I purchased this sight to mount on my Smith & Wesson M&P 9mm Full Size pistol. I do not have the C.O.R.E model so I had to purchase a mounting mechanism separately. I decided to use Sight-Mount to replace my rear sight. Sight-Mount gives you a short picatinny rail section and installs in the rear sight dove tail. It does have the rear iron sight, so if I remove the red-dot, I still have good iron sights to use. Other mounting mechanisms replace the rear sight and you no longer have iron sights to fall back on. Be advised that Sight-Mount recommends drilling and tapping your slide for a third mounting screw for a solid mount (you'll need a gunsmith for that). The Burris FastFire III with the included Picatinny mount fits on the Sight-Mount rail perfectly. Everything is very tight and secure with this mechanism, and with the gun's recoil and moving slide, it has to be.
I took this to the range and had no problems zeroing the sight at 10 meters. The adjustments are very easy to make (1 MOA per click) and it holds zero very well. This model has an 8 MOA dot which is quite large (8 inches at 100 yards) and meant for close distances. I have tried this sight out to 25 yards (max at my indoor range) and the sight is very accurate between 5 and 25 yards (you do have to compensate your point of aim at different distances depending on the distance you zeroed the sight). For handguns, 8 MOA is a really good size because you are typically shooting at relatively close distances.
There is a combination on/off and brightness square rubber push button switch on the left side of the sight. The sequence is ON - AUTO Bright - High Bright - Medium Bright - Low Bright - OFF. It does have an auto off feature, and if the sight turns itself off, the next time you push the button it will activate whatever the last mode you were using. The Auto setting is very good and the light sensor at the front of the sight will adjust the dot intensity pretty well. I have tried looking at the dot from a dark room and into a brightly lit room and the dot is dim but still very good. The opposite, from a brightly lit room into a dark room, the dot is quite bright, but again very good and usable. Even on the brightest setting, the dot is a whole lot less distorted than I've seen on other, even more expensive sights.
This sight has the battery access from the top of the sight, unlike the previous version of this sight where you had to dismount the sight and disturb your zero to replace the battery. The cap is finely threaded aluminum that is easy to cross-thread if you're not careful. The battery that came with the sight was dead, so I used a replacement battery (CR1632 3 Volt) and had no trouble installing it. The sight is small so finding the dot for the first time took me a bit, but once you get used to the sight, finding the dot is no issue. The sight is made with an aluminum chassis and appears to be very durable, but I'm not abusing the sight intentionally to test how durable it is.
The sight is really great. With my old eyes not able to focus in on the front sight post of my pistol, this red dot sight allows me to be a lot more accurate than with the iron sights. This allows you to easily shoot with both eyes open and focused on the target. With iron sights, its easy to get tunnel vision. Besides, if you are being attacked, you are focused on your attacker and probably not on your front sight. The red dot sight gives you a real advantage in this regard.
The only complaint I have, is that the sight does not come with a protective cover. It does come with a big sun shade, but I would like a small cover so I can protect the sight when I'm cleaning my gun. You can easily get cleaner on the lens of the sight and it's a pain to get completely clean again. You really don't want to dismount the sight once it's zeroed so this is one drawback. I now use some plastic wrap to cover the sight while I'm cleaning it.
Overall, I'm impressed with the quality of this sight. I have fired a few hundred rounds with this sight and it has held zero perfectly. The mounting is solid and handles the recoil and movement of the slide very well. The 8 MOA dot is easy to pick up, and the sight provides me a more accurate sight picture than with the iron sights. I'm happy with this purchase and can recommend this sight to anyone.
| Brand | Burris |
|---|---|
| Color | black,grey |
| Style | FastFire III (3 MOA Dot) |
| Sport | Hunting |
| Material | Aluminum |
| Compatible Devices | Handgun, Shotgun, Rifle |
| Mounting Type | Weaver Mount |
| Night vision | No |
| Brand Name | Burris |
| Manufacturer | Burris |
