Curt from United States, TX Public Profile

Like the other reviewer, it pains me to leave a negative review. I own a TON of Shield Sights. I waited on this thing to be released for a long time.

It is basically an RMS with manual adjustments (hooray), but you can't see through the window because of the emitter cover that essentially puts a box in your line of sight that is larger than the front sight. It takes up half the window. On top of that, mine has a tremendous amount of vertical parallax shift. Laterally, there is virtually no shift, but the dot moves about a foot or more vertically...and that's inside an already too small window. It would work very well under NODs if you had more than half an inch of window to look through.

The Shield AMS takes the very intuitive Shield RMS and adds a far more robust chassis. Its downfall is the choice to include the emitter channel cover in order to make this an enclosed optic. The buttons are better than on the older SIS model, the auto brightness is about as good as it gets for a red dot...having three auto brightness ranges is excellent, and it can handle the recoil of basically any pistol. The battery is contained well and is watertight. The included battery compartment tool is perfect.

However, the

The fit and finish of this kit seems to be adequate for use in the CMMG upper receiver that I put it in, and it seems to be reliable after putting an AR15 buffer/spring in the buffer tube.

- The accuracy appears to be pretty terrible.
- I recommend it for training inside of 25 yards or inside of structures, but it does not appear to be useful for grouping at 50 yards.
- It reproduces (close enough) the weight and balance of a standard rifle. It does NOT reproduce the muzzle flip of a standard rifle (if that wasn't obvious).
- When using the reliable S&W M&P15 22 magazines along with a drop-in magazine adaptor from Redi-Mag, last round bolt hold open works properly, so this is a decent option for emulating the AR15 manual of arms while using 22LR ammo.

***BE AWARE***

Mine requires the use of something to keep the bolt carrier cage from sliding slightly rearward (out the rear of the upper receiver) during recoil. When this occurs, it prevents the bolt from reliably returning to battery. A standard AR15 buffer and action spring solved the problem 100% so far.

This riser is ideal for use with a Lower-Third Co-witness Optic (like an EOTech EXPS) in order to make it comfortable to gain all the advantages of running an AR mounted directly under the dominant eye.

Would be nice to have one that is long enough to use the factory flip-to-side riser.

As an update to my prior review, I would like to add a few negative points.

NOT RECOMMENDED FOR DUTY USE OR SELF DEFENSE PURPOSES

This is still a recommended optic, but it can only be recommended as a durable substitute for training and range use optics. It is rather durable and is rated for a lot of recoil, but it is hard to trust that it will not have its brightness or windage adjusted inadvertently. For range and training use, it simply isn't worth spending any more money than the various Sig and Holosun options for far less money.

I am skeptical that the SAS is employing these for any reason whatsoever. For use with night vision, there doesn't appear to be any optic on the market even remotely as good as the EOTech EXPS3.

1. The auto brightness that I like so much about this optic compared to other optics is no longer relevant to my needs. It simply isn't bright enough to justify using anything other than manual brightness, and the same is true for all other optics. As well as the Shield Sights optics handle adjustments for lighting conditions, there are simply none that adequately adjust for bright light situations. Unless all engagements with this optic (or, for that matter, any other optic) are in low light conditions, it will never be bright enough. See target discrimination with a WML: Use of a flashlight to positively identify any potential targets so you don't fire on an innocent such as a family or first responder. That being said, the optic still me

Because of the short eye relief and being forced to use only red dots with the Romeo Zero footprint, I plan to return this Battle Pack. If it had a picatinny rail on top, I'd likely keep it and recommend it for shooters who want to buy a rugged optic for self defense. As it is, many LPVOs seem to be a better option for mounting a red dot on top of.

To be clear, this is NOT the item in the photo. The part number is correct, but the photo isn't. August 2021, and OP needs to update the photo. This model lacks a picatinny rail and only works with the ROMEO Zero footprint red dots.

The Romeo is at an ideal height for maintaining a heads up posture with shoulders sqaure, which would place it in line for NODs as well, but Romeo Zero doesn't have a NV brightness setting. The Bravo3 & Bravo5 both have a picatinny rail, so those would accommodate a red dot with NV settings.

Though the Bravo4 will likely handle a beating, the Romeo Zero will likely not make it through basic slips, falls, or bumps against much at all (even with the external shroud in place).

For the price, the optic seems to be a decent replacement for the Trijicon ACOG. It has an acceptable eye box, the glass is acceptable, but it has the super short eye relief similar to the ACOG.

CRITERIA

For a compact, double stack 9mm pistol, the IDEAL pistol red dot sight would meet the following criteria. Not all criteria are weighted the same, but they are all considered. Those criteria are as follows (in no particular order):

- common mounting footprint (Aimpoint Acro and Holosun 509 do not quite meet this for me)
- rugged and reliable (retains zero; remains mounted and intact through recoil, being dropped, and rolling on the ground in a holster)
- window size larger/taller than RMR (to make finding the dot faster and facilitate more shooting positions)
- some amount of cowitness with OEM sights (Shield SMS/RMS has the perfect example of this, the Holosun 507k attempts it)
- no heavily tinted glass (glass tinting adds battery life, but batteries should be replaced years before they expire)
- Highly recommend Duracell coin batteries for reliable voltage. Energizer coin batteries are notoriously under voltage and
unreliable...though EOTech suggests that Energizer AAs and 123s handle recoil the best.
- ability to manually adjust brightness
- auto-brightness adjusts quickly based on ambient light at the target (Shield RMS meets this better than any other optic on the market)
- enclosed emitter (to prevent rain or debris from blocking the LED emitter)
- recessed glass (to limit the chance that the glass will become damaged or scratched from impacts)
- battery is in drawer (so that the battery may be replaced without dismountin

My first one didn't work out too well. After calling Redding customer service, who appears to be quite helpful, I was unable to get square cuts on my cases. It appears that there is a bit of yaw in the case holder cylinder, and I'm not sure whether it's my fault or a manufacturing issue. Redding accepted it back for inspection.

Pro: The cutting tool seems to cut smoothly and easily, and it's very nice to have all of the pilots handy as well as primer pocket cleaners. Having a micrometer is superior to not having one. It's also nice to not have to keep up with shell holders.

Con: I don't love the effort required to insert a case into the collet. The effort required would be acceptable if the trimmer provided square cuts, but at present, the Hornady trimmer is my go-to (even though it's a little more basic, it gives square cuts).

4 Stars because I'm willing to try it on my carry gun. 3 Stars would mean I refuse to try it. Overall, quite disappointed.

In design, the Holosun 407k has the cowitness, low profile, and narrow footprint features of Shield Sights along with ruggedness similar to prior Holosun optics, which approaches the ruggedness of the RMR.

In function, the window is smaller than an RMR, it lacks autobrightness, and the cowitness of the rear notch doesn't quite allow a decent view of the front sight (but you can see the top of the front sight, so it's better than nothing)

Mounting solutions are presently very frustrating. It uses a modified version of the Shield Sights footprint. Gun or mounting plate must not have rear lugs, and the front lugs need to be shorter than some of the normal Shield or Leupold lugs. In other words, no guarantee that it will fit your gun. I made it work on mine, but I'm still not sure if I will keep it.

As the owner of a broad range of red dot optics, I've spent a lot of time comparing the SIS to optics made by Trijicon, EOTech, and Sig/Holosun.

The single most important factor for this optic over others is the auto-brightness. Compared to anything else I've ever seen, on all optics made by Shield Sights, the brightness setting is based more on the light in front of the optic rather than on the light above the optic. This reduces the wash-out experienced on every other auto-adjusting optic. For some users, the auto-brightness setting may not be as bright as they prefer. For me, in dim environments, the brightness is perfect, in bright environments, I have no problem, but I have not used the optic for anything besides training. Besides that, the optic has a manual brightness setting, so it is adjustable as desired.

So far, I have had no concerns of the durability of the optic during fire or if it is dropped. The buttons are on the left side of the optic, but they are easily accessible with either hand (though they certainly favor a right-handed shooter). The mounting system is polymer and light weight. It is also modular so that the user can adjust the height during install. It is NOT a QD mount. Shield does offer an adapter plate to allow the optic to be used on Aimpoint compatible mounts (so this would add a QD option).

The center dot reticle provides the exact options that I prefer to have on a rifle for close, defensive engagement training, and it provides an

Everything seems to be acceptable quality. I even like the features on the takedown pins. However, they're out of spec. They won't fit any reciever I own. Diameter is too wide, and that is after it tied "hand-fitting" them with sand paper.

These are the only parts I've been disappointed by from ArmaSpec