Primary Arms Micro Reflex Sight

The newest release from Primary Arms comes in the form of a pistol red dot sight is the Primary Arms Micro Reflex Sight. They have released two new pistol red dots and we have both! The Micro and the Mini Reflex sights are hot off the production line and we are lucky enough to have them and get to review them.

My test bed gun for new pistol red dot optics is my Glock 45 so for the purposes of this review the Glock 45 MOS is what I’ll be using.

First Impressions

When I first pulled the Micro Relex out of the box I honestly expected polymer or plastic for this sight. Given the sub-$200 price point, I was not expecting it to be this solid.

When I first picked it up I was shocked at how good it felt and the weight was surprising.

Materials

The body of the Primary Arms Micro reflex pistol sight is all aluminum with the exception of the brightness adjustment membrane pads.

The aluminum is 6061-T6 aluminum and while I’m not a metal expert it feels durable. The numbering of aluminum alloys identifies the primary alloying agents and the other active chemical elements in aluminum.

The 6061 aluminum is often referred to as the “The Workhorse Aluminum” due to its corrosion resistance and its high heat welding properties.

The “-T6” is the thermal and heat-treated tempers measurement and the T6 means that it has been solution heat-treated and artificially aged.

Weight

I’m not sure how Primary Arms was able to do it but they killed it when it comes to weight.

.97 oz is all this pistol red dot sight weighs.

This red dot sight is crazy lite! If it’s not the lightest on the market it’s got to be close. Holding it in your hand really helps you understand the accomplishment that this pistol dot is for Primary Arms.

Reticle

There isn’t a ton of conversation to be had about a red dot sights reticle. But this 3 MOA Dot is crisp and the 10 brightness settings provide a good range of dot options.

The only complaint I have so far is that the brightness does not auto-adjust for the ambient light. The good thing is you can leave this on the medium setting for 40,000 hours according to Primary Arms specifications.

Adjustment

Primary didn’t go and reinvent the wheel on the red dot adjustment. The elevation adjustment is on top and a clockwise turn will move the point of impact up.

The windage is on the right side of the optic and a clockwise turn will move the point of impact to the right.

Battery

The Micro Reflex sight is powered by a single CR 2032 battery and is located under the optic.

The battery life is impressive at 40,000 hours of life on the medium setting. While it isn’t the longest battery life for a pistol red dot is the price difference between the Primary Arms Micro Reflex Sight and something like the Holosun HE407C is nearly $100.

Durability

I still have yet to develop a true, scientific, good way to test durability on optics.

I haven’t done a true “durability” or abuse test on this optic but from normal everyday carry and wear and tear on the PA micro pistol sight has done very well.

Will it hold up as well as the Trijicon RMR? Not sure, but without some more shock resistance I think the RMR will edge it out on durability but at almost 4x the cost.

Sight Picture

Having a solid sight picture is extremely important because at the end of the day the target is what you should be focusing on while shooting.

So having a massive option or dot block your line of sight is not ideal to accurate shooting.

Even the manual for this optic tells you “To achieve a clear, crisp dot, look through the sight and focus on the target, not the dot.”

Operation

Turning on the optic is as simple as pressing the “↑” button located on the side of the red dot.

From there you can adjust the brightness with the ↑ and ↓ buttons.

To turn the red dot off, press BOTH buttons and hold for three seconds. This will turn it off and save your battery.

You don’t need to turn it off if this is your carry gun but if you plan to store the gun for a while without using or shooting it might be best to turn it off.

Mounting

The one slight setup I had with the Micro Reflex was mounting it. It does have the Trijicon RMR footprint and the stock Glock MOS plates work well.

The only issue I had was with the included screws that screw the optic to the mounting plate.

They were just a hair too long and if you tightened them down too far it would cause the optic to push up. This is an extremely easy fix and there are two options.

First, Primary Arms had great support and sent out new screws that worked flawlessly. They shipped them quickly and were extremely easy to work with.

Option two, grid down the screws every so slightly to get them to not push against the top of the gun’s slide.

You could do both of these options if needed. I also could have had a set of screws made on a Monday.

Either way, once I had the screws the mounting was simple and painless. All I had to do was put on the Glock-supplied MOS mounting plate and screw it onto the pistol. Once that’s on your screw the Micro Reflex directly to the plate and viola!

Micro Reflex Sight Final Thoughts

How did they pull it off for such an affordable price? For the price, I expected less.

It is an extremely pleasant surprise to go in with an expectation based on price and be pleasantly surprised with a higher quality product than what the price leads you to believe.

Is this the best thing since sliced bread? No, but it’s a damn good option for people that need to save a buck or want to dip their toes into the pistol red dot world.

Some of the best red dots for pistols are very expensive and can lead to first-time pistol red dot buyers getting cold feet.

I think that the Primary Arms Classic series just opened the door to so many customers to show them that pistol dots are the future. Best of all they are getting a quality product with a lifetime warranty.

Shooting a slim frame gun but want a good value red dot? Take a look at the Mini Reflex Sight by Primary Arms.