The weather here has finally started to cool down to fall temperatures. I hunted the back woods section on a local farm the second day of our general firearm season, which allows the use of any legal weapon. Being a handgunner, I had a revolver of course! Actually two revolvers! I’ve been trying out a couple handgun optics, and was curious if an optic would extend my shooting time compared to using open sights.
The first one I tried was the new green dot sight, Matchdot2, from Ultradot. I mounted this one on a six inch Ruger GP100 357 magnum using the rings that were included with the optic. Zeroing was easy and once set I could loosen the screw to set the elevation dial to zero allowing for easy drop adjustments. Of the four dot sizes and two reticle options, I found the smallest dot to suit me the best. This optic also has eleven brightness settings, which helps get the perfect sight picture in every lighting situation possible. Brightness setting 8 seemed to be good for the target shooting I was doing. After getting drop settings for the 100, 150, and 200 yard gongs, the elevation turret made it quick and easy to compensate for distance, rather than holding over.
I target shoot at these distances quite often, with open sights, but don’t have hits every shot. The main problem is the front sight covers the whole target. With the dot dialed to the smallest setting, I can now pick a spot on the target instead of covering the whole thing.
The second optic was an Ultradot Matchdot 2 with the red dot. This one was mounted on a Smith & Wesson R8 357 magnum, making a great lightweight hunting combination. Once the zero was found at 30 yards, I checked to confirm the drop settings were the same as the other revolver.
My R8 was set and ready to go to the woods! Using an optic worked better than expected in darker woods hunting. As the sun went down, I was able to dial the dot brightness down so it wouldn’t be too overpowering in the darkness. The Matchdot 2 I was using allowed quick target acquisition, compared to a magnified handgun scope. Looking at the Dan Wesson 44 magnum I had brought along, it was dark enough I wasn’t comfortable using its open sights. The red ramp front sight was not visible enough and hard to find in the all black rear sight, so in the pack it went. Within minutes, I had a deer 30 yards to my right that snuck in without a sound. With a dot on the shoulder, I squeezed off a shot. My deer ran 40 yards or so and fell. My first critter with an Ultradot optic!
The shot was just about perfect. It was closing in on legal shooting time and I was more than comfortable with what I could see in the optic. A small dot, lowest brightness setting, and quality glass all worked together to give me the perfect sight picture to take the shot. So, can an optic allow more time to hunt and give more shot opportunities? With a tough, dependable optic like an Ultradot, I would say absolutely!
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