3 or 6 MOA Red Dot for Pistol?

I have a gen one M&P CORE 9L and I’ve used both the 3ish and the 6ish MOA RMRs. Both work well. I prefer the 3. YMMV.

Try if you can but I wager you’ll be fine with either. For longer shots and/or more precise shooting, the smaller dot is superior but it magnifies tremor. For faster and closer shooting, the larger dot is usually considered superior. And if you don’t like how the dot shakes with a 1, 2, or 3MOA dot, then a 6+ might be ideal for you.

I doubt I’d be able to tell a difference in my times if I shot back to back matches with a 3 and a 6 though, but I’m not a pro level shooter either. But I do prefer the 3. If you want it to appear larger you can crank up the brightness and it’ll bloom a bit. But you can also crank it down for smaller and more accurate/distance shooting.

Middletown said:

M&P gen1 9mm. Already got a Flaxon slide and fixing to order the red dot when I came across this difference. Probably go with the 3 is my first thought but 6 MOA on a reflex sounds interesting.

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It's all preference. The general consensus is larger MOA for handgun mounted red dots and smaller MOA for rifles; however, in my experience 3 MOA is more popular for both. 6 MOA will be faster and makes more sense for any real world self-defense encounters you'll ever be in with a handgun, but the fact is many modern shooters like to "target shoot." That is, they like to shoot at further distances and try to get all the rounds through one hole which really isn't a requirement for self-defense. 6 MOA can still allow you to get multiple rounds on target at self-defense distances pretty fast and efficiently.

The good thing about smaller MOA dots though is that any training or trigger control issues on your part will be more pronounced than with a larger dot. Other than that I really don't think it makes much of a difference and is all personal preferences.

For precision I like 1-2MOA. For steel challenge I like 8MOA. For home defense, carry gun, and general shooting, I like 5-6MOA. My go to red dots are the Trijicon SRO in 5MOA or the C-More RTS2B 6MOA.

I have 2, 3, and 6 moa dot sights.

I’m more used to, and prefer, the 2s and 3s, but the 6 is plenty usable in the Holosun 407K it came in.

I have a bunch of red dots. I like the 3mm ones. Aim small, miss small!

I prefer the circle-dot reticles myself. I use them on my pistols and rifles. They have a 32 MOA circle with a 2 MOA dot, so to me it's the best of both worlds with speed and precision.

I prefer a smaller dot, finding them more accurate with no loss of speed. Having said that, there is no universal preference. I don't think any of them are genuinely bad, so whatever you get should be fine - but you won't know what you like best until you've tried all of them.

I would think it would boii down to use with personal preference as spice used in the mix. I only shoot for fun. Any competion is among family members for laughing rights as in "Ha, ha, I beat grrandpa---again". The older we all get the more I have to put up with that. At least it shows I have taught them something.

Like 38 special I prefer the 3 minute dot as it works better than larger ones in my case or I would be laughed at constantly. Kids have no mercy.

Derek Zeanah said:

I've been researching this myself, and after watching a comparison on The Humble Marksman's youtube channel I discovered what might be another factor to consider: astigmatism.

If, like me, you have astigmatism, then you'll do better the lower the brightness is set. As 6 MOA dots are bigger and easier to pick up, you don't need to crank the brightness as high, and you may end up with a cleaner dot.

Or at least, that's what I absorbed, so when I try an optic to see if I can make it work for me I'm starting with a 6 MOA.

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Yeah, astigmatism plays a big role in what works best for you as well. I have a very mild astigmatism myself and even though red dots work fine for me green dots are much clearer.

Also, if you wear polarized lens then you will likely have a bigger problem seeing the dot as well with either red or green. I actually just learned that a couple weeks ago when I took a friend shooting and he could never find the dot at all, swapped shooting glasses and he could see it but I couldn't.

My feeling is it depends on what you're using the handgun for. For accurate target shooting I want a 3mm dot, but for defense the 6mm is fine.

In the action pistol shooting games the larger dots are far more popular.

Middletown said:

M&P gen1 9mm. Already got a Flaxon slide and fixing to order the red dot when I came across this difference. Probably go with the 3 is my first thought but 6 MOA on a reflex sounds interesting.

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You will shoot smaller groups with the 3 moa dot ... the 6 moa dot is Okay for large targets but I'm all about precision and tight groups and Target Shooting and even Squirrel Hunting ... I prefer the 3 moa hands down , no contest . I have them mounted on Ruger 10/22 rifle , MKII- 22LR Pistol and Model 64 S&W - 38 special ... all have 3 moa dots and work fine .
I don't do any "Action Pistol Shooting Games" so can't speak for that aspect .

Gary

Get the Holosun EDS with the 30MOA circle and 2MOA dot and you can mix and match to your heart's content; best of both worlds.

Larry

I have both 3 and 6 MOA red/green dots and I prefer the 6 MOA. Same gun, or different gun, it doesn't matter, the 6 MOA is just easier to pick up. Next optic will be the circle around a dot type.

It depends on personal preferences and the acuity of your eyesight.
There is also budget RDS that are crappy no matter what MOA you choose. The important thing to avoid is cheaping-out.

For the most part, your eye will pick up larger dots faster. In a self defense situation, and what we train for, speed is more important than long range accuracy. FWIW my carry sight uses a 32 MOA outer circle for fast acquisition.

One thing not mentioned so far is that the dot grows in size as you turn the brightness up. So if you run a 3mm at full brightness, it will look more like a 6mm. I have Holosun, Vortex, Sig Romeo's and Trijicon SRO's. This is true for all of them.

For me, it would come down to the purpose of the gun. For hunting revolvers where I would want the most precision and where I would be shooting at distances farther than 25 yards I would go with a 3(and I do. On a SD pistol, where I would want quick sight acquisition and primary use would be at distances of 10 yards or less, I would opt for the 6. Besides for SD, I'm going for COM, not a particular organ.

Derek Zeanah said:

I've been researching this myself, and after watching a comparison on The Humble Marksman's youtube channel I discovered what might be another factor to consider: astigmatism.

If, like me, you have astigmatism, then you'll do better the lower the brightness is set. As 6 MOA dots are bigger and easier to pick up, you don't need to crank the brightness as high, and you may end up with a cleaner dot.

Or at least, that's what I absorbed, so when I try an optic to see if I can make it work for me I'm starting with a 6 MOA.

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That's my problem and you bring up a great point. I do not have astigmatism; however, I wear glasses. My eye sight is terrible. If I'm am in an altercation or it's the middle of the night and I have to defend myself without my glasses on, I will not see a 2" or 3" dot. It will be blurred out to almost being invisible. That's one very probable scenario that most gun owners who wear glasses and/or have vision problems don't account for. They will ALWAYS shoot at the range with glasses on in optimal condition, and will perfer the 3" dot when they'll have problems seeing the dot without contacts/glasses.

I honestly don't believe that anyone loses anything using a 6" dot on a defensive pistol other than NOT being able to do task that they'll never have to do or would make a bit of a difference in an actual defensive situation. Getting fast effective hits on target to stop a threat is more important than nice tight 1" or smaller groups at longer distance.