Shield Sights RMSc Red Dot

 

    The Glock 43X MOS and 48 MOS use the Shield RMSc footprint. Interestingly, many of the popular compact red-dot sights that fit the RMSc footprint only do so with the use of an adapter plate. This, combined with the fact that the Shield compact reflex mini sight will co-witness with the factory sights, convinced me to purchase the Shield sight. 

    It is pretty basic as reflex sights go. It features an aluminum housing and either a 4 or 8 MOA dot for the reticle.  There are no controls outside of those for adjusting the zero. That is, it is always on and uses an automatic brightness adjustment system. Nevertheless, it is advertised as having a 2 to 3 year battery life in normal usage. Shield offers the model with either an acrylic lens or a glass lens. I opted for the glass lens with the 4 MOA dot.

    As noted, there are no manual brightness controls, but it uses a sensor to automatically adjust brightness. I've used automatic brightness settings on another red dot sight and they generally work well. The advantage is that your dot is (generally) of the correct brightness so you aren't blinded by the dot when using it in the dark, but do not have too dim of a dot in bright light. The only issue I've had is if you are in a dark area trying to aim into a more brightly area, the dot can be too dim because the device is registering that you are in a dark area. But this is not too serious if you have iron sights to use as the iron sights will be silhouetted against the brightly lit area. 

    So here are some unboxing photographs:

 

Top of box

Bottom of box

 

Opening of box

Opening the box, there are two each of large and small stickers to put on cabinets, safes, or whatever. The sight doesn't ship with a manual, but there is a card with the link to where you can download manuals. Shield also has a YouTube channel with some instructional videos.

Contents

The contents are:

• The sight (obviously).
•  A rubber or polymer cover that fits over the sight when not using the weapon.
  
• A CR2032 battery (the package that looks like another sticker on it).
• A package with 4 O-rings, for which I could not find any mention in the instruction manuals or YouTube installation video, but I think might be for using the enclosed shim. 
• A 1.5 mm hex wrench (the smaller of the two) which is used to adjust the elevation and windage of the sight. 
• A "Minidial" that slips over the smaller hex wrench and provide you with some markings that can be used to make windage and elevation adjustments.
• A 2.5 mm hex wrench (the larger of the two) used to install the included screws.
• A shim used to give additional elevation adjustment should you need it for your particular handgun. 
• 2 x Button head M4x8mm screws (the shorter screws) for attaching the sight to your pistol without using the shim.
• 2 x Button head M4x10mm screws (the longer screws) for attaching using the shim.

It does not come with blue Lok-Tite, so you will want to be sure to have some on hand when you install the sight.

    I did not need to use the shim and, when attached and bore sighted, the red dot co-witnessed with the factory iron sights. For that reason, I do not plan to replace the factory sights.

Just a slight tilt so you could see a bit of the front sight underneath the dot

     This is my first foray into using pistol-mounted red dots. There is definitely going to be a learning curve to finding the sights. At this point, I aim as if using the iron sights and then shift attention to the red dot as it comes into view; otherwise, it is slow getting the dot into the sight window. I expect that this will improve as I use the sight and also get more use to this particular handgun.