

 

QR sights can be electronic or self-powered.  The self-powered ones, such as the Armson OEG or Trijicon, use a radioactive insert.  The electronic sights, called "red dot" or halographic sights, use different kinds of batteries.  Most shooters opt for the battery kind of sight.

 

For most all QR sights, the shooter can use one or both eyes with out any problems.  This is not the case with the Armson OEG (occluded eye gunsight).  The OEG requires that both eyes be open.  The OEG is not a scope; it is a tube with windage and elevation adjustments for a tritium (radioactive) light source.  When you look at the sight with both eyes open.  One eye picks up the red tritium dot and the other eye picks up the background.  The images are carried by your optic nerves to your brain where they get combined.  The brain makes you think you are seeing the background with a glowing red dot that is floating in space as an aiming point.  The Armson OEG can only be used by shooters with binocular (two eye) vision.

 

Electronic sights use batteries to power them.  All are zero magnification types and use some sort of reticle that appears superimposed on the target when you look through them.  When you look through the sight with the reticle switched off, all you see is the background.  Turn on the reticle and adjust the intensity and you see a red dot (or some other reticle pattern) appear in your field of view.  Once the sight has been adjusted for correct windage and elevation on a known distance target, where ever the reticle is, that's where the bullet strikes (or very close to it).  Red dot and halographic sights are not subject to parallax that is found in telescopic sights.  Parallax in scopes means that their is a misalignment between the line-of-bore of the firearm and the line-of-sight of the scope -- usually caused by the shooter's eye not being positioned directly behind the scope or slighly offset. 

 

Go to www.opticsplanet.com and you can checkout the various kinds of scopes, electronic sights, and night vision gear.