Sig Romeo5 1x20mm thoughts

[WT_Foxtrot]

Background.....bought first AR a few years back, off the rack S&W M&P Sport II, and really enjoy it. Pretty much just a fun gun, targets, plinking and maybe the occasional pig or varmint should the opportunity present itself. Nothing other than that....no long range, no deer, etc. Pretty much 100 yards and in.

Always just used the open sights and thinking of putting a red dot or some type of scope on it. While I know quite a bit about the traditional type scope for your standard bolt action deer rifle, I don't know much about the optics for these and what I'm using it for.

Been seeing the above mentioned Sig on sale for $119 at Palmetto and thinking of grabbing one. Question is what does it add over what I'm doing now and does it suit and enhance what I'm using this gun for? Are there better options out there I'm missing? Seemed like a good price for what it is.

I've never even shot an AR with any kind of scope or optics and just wanting to know if I'm on the right path. Thanks for any input.

 

[Sam7sf]

A lot to digest...I’ll let others answer and just say if you’re ever in the dfw area I got different rifles you can try and see for yourself.

 

[WT_Foxtrot]

Thanks Sam...I'm in the madness too. Or at least the outskirts. Might take you up on that.

 

[Sam7sf]

Don’t be shy. Off the top of my head I got an Mcx with a red dot, stag model 1 with irons, and a ruger mpr with a 3-9x40.

 

[gshayd]

if the optic puts the bullets where the red dot points to you are good to go.

 

[Sam7sf]

Hahah pretty much. You can really over complicate a guns application these days. There are pros and cons to the three setups. Scope, red dot, and irons. Just gotta shoot and have the optics eye relief set up to you and see what you do well with. when it comes to giving critters a new orifice I’m their worst nightmare with my mini 14 and it’s irons.

 

[Bozz10mm]

Sure, for your application, a red dot would be excellent. Especially if your eye sight isn't what it used to be.
And the Sig Sauer Romeo 5 is an excellent red dot. You couldn't do any better for the price. I've got one mounted on my PSA AR 15. It has a smaller 2 MOA dot for slightly better accuracy than the 3 MOA dots you find on most other optics in the price range. There is no magnification, but red dots usually have unlimited eye relief.

Once sighted in, where you put the dot is where the bullet goes. A great feature of the Romeo 5 is the auto wake feature. It senses movement and will turn off after 2 minutes when no movement is detected. It instantly turns back on with just the slightest movement.

It will co witness with the MBUS rear sight too, so you can use the open sights as back up.

 

[WT_Foxtrot]

One more question....since M&P is the regular model and is not the "optics ready" and it has the rear flip up and front fixed sights, can I just leave the front fixed sights in place and the Sig will still function effectively?

 

[Sam7sf]

Your current production ar isn’t optics ready as in you don’t have the rings or base to provide you with a height you want? Im not sure what you mean. Most of the red dots out there are high enough you can just put it on your pic rail.

 

[WT_Foxtrot]

Your current production ar isn’t optics ready as in you don’t have the rings or base to provide you with a height you want? Im not sure what you mean. Most of the red dots out there are high enough you can just put it on your pic rail.

Smith now has what they call an optics ready model of my AR, which as far as I can tell is just the same gun without the sights. Mine of course has them as I described. Pretty much answers it though. Just had read about some people removing the fixed front sight when they installed a red dot and I didn't want to unless I had to since I heard it can be a pain.

 

[Sam7sf]

Yeah most red dots for ar’s work well with co witness setups. All this talk about it makes me wish I was blasting some critters

 

[V-Tach]

Sure a RDS can be used with a front sight on the S&W M&P 15...but it can be distracting.......changing out the front gas block/sight really isn't that difficult just remember that the pins are removed the opposite way of every other manufacturer.....They come out right to left instead of left to right......

 

[Bozz10mm]

One more question....since M&P is the regular model and is not the "optics ready" and it has the rear flip up and front fixed sights, can I just leave the front fixed sights in place and the Sig will still function effectively?

The front sight will not interfere with the function of the red dot. It will co witness just fine. The Sig Sauer Romeo 5 comes with two bases. I used the short base for absolute co-witness with the red dot.

 

[WT_Foxtrot]

Very helpful Bozz....thanks!

Went ahead and ordered from Palmetto....thanks for everyone's input!!

 

[Bozz10mm]

When you get the red dot mounted and if you find you have astigmatism, causing a blurry or distorted dot, you can mitigate most of the distortion by using the iron sights and the red dot together.

 

[WT_Foxtrot]

Received and installed the Romeo5 last week. Was a breeze. Need to shoot for any fine tuning, but the thing co-witnessed with the iron sights right out of the box. I now see what all the hubbub is about.

Thanks for everyone's input.

 

[PinnedandRecessed]

For $119 shipped you can't beat it. It's on par with the Vortex Sparc I and II (which I also own). I'll go out on a limb and say in my experience the Romeo 5 is better than the Holosuns I have owned. I know many like them but the 2 I had were junk. I just bought another Romeo 5 for my PSA AK-P. We will see how it handles the heavier recoil of 7.62 vs 5.56. FWIW my favorite red dot to date is the Trijicon MRO. I use the MRO on tools that could be used for close range social work.

 

[gshayd]

If your current pistol isn't red dot ready. EGW has a solution. no machining required. JUst something to take the rear sight out and something to put the rear sight rail in the slot.

http://www.egwguns.com/optima/docter/vortex-mounts/

For me, the distortion on a red dot/reflex clears up when I put my prescription glasses on.

I must have a dozen pistols with reflex style sights on them. I can't get a good rear sight picture or put the front sight in the center of the rear sight with my present eyesight. Love my Trijicon reflexes and Vortexes on my pistols nothing wrong with Vortex, Burris, Leupold, and others.

The sights I can come to using with good results is the sights with the different colored light tubes for the front and rear. I also Have a 1911 with the big dot Xcess that works great. I call it dotting the i and then firing.

I sold back my EOTechs and replaced them with Trijicon MROs and I also have a Trijicon ACOG and a couple of Aimpoints mounted along with a Reflex on MY AR15 rifles and pistols.

 

[PinnedandRecessed]

If your current pistol isn't red dot ready. EGW has a solution. no machining required. JUst something to take the rear sight out and something to put the rear sight rail in the slot.

http://www.egwguns.com/optima/docter/vortex-mounts/

For me, the distortion on a red dot/reflex clears up when I put my prescription glasses on.
I must have a dozen pistols with reflex style sights on them. Love my Trijicons. But nothing wrong with Vortex, Burris, Leupold, and others.

I wonder how secure that mount is. With it only being dovetailed in will the mass of the red dot eventually cause it to move during recoil? Also, without the removal of slide material to counterbalance the optic will it overpower the recoil spring because it is too heavy? Intriguing idea though.

 

[gshayd]

One more question....since M&P is the regular model and is not the "optics ready" and it has the rear flip up and front fixed sights, can I just leave the front fixed sights in place and the Sig will still function effectively?

You can get mounts with full co-witness height. I usually set the red dot on top of the front sight for that and get the sight aligned. That way if the sight red dot sight goes belly up I can instantly go to the iron sights.I don't even need to remove them saving seconds to take of a quick mount. Get them in lower 1/3 co-witness. That way you have an uninterrupted view of the iron sights. They also come in low mounts.