Glock 19 ATEi mounted Trijicon RMR04 – Silencerco Osprey 40
I have had this Trijicon RMR04 topped Glock 19 set up for just about a month now and around 500 rounds through the combo and have been very impressed so far. The craftsmanship of ATEi is extremely apparent when taking a close look at this pistol, their milling and the mounting of the RMR04 they did for me. In addition, so far, I have not had a single failure when firing this pistol.
ATEi Mounted Trijicon RMR04
The RMR04 sits low, but extremely tightly in the slide. The tolerances between the milled area in front of the RMR04 and behind it are so tight, that I wasn’t able to slip a piece of paper between them. The RMR04 feels solid, as though it was part of the slide. Even with carefully and meticulously inspecting the mounting, I was unable to see any uneven spots or light between the optic and the slide. At the dept the RMR04 sits in the slide, the shooter is easily able to use the iron sights if needed or desired. The sight picture for the irons is unobscured by the optic’s window and I initially learned to pick up the dot by first picking up the iron sights, which helped me find the dot.
Extremely tight tolerances between ATEi’s slide milling and the Trijicon RMR.
While shooting the pistol does cause build up on the front of the sight and across the lens of the optic, I never found this to cause me issue using the optic or picking up the dot. This was the case even with the pistol suppressed with my Silencerco Osprey and heavily oiled. You can probably see from my picture the carbon build up on the housing of the optic prior to cleaning in this picture. The reader should also note again the extremely tight fit between the milled area of the slide and the RMR04. I have cleaned the lens several times since shooting the pistol; however, I only used the end of my T-shirt to wipe it clean. As you can see, Trijicon’s RMR04’s lens appears flawless still.
The RMR is set back a good distance from the breach face, but there is still a substantial amount of slide material between the rear sight and the optic. If you google RMR pistols, there is a huge amount on debate between mounting the rear sight behind the RMR or in front of it. I chose to mount the RMR in front of the rear sight to minimize the amount of things I had in front of the dot in my field of view.
Substantial amount of slide material between the RMR04 and the rear sight.
While I initially learned to pick up the dot using the iron sights, after getting more comfortable with the set up I have begun to just use the RMR. With the rear sight behind the RMR, I don’t see it when acquiring the dot and getting my sight picture. Some argue that the rear sight helps act as a shield to the carbon and debris during the firing cycle to the RMR’s lens; however, from my experiences, I did not find this to be the case. In addition, I have seen it argued that the rear sight in front of the RMR allows for a striking surface to manipulate the slide, but from my time on this set-up, the RMR itself makes a much larger and more useful surface to manipulate the slide.
To help give everyone who hasn’t shot a red dot topped pistol before and idea of what the sight picture is going to look like through the optic, I took this picture. It’s isn’t perfect, but it helps show the dot and target in focus. At the same time, I was almost able to get the iron sights aligned just as a reference. When I shoot this pistol now, I don’t use the irons at all. I do still see the front sight, and the bright yellow dot in the factory front sight is distracting; however, the hard focus is on the dot and the target.
Glock 19 RMR sight picture – Dot/Target in focus.
I am still determining what weapon light to use on this pistol set-up and what changes I am going to make to the trigger and recoil system. With the suppressor mounted, the RMR’s dot tracks extremely well through the recoil cycle. That being said, I still have difficulty bringing the dot back onto target after the initial shot when the pistol is not suppressed. This is something that can be remedied with practice, but just like in competition, tweaking the recoil system should help aid me. Be sure to watch for the next follow-up. The next blog will have a several videos, from several point of views, embedded and will help the reader visualize the strengths of this set up – especially when suppressed.
Will Moore
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What iron sites are you using
These are Glock’s Factory Steel Suppressor height iron sights.
Yes was wondering am I suppose to line the red dot up with my front sight or is the red sitting just above the front sight ? Thank you for your help. Dan
The red dot should free float. If you light your irons up, the red dot will be cut in half with your front sight assuming you’re running suppressor height irons.
When aiming, don’t look at your dot or the irons. Simply look and focus on the target, then when the dot is over the target you shoot. If you’re having trouble indexing the pistol so that the dot falls on top of the target, start by indexing to line up your irons. Once the dot appears switch focus to the target. When you get used to presenting the gun and having the dot in your field of view, you can stop looking for the irons all together.