Leupold Delta Micro

Tactical Gear Optics & Mounts
1

I have been in the red dot on pistols from June 2001, which I think puts me among the very first to do this.

Back then it was a Dr. Optics mounted on a mount that fit in the dove tail for the rear sight is. As an aside my son still uses this Dr. Optic and it is going strong.

Then I got a Trijicon which I think is pre RMR, I just found it in storage and replaced the battery after it sitting there for 7 years. Surprise it still works and is going to sit on a Ruger .22 bull barreled pistol in the near future.

Then I have a few RMR;s both auto adjust and manual adjust.

I now have added a Holosun 509T, I love this sight and the dot in the circle. What I don’t love is it sits higher than the suppressor sights I have on the gun. But if I grab the pistol in a sloppy way the big circle has pretty much always been in the window and guides me in. So I am not over concerned about like of backup irons.

This brings me to my favorite red dot sight of all, Leupold Delta Micro. When I first put it on the pistol, I had a black front sight on the gun, and it was not the best. I have since replaced it with an Americglo standard height front night sight.

This is fantastic!

It really sped up acquiring the red dot.

Many that have not used this sight maybe concerned by the small size of it.

Don’t be, when you do target focused the red dot just hovers in space in front of you. The tube basically disappears in your vision.

Lastly I will address the way it looks, it is different.

The battery hanging off the back of the slide has never really been an issue no matter how I carry it.

I have it mounted on my Glock 34 with a 6" barrel, so it is a slightly longer pistol and the battery off the back of the slide makes it even longer, but again no problem.

I have carried it a variety of ways, IWB at the about 1 oclock, I refuse to do appendix. Then I have tried it, just to the left of my center line in a cross draw and had zero issues. Lastly in a vertical shoulder holster than I developed, total comfort and concealment. The only holster it really has issues with is horizontal shoulder holster. The problem is the long barrel makes it poke my jacket out and prints like crazy.

So to wrap it up, I have totally converted in my mind to closed emitter dot sights. I will never go back to open emitter sights.

I wish that Leupold would make this sight with a green dot also.

2

I know a lot of people don’t like the ACOG style fiber optic plus tritium illumination (for good reason), but that would let them eliminate the battery appendage and indeed give you a universal solution that works on basically any gun, including hammer fired guns that don’t have room for the battery.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

3

I spent the day doing CQB training.

This is the first time I have used this system under such drills, as I demonstrated what the students should do. The Ameriglo front sight pops up fast in the Leupold Delta Micro tube, resulting in super fast accurate hits. On long shots down long hallway shots the red dot allowed accurate fire at 50 meters down the hall way.

I really think this is the best set up available today.

4

How does it do, compared to conventional pistol RDS, in more unconventional shooting positions? I would think the small tube might slow things down a bit in those situations, no?

5

Why would new irons speed up acquiring the dot?

6

As I ran through the day, and shot from unconventional positions I found with front sight it was bright as could be and allowed for fast pick ups through the tube. I think That we have a limit on how far we can shoot from unconventional positions. After you asked this question I grabbed a pistol with RMR and an other with Holosun 509T, could ?i push the position of these other 2 out farther than I could with the Delta Micro, yes. But I really would not want to shoot from such exaggerated positions.

7

Thanks for the reply. What I’m reading from what you’re saying is that though the conventional RDS might offer a bit of an increased margin for error, the margin is mostly theoretical and doesn’t offer as much of an advantage in real use. Is that about right?

8

It is actually Iron, since you don’t have a read back up iron, you just use the tube like a ghost ring.

When I had a plain black front sight in many lighting conditions I found it hard or impossible to pick up. But with the Ameriglo, it is so bright during the day that on close up shots I went with the front sight and red dot tube for speed. The same thing basically holds true at night when the front night sight is easy to pick up.

I remember how cool I thought my first red dot on a pistol was back in 2001, and how I viewed it as a game changer.

I feel the Delta Micro is a game change, but to a lesser degree than getting me first red dot.

9

I still don’t get how a different front sight would make a noticeable difference in picking up the dot. I certainly get the idea of using the front sight blade for a quick and dirty sight picture for gross alignment and ignoring the RDS itself for close-up shots (this is why I put FOs on my front sights rather than straight black, despite shooting RDSes), but that wouldn’t have anything to do with picking up the dot, since you’re only using the front sight at that point, right?

On the flip side, wouldn’t the larger tube give you a bigger ghost ring? Also, wouldn’t the bigger tube allow you to be faster/sloppier in picking up the dot in the first place, with a special relevance to both the unorthodox shooting positions mentioned and things like shooting on the move? At least that seems to be the popular consensus with most carry optic and open shooters.

10

The regular black iron front sight in some conditions was difficult to pick up at speed through the smaller tube. The Ameriglo front solved the front sight pick up.

The small tube of the delta micro really forces to do a correct presentation as you come up to shooting position, which in the long run will allow you to speed up accurate shots. It is a cure for bad habits in pistol presentation.

Lastly when I am looking though the tube, the sight almost fades away in my vision giving me more situation awareness of the target and surrounding.

11

I can see an FO or painted front sight being easier to pick up through an optic compared to a black sight, but I’m still not understanding what that has anything to do with picking up the dot of the optic. Are you using the irons an index point to help you find the dot, rather than simply utilizing a good index to find the dot on the presentation?

I’m not sure I agree with the idea behind having such a tiny tube to speed up accurate shots; I’d argue it slows you down, because it forces you to over-refine your presentation rather than simply breaking the shot as soon as the dot is on target, which can happen easier with a larger window. While parallax will cause inaccuracies, they should be fairly minimal at typical handgun ranges when utilizing quality optics.

12

In low light or darkness, it at first was hard to find the dot with a black front sight. I think it was part of the learning curve. I put the Amerigo front sight on and that problem was solved.

I think the small tube has forced me to address how I present the pistol. I really think being precise, speeds it up. Again we are talking a small change, nothing that would win or lose you a gun fight.

I will repeat that due to how small the tube is when I look through the tube with a target focus, the tube almost disappears and it is like the dot is floating in space.

13

Hmm, so it does sound like you’re utilizing the front sight in order to find the dot, which is typically counter to what most high level competition shooters would recommend, and also what a few RDS-oriented “tactical” instructors have advised against, with some like Aaron Cowan going as far as to prefer his rear irons in front of his optic to minimize people’s tendency to do that (though I disagree with that particular line of thinking, as it is a band-aid for what I believe to just be a training issue). I know that there are high level competition folks that are specifically against a painted or FO front sights because they find them to be an unnecessary distraction to the dot. Tritium suffers the same issue if one attempts to use the RDS with NODs, though this is much less of an issue, and the tritium can be a crutch for those without a refined enough index to find the dot in the dark where there’s much less visual feedback.

As for the tube disappearing when target focused, I think that’s going to be rather personal on how each person’s eyes and brains work; I’ve not had any issues with my ACRO P-1 blocking my periphery, and the fact that it sits higher I would argue might give me a bit more data, due to the fact that now I can see a bit below the target with both eyes, while with a DPM it might be obscured more by the slide. The RMR, due to its tint, distortion, and scratches due to wear, worked absolutely fine during good lighting conditions, but could be more problematic during low-light situations. Perhaps a DPM would be less of an issue there due to it’s small tube size compared to an RMR, but seems kinda niche.

I have not used a DPM myself, so most of my concerns are based off of what others have said, but I do find it interesting that most of the folks I know and whose experiences line up with my own would suggest that the DPM has a niche, but would not be a great general issue optic; there are many other enclosed optics that are available that hew closer to orthodox RDS pistol shooting theory.

14

I was using the front sight as part of the transition and also found in some situations and lighting it was the first thing my eyes picked up. So I just used it to get fast and accurate hits, rather than hunt for the dot.

I took out my pistol with the Holosun 509t, and found due to my working on my presentation of the pistol with the DPM, it came up faster and the dot was always right there.

I have found the DPM to be a valuable addition to my collection, that I feel very confident in saying it has made me a faster shooter. But again, do I think the speed difference would make a change in the outcome of a real gun fight? No I don’t.

But going forward my pistols will have either the DPM or the 509T on them.

15

I just went to defaultmp3 instagram account, and would recommend you all go and see the beautiful photos he has posted there.

16

Given that this optic is held in place by screws and an adapter in the rear dovetail, how are said screws holding up under recoil?

17

I’m also interested in the profile of the DPM for concealed carry.

18

I’m not a convert to RDS on pistols, but I have Leupold Delta Point Micro to play with. I concur with everything Yoni says.

19

The mounting of the sight is rock solid. I have cut back on shooting due to an injury to my right thumb. But I have about 750 rounds through it and all is great.

I would note that back in 2001 the mount for my first RDS was just press fit in the rear sight dove tail and after multiple tens of thousands of rounds through that gun, no issues.

My holosun 509T will be transferred from the 19L it currently rides on in an after market slide, to my new CMMG 8inch 9mm banshee that I will be getting later this week. The after market slide will go into storage a stock Glock slide will go on the pistol with a Delta Micro on it.

It has a learning curve, but it really kicks your butt on bad habits. I hated the Delta Micro at first. But then I solved the issues and they were mainly with me. The only thing I will say is I absolutely feel with the Delta micro you need a front night sight on your pistol. The Ameriglo allows faster presentation in both day and night conditions as proven by timer.

20

Interesting thread as I strongly considered this optic. Thanks for the review.

The main turn-off for me is that it seems to only be available for S&W’s and Glocks.

Of course it won’t work on guns like my HK P30sk…hammer fired.

But, I’ll consider getting one for my M&P 2.0 .45 unless I prefer the Meprolight Micro RDS QD system I’ve ordered for my HK better.

I’ll let y’all know how the Meprolight Micro RDS works out.