The Primary & Secondary Optics & Red Dots hub organizes practical resources on pistol-mounted red dots, rifle red-dot sights, low-power variable optics, mounting, zeroing, angular measurement, durability, selection, and employment. The goal is to connect equipment choices with realistic requirements, correct installation, verified zero, and informed training.
Pistol Red-Dot Sights
- Why I Have a Red Dot on My Pistol — Part 1 — Scott Jedlinski’s foundational case for the pistol-mounted optic.
- Why I Have a Red Dot on My Pistol — Part 2 — Practical continuation covering application and training considerations.
- Aimpoint RDS and Pistol Mounting PSA — Mounting guidance and cautions for adapting red-dot equipment to pistols.
- P&S ModCast 208 — The Pistol RDS — A detailed discussion of pistol optics, adoption, setup, training, and performance.
- P&S ModCast 245 — Setting Up Your Red Dot Pistol — Selecting, mounting, zeroing, and configuring a reliable red-dot pistol.
- Red Dot Sight Field of View — explains how binocular vision, target focus, optic placement, window size, and individual vision affect perceived field of view.
Rifle Red Dots and Mounting
- Accuracy and Optics Placement — How placement decisions affect practical use and consistency.
- The M68 Close Combat Optic — Technical and practical context for the service red-dot sight.
- How to Mount an Army Optic to an M4A1 — Correct installation as part of a repeatable weapon-and-optic system.
- Zeroing the Close Combat Optic — Establishing a useful and verifiable CCO zero.
Magnified Optics and LPVOs
- Low Power Variable Optics — An introduction to LPVO capability, limitations, and selection.
- Low Power Variable Optics: The Close and the Far — Balancing near-range speed with observation, identification, and precision at distance.
- P&S ModCast 403 — Gun Nerds 20: The Special Purpose Rifle — Optic selection and configuration within the broader SPR system.
Zeroing and Measurement
- Units of Angular Measurement for Optics — Understanding angular adjustments and their relationship to point-of-impact correction.
- Battlesight Zero — Practical context for selecting and understanding a useful rifle zero.
- What Is Our Standard for Zeroing? — Why group quality, confirmation, and an explicit standard matter.
- The Tolerance-Stacking of Errors and Zeroing — How small procedural and equipment errors combine to undermine a zero.
- P&S ModCast 436 — Ammo Selection and Zeroing — Connecting ammunition choice, rifle configuration, distance, and verification.
Design, Quality, and Selection
P&S ModCast 381 — Variables in RDS examines red-dot design, manufacturing, quality control, durability, mounting, price, and what “duty grade” should mean.
Browse the Optics Podcast Episodes page or the Optics & Red Dots category. Related collections include the Rifles & Carbines hub and Pistols & Handgun Training hub.
Optics Experts in the Extended P&S Network
- Freddie Blish — Retired USMC lieutenant colonel, firearms instructor, and combat-optics specialist.
- Michael “Mike” Branson — Optics product developer, reticle designer, and educator.
- Mark Cockman — Retired EOTECH executive, law-enforcement professional, and optics educator.
- Aaron Cowan — Firearms instructor, pistol-optics researcher, and equipment evaluator.
- John Enlow — Aimpoint red-dot technical support and professional industry representative.
- Scot Hoskisson — Engineer, inventor, and AK optics-mount designer.