Now, I have always liked the reflex sight. I have a romance with magnification, and long range but i would say I was more in love with “the idea” of long distance marksmanship. I do enjoy sending 168gr long distance, but the lust for me right now is speed and the Trijicon RMR (Ruggedized Miniature Reflex) is not helping me drop my torrid affair with closer ranges and faster acquisitions.
I love this thing. Plain and simple. I mocked it the first time I saw it and thought it was silly to have such a small reflex sight. What can you possibly do with a tiny little window filled by a big yellow dot. Well, the answer is, A LOT. You can’t miss this thing with that dot. If you shoot both eyes open, this is a mini little sun that floats on your point of aim with a window that you don’t even notice due to it’s size, keeping it in check. I couldn’t have been more wrong for making fun of it’s size as this is proof good things come in small packages.
I ran the RMR through a couple different mounting options which you can see in the video for the AR platform. Don’t panic, I didn’t just slap it on there and call it a test. Well… maybe for one of them I did, but that’s only because we didn’t have a pistol to mount this thing onto. The RMR got sent to us with both the RM55 which is a 1 o’clock offset adapter mount (or 11 o’clock if you flip it around) as well as the RM34 which is great for just a straight up top mount. They over 25 different mounts for this mini wonder to give you options for anything from an M&P to big scope tubes and even on top of their widely desired ACOGs.
We used the offset mount to set up a “3-Gun” style setup as both Superbowl and myself are both interested in getting in on that action if it ever makes it’s way up to the NH area. I have a long railed AR that we mounted a 3x-9x variable (not preferred but what we had) scope onto, and then forward of the scope we mounted the offset mount with the RMR. I have seen both mini-reflex sights as well as 1 o’clock irons used in three gun depending on the class and it’s a pretty bad ass setup. I have also never fired an AR cocked to the side like that and was really surprised at how easy it was to not only mitigate recoil but still keep that big dot on target for follow up shots while not fully “shouldering” the weapon. Several magazines of transitioning from the scope to the RMR and I was drilling pie plates pretty quickly. The benefit to this particular setup is that I can be accurate at longer distances with a primary optic and transition to a close range super accurate optic that is already dialed in for close range.
If you are shooting within 25 feet, you will have your shots run 1”-2” low when you are sighted in for 100m-300m The reason for this is your sight is sitting higher than the muzzle, and it is dialed in for a longer distance. For the two to intersect, the round has to travel. Up close, there is no distance for the round to cover so your shots are almost equidistant from point of aim and point of impact as the distance from your sights above your bore. By having a sight dialed in compensating for that distance AND a sight that can be precision over greater distances in one package, it only makes things faster.
I also ran the RMR in the straight up mount (the RM34) to see how it compared to my usual red dot reflex as well as through some other lightweight optic options we are currently trying. I will be the first to say that for close up… smaller MOA dot is not necessarily better. The dot I currently use is a 2 MOA dot and I can still have accurate groups at 100m. But up close I usually have the brightness turned up to make the dot brighter and larger which usually leaves a sort of “halo” around the lens from all the extra light being thrown out. The RMR already has a big dot, and not just a big dot but a sharp and clear dot that is easily distinguishable from the target. It just felt…faster. Not to mention that at 1.2oz it may as well be a rear iron sight. Light, illuminated and easy to acquire. Now I REALLY wish we had something like a FNP-45 Tactical to try this out on because this thing is just magical.
The model we got to play with is the RMR Dual Illumination model RM04-34. Trijicon makes three main models with varying options on each so we will keep it simple and let you discern your needs. Trijicon makes an LED model powered by a CR2032 as well as an Adjustable Brightness model powered by the same. The dual illumination model gets rid of all reliance on the battery (and also isn’t affected by E.M.P. for all you preppers out there) and utilizes a combination of Tijicon Fiber Optics to gather all available light and make a bright visible dot, even in overcast skies. When no natural light is available that is when the magic of Tritium kicks in. Tritium is a radioactive isotope that is self illuminating for 6-12 years depending on color, sealing, etc… but we will save the science lesson for another time. Windage and Elevation was also stupid easy. There were no super loud audible clicks or hard turning involved. There were clicks, there was turning, but it was done quickly, quietly and efficiently with gloves on and zeroed in no time. All in all a polished, product Trijicon has every right to be proud of.
All in all the Trijicon RMR Dual Illumination is an awesome little sight that has applications for just about any weapon system. Light, versatile and with a wide variety of mounting options almost impossible to ignore. I really like this sight and I don’t want to give it back.