Milling a Slide for a Red Dot

Ganderite

Ganderite

CGN Ultra frequent flyer
Rating - 99.7%
355   1   0
Location
Farm south of North Bay
I have already purchased two optic-ready pistols.

I would like to convert an iron sight pistol to glass. Say a Glock, FNS or MP9

Who does this? And about how much does it cost?

Is it possible to be able to mount a Vortex Viper to the slide, without using an adapter plate?
 
I think if it was done right ,You could mount with out a plate, then it would sit way lower
I think if short pins where installed in the slide it would be a great set up.
I have a steel Jericho I was going to do it on, but the barrel is poor and I have not taken the time, now if I could find a barrel that did not cost what the gun did???
 
Instead of milling the slide just buy a the plate that fit into the dovetail where the rear sight is
 
JB said:
Instead of milling the slide just buy a the plate that fit into the dovetail where the rear sight is
Click to expand...

Yuck. That’s okay if you want to have an idea of how a red dot is to shoot, but not ideal at all.

The whole idea of milling slides is to not use plates so you’ll be good there but committed to one footprint.
 
Ganderite said:
Ya, the $30 solution.

But the sight would sit extra high.

About how much does milling cost?
Click to expand...

A lot of places will recommend (or insist on adding) the post mill cerakote or finishing which brings the job to 300 to 400 total. Hard to get a quote without but you might be looking at 150-200 i'm thinking?
 
DSC01884.jpg
Like this , works O.K., but it sits high, But it gives you a idea how things work, for cheap.
I don't think I shoot much better , but it is faster when you get use to it.
Before I had the eyes done , it was a huge help as I could not see the transition between the sights.
The milled one on the Canick is better, but their plates are high also.
Some of you guys will have seem this picture before, I have one from the back on the 45 I could post
rommelrommel said:
Yuck. That’s okay if you want to have an idea of how a red dot is to shoot, but not ideal at all.

The whole idea of milling slides is to not use plates so you’ll be good there but committed to one footprint.
Click to expand...
 

Attachments

  • DSC01884.jpg
    DSC01884.jpg
    105.2 KB · Views: 260
I believe it’s 170.00 at black box customs, and they can do it for the vortex red dots. Can’t go wrong with BBC, nobody does it better.
 
They mill and you don't have to use a plate? sound like the way to go.
I liked that Canik when I had it , but to mount the red dot, you took off the plate with the open sight on it and installed that thick plate that matches your red dot, kind of defeats the purpose, you have no back sight, for a quick reference and the mount screw for the plates are way too small, but I would buy another one , I did find it a bit light as I shoot real steel guns all the time.
FoxAlpha said:
I believe it’s 170.00 at black box customs, and they can do it for the vortex red dots. Can’t go wrong with BBC, nobody does it better.
Click to expand...
 
I think I will go the $30 route and try a red dot on my Glock 45, 357Sig and 40. If I like it, I can then get it milled.

With my old eyes, the optic is easier to use and gets slightly better results.

These targets were shot at 15 yards (2 hands). Two MP9s. One with an optic (Buris). And a Glock 48 with irons, which always surprises me at how well it shoots.

3UCGeUq.jpg
 
I have both a low profile reflex sight on a CZ Shadow 2 optics ready, and a plate mounted to the dovetail on an NP22, and while I can appreciate that some wish to co-witness the sights, from a practical standpoint, I see no difference between having the reflex sight closer or further above the bore.
 
Grizzlypeg said:
I have both a low profile reflex sight on a CZ Shadow 2 optics ready, and a plate mounted to the dovetail on an NP22, and while I can appreciate that some wish to co-witness the sights, from a practical standpoint, I see no difference between having the reflex sight closer or further above the bore.
Click to expand...

If you are always shooting at the same distance, then it makes no difference. If you are shooting varies eg 5-50m, then your hold-over is larger the higher the reflex sight is above the bore.
 
marshall said:
They mill and you don't have to use a plate? sound like the way to go.
I liked that Canik when I had it , but to mount the red dot, you took off the plate with the open sight on it and installed that thick plate that matches your red dot, kind of defeats the purpose, you have no back sight, for a quick reference and the mount screw for the plates are way too small, but I would buy another one , I did find it a bit light as I shoot real steel guns all the time.
Click to expand...

I don’t know if they use a plate or not as I have zero experience with the vortex red dot. Would be worth a quick email to find out though.
 
I believe that there are different plates because there is no standard for sight to slide interface for the various makes of sights. Different plates let the various sights be mounted on an assortment of pistols.
If the slide is milled and drilled for a specific sight, this could be the optimum solution.
 
The most low-profile and arguably most secure method is to have your slide directly milled for a specific optic and direct mount said optic to the slide. Depending on the design of your handgun's slide there may be components or void spaces that interfere with mounting an optic lower down into the slide. A good example is the Beretta 92 series - You can't direct mount an RMR to the side because of the firing pin block. Likewise you can only mill so far on a Glock slide before you encounter the striker safety pocket.

The Glock MOS system, and others like it, mill out a suitable area in the slide for an optic and require an adapter plate for the optic you plan to use. So your optic attaches to the adapter plate, which then attaches to the slide. This allows you to swap to different optics using different footprints without too much hassle, with the tradeoff that your optic will sit a little higher in the slide because of the adapter.

If you mill the slide for your optic of choice, you are limiting your potential options with the tradeoff that your optic will be more securely mounted and will sit lower down in the slide. For example, I'm planning on having my P226 milled for an RMR footprint which limits me to red dots that use that particular footprint. Basically only the Trijicon RMR and the Holosun 407/507 series, which is fine for my needs. I want to direct mount the optic because the P226 is already a pretty tall pistol and I want to mount the optic as low as possible.
 
VanMan said:
If you are always shooting at the same distance, then it makes no difference. If you are shooting varies eg 5-50m, then your hold-over is larger the higher the reflex sight is above the bore.
Click to expand...

Yes, this is why I would prefer the milled slide. With a Canik (milled slide) the difference between 10 yards and 25 yards is about 6" If I go with an adapter on the rear sight dovetail, I am guessing more like 10" difference.

The good news is that the hold over is a known number and with an optic it is easy to do.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom