How to install and set up universal red dot mount [or any other]

Whether your eyes are getting weaker or you simply like to bring your gun to the new age, red dot mount is a way how to install red dot sight to your pistol even if it is not Optics Ready. 

Red dot mounts are made as a replacement of the rear sight in the dovetail cut of the slide.

These mounts allow you to install a red dot to your gun, even though it has not slide cut from factory, and it does not require any permanent modifications of your pistol.  

Video guide

Here is quick video guide on what you need to know before buying a red dot mount, incl. how to install it. The rest of the article expands on the topic and if anything remains unclear after watching the video, the article shall answer that.

Why can selection of red dot mount be tricky

There are thousands different handgun models from hundreds of manufacturers. And most of the manufacturers use unique dovetail profile cut for their models. And many of them use even more different dovetail profiles for different models. 

How is it related to red dot mounts? Well, for each different dovetail profile you need to have different red dot mount. Such that would copy the dovetail profile, else it will not work.

In Optics Spot we try to make the search for the right mount as easy as possible. That is why you can find here even a red dot adapter finder, that will show you all the red dot mounts that exist for your gun. 

Universal red dot mounts: how do they work

Universal mounts use a set of holes and pins. And based on how you setup the pins, the red dot mounts can create different footprints that are compatible with most red dots out there.

Attention: Universal mounts are never fully "universal"

Because there are way too many red dot footprints, there is not one single red dot mount that would be able to fit them all. Different manufacturers usually use different sets of footprints for their mounts. So each of the universal mounts actually only features a number of red dot footprints, never all of them. 

For example: Red dot mounts fron Toni System usually come in two versions - type A and type B.

• Type A fits Shield RMSc footprint, Vortex Venom footprint and Leupold DPP footprint.
• The type B fits Trijicon RMR footprint, C-More RTS footprint, and few other unique footprints. 

Footprints explained

What does it mean that a red dot mount features Trijicon RMR footprint? Simply put, it means that any red dot that uses the same footprint as Trijicon RMR will be compatible with that red dot mount. And actually most of the red dots available on the market use one of the 5 or 6 most common red dot footprints. At Optics Spot you can even find red dots by the footprint standard they use:

• red dots with Trijicon RMR footprint
• red dots with Shield RMSc footprint
• red dots with Holosun K-series footprint
• red dots with Vortex Venom footprint
• ... and other, as per here

Conclusion

You have to choose the right red dot mount based on your pistol and based on your red dot sight at the same time.

Preparation

As soon as you receive the mount, double check the compatibility physically. Its always better to find out the mount will not fit the red dot before you go though the whole installation process, believe me. 

Again, there are two compatibilities to check.

Compatibility with red dot

How to check the compatibility? Set up the footprint on your mount with the pins that are included in it and simply seat the red dot on it. If it sits as it should, and the screw holes allign, you know the mount is correct for the red dot.

Compatibility with pistol

The second compatibility is only light and visual. Simply allign the red dot mount next to the slide and check if the shape of it will fit the shape of the dovetail. If all seems fine in this regard too, you can proceed to the installation itself.

How to install red dot mount

You can do it yourself if you have some  basic tools at your household (wise, hammer, etc), and a little bit of skilfulness with your hands. 

Step by step

1. Disassemble your pistol and fixate the slide in the wise
2. Remove the fixation screws of your rear sight and hammer the rear sight out with a help of drifting tool
3. Clean the surface of dovetail properly
4. Remove the screws from the red dot mount
5. Allign the red dot mount with the dovetail and carefully hammer it in, again with help of a drifting tool
6. Center the mount and fixate the red dot with screws with a bit of loctite

Attaching red dot to the red dot mount

Once again set up the pins into their required position based on the footprint you need, and put the red dot on it. 

Once properly seated, loctite the screws that hold the red dot to the mount, and torque them appropriately.