Keefe Report: Reflex Sights

by
posted on November 19, 2015
** When you buy products through the links on our site, we may earn a commission that supports NRA's mission to protect, preserve and defend the Second Amendment. **
keefe_reddot.jpeg

Reflex sights are not new, nor are battery-powered red-dot sights, but as they have become miniaturized and lost their tubes, they have also become increasingly practical for handguns meant for more than just competition. And now, pistol makers have created an entirely “optics ready” category without the need for custom gunsmithing to attach such sights. There were a number of challenges—including illumination, battery life, size and mounting considerations—that had to be solved before the “Mini-Reflex Revolution” could begin.  

The first of the tubeless, battery-powered reflex sights I examined caused me to comment, “Hmm, it’s like a Nydar with batteries.” Don’t know what a Nydar is? Let me take you back to the April 1946 American Rifleman and the words of Edwards Brown, Jr.: “We have recently received some letters asking us about the Nydar reflector sight ... made by the Swain Nelson Company, of Glenview, Illinois. At the present time the Nydar sight is being made for shotguns only, but the Swain Nelson representatives inform us that they plan to produce them for rifles and pistols as well. We hope to get a look at these two latter developments in the near future.” But the Nydar, dependent on available light, never made it as a practical handgun sight. For more on the Nydar, and other articles documenting the evolution of the reflex sight, go to americanrifleman.org/reddot.

The first battery-powered dot sight (they weren’t red yet) tested in these pages was the Oxford Lightning Illuminated Gunsight in the January 1969 issue, and it was, charitably, a monstrosity. The size of a riflescope with the addition of a bolted on penlight-like protuberance (it took “AA penlight batteries”), to get it on a pistol it had to be mounted using scope rings and a Bushnell M1911 grip replacement mount that made it look like something Han Solo would use in a Mos Eisley cantina. Despite its ungainliness, here is what the staff had to say: “On the field of vision ‘floats’ the spot of light, showing with clear contrast against the target. The sighting spot is visible in light so poor that conventional metallic sights cannot be defined. ... Consequently, the problem of trying to see in clear focus both a front sight and a rear sight as well as the target, as with iron sights, is not present. This is a commendable and unusual approach to overcoming a sighting hindrance that is particularly vexatious to those over 30 years of age.” 

We tested our first Aimpoint in May 1978—powered by a red LED—that soon became the dominant optical sight for NRA Bullseye and Action Pistol. But it was still a large unit, and mounting took the form of rails and cantilevers. 

The first “mini” red dot I used was the British-made EPC tested in 1992. The little unit, with its claustrophobic field of view, could run 18 whole hours on a couple of hearing aid batteries. The Electro Prismatic Collimators was small, but the problem of how to mount it still had not been solved. The caption is classic: “The EPC Subminiature Sight solves the autoloader mounting problem; it simply attaches to the slide with glue.” There were different mounting plates that more or less conformed to the slide surfaces of popular handguns. “[O]ne of these was selected by trial and error and bonded to a cleaned surface of the gun with a two-part adhesive used in the aerospace industry. The sight itself is glued to the mount strip.” 

More than two decades later, the gun to which we glued the EPC, a Stainless Colt Commander in our reference collection, still bears the stains of “aerospace industry adhesive.” I don’t know what it was but am grateful I did not get it on my skin.   

 

Latest

Hearing Healthy
Hearing Healthy

Summer Suppressor Deals On Now

Whether it is a BOGO deal from SIG or free tax stamps from Guns.com and Silencer Central, there's plenty of hearing-safe savings to be had this summer.

Rifleman Report: Defending Freedom For 250 Years

"Anyone who claims not to understand the plain and simple intent of the Second Amendment—especially if that person happens to be a constitutional law professor, Supreme Court justice, congressman, senator or president—is likely hiding nefarious intent: to strip individual liberty from American citizens for the express purpose of making them susceptible to a tyrannical government."

Book Review: 2025 Traveler’s Guide To The Firearms Laws Of The Fifty States

Newly updated for 2025, the 29th edition of the Traveler’s Guide To The Firearm Laws Of The Fifty States is packed with all the need-to-know information for cross-country trekkers seeking to bring their arms along with them and remain legal in all localities.

Springfield Kuna: A PDW For The Masses

Small, yet fierce, the namesake of Springfield Armory’s latest large-format pistol is a revered forest dweller in the land of its Croatian manufacturing partner, HS Produkt. The new Kuna is poised to be just as welcome in America.

The Armed Citizen® June 30, 2025

Read today's "The Armed Citizen" entry for real stories of law-abiding citizens, past and present, who used their firearms to save lives.

Book Review: Clockwork Basilisk: The Early Revolvers Of Elisha Collier & Artemas Wheeler

The result of a decade of research, Clockwork Basilisk is a comprehensive, two-volume history of the rare revolvers that preceded the development of the well-known Colt guns of the 1830s.

Interests



Get the best of American Rifleman delivered to your inbox.