1911 Red Dot

anyone have any luck with using a UltraDot LT on a 1911?
i have a MatchDot on there now , but im trying to lighten the pistol for my Wife.

Thanks in Advance

Eh, but why go UD for reflex sight when you have a myriad of great proven sights. Vortex, Burris, Holosun, Romeo, to name a few. They are all within similar price ranges and very very good quality and features. Go RMR or Leupold DP for a bit more proven battlesight. Vortex and Burris work great, optically good and lifetime warranty that is actially very well supported. I heard not so great things about UD LT but cannot substantiate it personally. 

Regarding how is reflex sight in use - it is harder to acquire dot as there is no frame of reference that 2 ends of the tube give you.  Lots of practice and you will not feel much difference. Some say reflex is worse for astigmatism, but I personally do not find it much different.  I do like tube sights better as they are more "crispy" and contrasty due to darker surrounding of the tube. However, when looking at the dot as simply a marker and not some hi fi optical entity, reflex is just fine.

I have not seen a reflex sight that has good click adjustments. That would be OK for a 22 that doesn't need adjustment between distances, but for the 1911 the 2 reflex sights I have used (and all I have seen) would not be suitable for bullseye - No clicks and lots of backlash.

Well, Then it's settled. i guess it's time to replace the Ultradot scopes  that have been on my .22, and .45 since 1988. Well the .45 had a frame mount, so that one had an easy time of it.

   Sorry for the sarcastic rant  but I get a little tired of hearing about the wonderful new wonder scopes.
Also, i haven't had my porridge yet.

ermakevin wrote:anyone have any luck with using a UltraDot LT on a 1911?
i have a MatchDot on there now , but im trying to lighten the pistol for my Wife.

Thanks in Advance

 I would have her do holding drills to build up her shoulder muscles. They would not only build muscles in shoulder, arm, and hand, but also steady her hold. Just my 2 cents.
Stan

I'm hoping that after the AR-15 craze is over the Red Dot companies see a drop in sales will start thinking of Pistol shooters again. Now they are happy with the  rambo types that can't hit the side of a barn from the inside! Was reading feed back on Optics Planet and some guy was happy with his new red dot scope, when mounted he shot a 2" group at 25 yards!

SteveT wrote:I have not seen a reflex sight that has good click adjustments. That would be OK for a 22 that doesn't need adjustment between distances, but for the 1911 the 2 reflex sights I have used (and all I have seen) would not be suitable for bullseye - No clicks and lots of backlash.

My Vortex and Sig 5 XL have pretty decent clicks.

Froneck wrote:Was reading feed back on Optics Planet and some guy was happy with his new red dot scope, when mounted he shot a 2" group at 25 yards!

Probably all his 10" barrel with 6-1/4" of welded on muzzle brake was capable of.

Adam changed jobs, he's now working for a public range in Florida. Gives him more time to shoot, his other job kept him so busy he didn't have time to do anything. Guys come in with scoped rifles, yeah most are ARs and shoot on the 25 yard targets and can't keep all the shots on paper! Frames get shot-up in no time!

ermakevin wrote:anyone have any luck with using a UltraDot LT on a 1911?
i have a MatchDot on there now , but im trying to lighten the pistol for my Wife.

Thanks in Advance

Aimpoint H1 / H2 are hard to beat, Lightweight, albeit expensive. Usually, easy to resell too. In the long run, it may be the least expensive since you could sell it later..

That's my $.02 having had the Ultradot reflex type sight which had to go back to UltraDot because it lost it's brightness. They fixed it at no charge. I have since sold it for much, much  less than I paid for it. In fairness, I have had to send an Aimpoint in for repair too. That too was fixed, but I still have it.

Thanks all for the response. I do like the exercise suggestion. That would save me a lot of money lol

It goes "against the grain", but I have two Vortex Venom red dot sights.  One is permanently attached to one of my S&W Model 52's, and the other one gets moved around.  Very small, very light, and a decent sight picture.  Never have had problems with either.  

With my 1911, I've been switching back and forth between Ultradot 1" and Aimpoint H-1.  The Ultradot has a nice long tube, but it decreases the size of the target, which is annoying.  The Aimpoint looks the same as when I view things with my eye (nice improvement) but is more expensive, or was.  The Aimpoint H-2 is even nicer.

I have zero experience of a Vortex Venom on a 1911.  I believe it has a lifetime warranty, and if so, if it ever has an issue, they'll fix it for me.  I wish I had three or four of them.

Vortex Venom.on 1911 is exceptional. Have not lost zero in 4 years of ownership. I baby my equipment, so it looks and functions new as it was day 1. Like I said, only down is that finding a reticle is harder until.you train yourself to repetitively raise into same position < not a bad thing.

I had a Venom on my Gold Cup wad gun. Ran just fine and as said above, locating the dot in timed/rapid is a position building exercise ... so not a bad thing, but is a distraction.
My 22s wear Matchdots, so I am shifting my 45 that way. I will have to re-spring.

One thing I found with Ultradot and the look alike Illusion was they don't last long on a 1911. Not sure about the Matchdot but they are probably the same. I have a Matchdot on the .22 pistol I made that Adam used. It was put on after Adam joined the Army. Adam would shoot every day and eventually the Ultradot failed. What would happen (I took one apart) is the inner tube that the adjustment knobs moved would get dented. The knobs had a ball on the end and the would dent the tube from recoil I assume. Toward the end of the season when making elevation adjustment windage would change. Moving the tube to change elevation would push the windage knob ball out of the dent so it would move sideways. What I would do at the end of the season was replace the scope and sell the old to non competition shooters that didn't care. Windage change would also change elevation. At the time the Ultradot was the best available.

Tripscape wrote:

SteveT wrote:I have not seen a reflex sight that has good click adjustments. That would be OK for a 22 that doesn't need adjustment between distances, but for the 1911 the 2 reflex sights I have used (and all I have seen) would not be suitable for bullseye - No clicks and lots of backlash.

My Vortex and Sig 5 XL have pretty decent clicks.

Which Vortex model do you have and how do the clicks feel? 

In my searching it looks like the Razor and Venom have clicks and the Viper does not, but I've seen other holo sights that say their adjustment is "1 MOA per click" in the user manual, but don't actually have tactile clicks, only marks on the dial.

Which Sig model? The Romeo 5 looks like an Aimpoint Micro clone. The holo sights I see are Romeo Zero, 1 and 3.

Vortex Venom. Clicks are defined and felt but small distace between clicks. Romeo is 3XL (not 5). Window is big, clicks are better defined and larger spaced than Venom. Of course Venom is more compact.

ermakevin wrote:Thanks all for the response. I do like the exercise suggestion. That would save me a lot of money lol

Changing from a steel to an aluminum mainspring housing will save 1.1 oz. , possibly more saved with a polymer housing. Pachmayer grips weigh more than wood , again , plastic may be even less. Full length or standard recoil spring guide? Lots of little changes are possible that can add up to a noticeable difference.