Hidden Handling Benefits
This brings us to one of the other great revelations about red dots, — their location on the slide makes traditional slide manipulations difficult. Shortly prior to receiving the Mako, I received some instruction on red dots from Gunsite instructors Lew Gosnell and Aimee Grant and learned the correct way to drop the slide after a reload.
We all know the debate about using the slidestop during a reload or grasping the slide with your support hand to pull it back and drop it. From a combatives perspective, I prefer the gross motor skill of grasping the slide, which is less affected by stress than the fine motor skill of trying to find the slidestop with the tip of your thumb.
Using the optic takes it one step further: Just bring your palm back towards your chest like you were fanning a single action revolver and whack the optic with the heel of your hand. When you hit it, the slide falls. It is lightning fast, and if it’s possible to leave enough of a handprint on the optic to blur the sight picture, I didn’t manage to.
I’ve shot various optic-equipped handguns off-and-on for over 20 years now, but I was agnostic about their use on carry guns. The difference the Crimson Trace makes for the Mako, however, is convincing. The auto-brightness-adjusting 3 MOA dot worked whether it was bright or rainy, and in my limited time I never approached the expected 5,000+ hour battery life.
I’d say the gun was stupid accurate, but there’s nothing stupid about hitting your target, so it needs another superlative. Either “superb” or “shocking” would do. Handheld, I put five rounds into less than 3″ at 25 yards from an unsupported standing position. This was typical performance for the Mako — it also performed acceptably at 100 yards — but far better than I expect from a compact pistol. The combination of good ergonomics and trigger with excellent mechanical accuracy makes it easy to shoot well, and the red dots’ simplification of the sighting process removes the traditional drawback of having a barrel that’s a mere 3″-and-change long. The combination makes a formidable package for concealed carry where accuracy, speed and dead reliability are critical.
No wonder they named it after a shark.
For more info:
KimberAmerica.com
Black-Hills.com
CrimsonTrace.com
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