Dan and I hit the Ruger booth at the NRA show this year to check out their Mark IV 22/45 Lite Optics-Ready semi-auto pistol and the new ReadyDot micro red dot.
This new optic uses a huge coil of fiber optic to gather light and produce a 15 MOA dot on the compact viewing window. Clearly it auto-adjusts for ambient brightness, and Ruger says it gathers so much light that it’s usable even in surprisingly dark environments.
That’s a claim we plan to put to the test soon. In the meantime, find out more in the video below . . .
“a 15 MOA dot” ??
fifth-teen … 15 ?
Never mind….checked the specs again, specs do say 15 MOA > https://ruger-hosted.s3.amazonaws.com/email/ReadyDot-SellSheet.pdf
Thats what i was trying to figure out
Which means that it covers a little over one inch at seven yards…. it’s for speed, not precision.
What bothers me is the lack of W / E adjustment
its made specifically to co-witness with the Ruger Max-9 stock sights when mounted on that gun mounting system which is why its fixed.
ive moved red dots from pistol to pistol before
in my experience
it seems like once theyre zeroed on one pistol
theyre zeroed on all of them
even out to 25 yards
i imagine for ruger to sell these things
they must have figured out a way
to factory zero them
so that theyll be accurate enough
when mounted on just about any pistol
that one would consider putting a 100 dollar optic on
lets face it:
nobodys going to put this on their sig p320 x5 legion
and i seriously doubt it would find its way onto a glock either
they ‘geometrically’ ‘zero’ it internally mechanically so its in the optical center all the time parallel to the bore and the lower profile brings that optical center down so it co-witnesses with the MAX-9 stock sights.
No windage/elevation adjustments (really).
Hope your PIC rail is decently aligned with your barrel.
I don’t believe I’ve ever seen a 22/45 that wasn’t optics ready so I guess I’m not seeing the point. This entire thing seems completely ridiculous.
WTH…
very confusing
Yep
All I see here is a patent for a rail adapter.
TRY ENJOY RUGER 22/45 AS IS OUT OF THA BOX , DID ADD FRONT HIVIZ GREEN OPTIC .
For those of you wondering about the Ruger ReadyDot and why it does not have elevation and windage adjustment…
It was created ‘originally’ to co-witness with the stock sights on Ruger’s MAX-9 pistol. Its concept is that a dot fixed in the geometric center of the sight will be parallel to the bore of the firearm all the time by some distance from the bore center to the center of the dot.
You’ve seen this concept employed before. For example, in the Meprolight FT Bullseye sight where the dot once you physically align the gun (while sighting) such that the dot is in the circle center the dot is then parallel to the bore. This is also the same principal employed for laser sights that are set up for proper parallel zero. The difference between the Meprolight FT Bullseye and the laser sight is that the laser sight has windage and elevation adjustment so you can set up for the zero you want and the Meprolight doesn’t, but when the laser sight is set up for correct parallel zero it is parallel to the bore like the dot on the Meprolight and the Ruger ReadyDot is so in that aspect all three would use the same ‘fixed’ ‘zero’. All of you who have purchased a quality manufacturer dot sight have seen this when you first take take the sight out of the box and turn it on.
On laser sights you have a windage and elevation adjustment so you can set up for the desired zero at the desired distance for a converging zero, the same on dot sights and iron sights, and even scopes, that have a windage and elevation adjustment and when you adjust those for zero at a certain distance you are using a converging zero in reference to center bore (and sure, from there you may adjust for a certain ammo ballistics profile or environment conditions such as wind). The difference for the Ruger ReadyDot is you are fixed at parallel zero in reference to center bore.
The Ruger ReadyDot was intended for parallel zero in reference to center bore e.g. parallel to the bore – in its inception to co-witness with the stock sights of Ruger’s MAX-9 pistol and the reason it co-witnesses with Ruger’s MAX-9 is because of its low profile which physically brings its ‘geometric’ center height lower thus brings the fixed dot lower on that gun mounting.
The Ruger ReadyDot would work on other pistols and rifles too (with correct mounting), just remember that the dot is parallel to the bore in a parallel zero and that may or may not co-witness exactly with the iron sights on another gun.
Those of you who are ‘purists’ insisting that every ‘dot’ sight must be adjustable, its understandable to want to zero the sights the way you like them and there could be lots of discussion and angst over this. But when you consider that if you were to zero your optics for a parallel zero you then have the same close range fast engagement the Ruger ReadyDot was intended for. For example, if you were to turn off your red dot and uses its ‘frame’ as a ‘ghost ring’ and place your man sized target at 10 yards (the Ruger ReadyDot close engagement range) in the center of that ‘ghost ring’ you will hit the target.
Most dot sights you buy, at least the quality sights, when you take them out of the box they are already set up with the dot in the geometric center (optical center) the same as this Ruger ReadyDot is.
Although its possible that some manufacturers will pre-zero the dot for a laser or dot sight at some distance (some do and some don’t, for example, Sig dot sights don’t but are in optical center), usually 50 feet. And the reason for this 50 foot distance is because it brings it close to a parallel zero relative to bore center at 89.5 degrees on a firearm and that makes it useful for close range engagement out of the box while not deviating too far beyond the 50 foot zero point to miss a target completely out to about 20’ish yards which is about the standard range for pistol firing ranges so the rounds will still be ‘reasonably’ on paper so you can zero from there. But still, even if a dot sight is not factory ‘zeroed’ at some distance but in geometric center (optical center) they are still “useful” out of the box for close engagement of 10 – 15 yards on a man sized target.
Thus you have the Ruger ReadyDot, intended to be low cost and close range engagement so its fixed at geometric (optical) center in a parallel zero.
“clarification for : “For example, if you were to turn off your red dot and uses its ‘frame’ as a ‘ghost ring’ and place your man sized target at 10 yards (the Ruger ReadyDot close engagement range) in the center of that ‘ghost ring’ you will hit the target.”
When you use your dot optic, that dot is simply a reference that helps you get your target point in ‘optical center’ of your eye sight line. Yes, its an optical illusion but it works. You don’t realize it, your brain does this automatically and naturally, but when you ‘zero’ your dot optic at a certain distance you are actually aligning the dot in the geometric (optical center) view in reference to the firearm bore on the target point such that the dot remains in the geometric (optical center) view in reference to that target point … or in other words a ‘parallel zero’ in a different axis angle that is a combination of bore line reference and the target point that we call a ‘converging zero’ because before and after that zero point that parallel zero axis continues on the same angle but the dot will always be parallel to that axis angle.
If you turn the dot off and use the sight as a ‘ghost ring’ if you align a man sized target (and even smaller, depends on how steady you are, I can do 8 inch plates at 10 yards this way easy but everyone should be able to do a man sized target this way) in the center of the ‘ghost ring’ view you are recreating the dot reference point (such as when the dot is turned on) in a ‘parallel’ zero. Actually, you can do this easy for a man sized target out to about 15 – ~20 yards, you may not be able to do specific spot shots (for example, a center fore head shot, although with some practice at 10 yards you could), but even without specific point shots everyone should be able to do at least center mass hits in at least a 6 – 8 inch group with a little practice just using the dot sight ‘ghost ring’ method without the dot present. Battery or red dot fails on ya when about to engage a bad guy at close range? Never fear, practice a little with the ‘ghost ring’ use of the failed sight for close range engagement of 10 – 15 yards (and, to add, anything under that will be a piece of cake too).
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