Looking to get one for my 454 FAs, which do you prefer. And will it mount to the FAs base.

Thanks Norm

When a friend and I were preparing for a bear hunt last fall, I put a JPoint on my FA 454 and he put a Burris fastfire on his, so we got a pretty good side by side comparison.

Both held up to recoil just fine and there were no issues with POA change at all. Both are very light weight with the JPoint slightly lighter, but we could only tell that from reading the spec sheet. We liked the "on/off" feature of the Burris better than leaving the JPoint on all the time. I never had battery issues, but just knowing I could not turn the thing off bothered me a little. All in my head I am sure.

The one thing I did not like about either...no way to change the intensity of the dot. We both were shooting real well and were convinced these dot sights were the ticket until we practiced shooting in deep woods at low light. The dot was SO bright we could not see our targets at all. We were glad we found this before we were in the dark Maine woods. The result, we both took them off our guns before the hunt.

I don't think his Burris was a FastFire III. If they have or had a way to lower the intensity of the dot when in low light conditions I would have one on my gun again in a heartbeat.

The JPoint did fit the FA mount just fine. I am sure the Burris will too, but my friend had his with a weaver type mount on a scope base he already had on his gun. I called FA and the nice girl there set me up with just the mount I needed.

Good Luck!

Dan

Good review. The only comment I have is that more adjustments equals more that can go wrong on these heavy recoilers.

Bottom Line: Basically every sight system is somewhat of a compromise, one way or the other. And this includes: iron sights, scopes, red dots, and lasers. And others I have not mentioned.

MHO

FYI: my contacts at Leupold are sending me a Delta Point sight to use and test. I plan to install it on my FA .454. I have an agreement with them that I will write up a review for this website: Handgun Hunters Magazine; as well as write an article for the HHI publication: THE SIXGUNNER.

I have had situations where the JPoint is no good at all when aiming into bright sunshine; can't see the red dot at all.

So even having an adjustment to make it BRIGHTER may not fix that problem.

MHO

Gregg,

I really look forward to your review. I bought into Delta's when they first came out. My first unit was bad, but Midway replaced it no questions asked. I absolutley love the larger field of view over the JPoint, but the time it takes for the dot to adjust intensities on my unit is painfully slow. The JPoint is pretty much instantaneous, the Delta, takes seconds between levels (each level). It really sucks in broken light, or dynamic lighting changes.

Dan, once I got over the fear of failure of the electronics, the lack of on and off is really pointless on the Jpoint. I have not tested the 50k hours of reported run time, but I do know that if you change out the battery at the start of the shooting season (spring/summer) you will not need to worry about it at all during the fall/winter ;^)

And back to the field of view thing, the Delta's size makes a big difference compared to the JPoint on handguns, where the sight is held away from the eye. On a rifle where your eye is closer to the units, the JPoint's smaller glass size is much less a problem. I really dig these micro red dots, but this definately one of those cases where it REALLY helps to see one for yourself before buying, or making sure you might have the ability to return to your place of purchase after buying. Or in my case, put it on a better suited gun ;^)

Craig

Thanks guys.

Gregg i also look forward to your review on the Delta Point.

One thing i did notice about the burris fastfire III is you can get it in a 3MOA dot. Just might be a little nicer on the longer shots (not covering quit as much target).

FOV doesn't mean much, to me anyway, with red dot sights. I look through them with both eyes open and not into them with one eye so the size of the tube or glass doesn't really matter, the tube or frame just melts into the sight picture. The delta of the Delta doesn't make sense to me. I want a single aiming point, no tips to focus on. The Optima is a JPoint clone and I think they are the best little reflex around, but that is JMHO.

Optima, I'll have to check that one out.

s4s4u what size of dot does it have?

I agree about the field of view.

As far as the "Optima being a clone of the JPoint," I believe it is the other way around; JP Enterprises bought Optima. The only place I have been able to find Optima red dot sights are on E-Bay; used or "reconditioned."

http://www.speedshooter.com/product_detail.cfm?ID=OPT7

http://www.ebay.com/itm/TASCO-OPTIMA-200...=item1c1ee3339f


For $78 the Optima is a heck of a buy; but as stated it is used. I bought one and it wouldn't adjust. I took it apart and found how SIMPLE they are made. In this case the electronic LED chip had come unglued from the little sliding metal adjustment plate. A CAREFULLY applied tiny drop of JB Weld made it stronger than the original.

I then took apart one of my JPoints; and EVERYTING looked IDENTICAL. The only difference that was apparent was the size of the left side retention screw. The JPoint was smaller.

Note the claim on the EABCO site, "Don't be Fooled by Copy-Cats... JPoint is the Genuine, Battle Proven Original... That WORKS"... Interesting.

BTW, as far as dot intensity, JPoint claims "The JPoint has an illuminated red dot aiming point powered by a CR2032 battery you can buy just about anywhere that automatically adjusts the dot brightness to suit the shooting situation." The Optima uses the same battery. Both the Optima and JPoint come with either a 3-4 or 7-8 minute dot size. I prefer the smaller. Actually, one of my JPoints has more of a "starburst" dot ie. not clean and precise, which I don't like. The other JPoint and my Optima have clean precise dots. I believe this is determined by the quality/clarity of the window lens.

The downside to buying an Optima is that there is no warranty, but for the approx. $190 savings, I think it is worth the gamble. As far as I can see, the only other problem that could go wrong is if the electronic LED chip crashed. Whether or not the JP version of the electronic/LED chip is more recoil resistant is not discernible by looking. And maybe JPoint has upgraded to the use of a stronger glue at that critical point I mentioned.

Other than outright dropping the gun on the sight and smashing it, I don't see anything else that could go wrong with one of these sights.

MHO

BTW, the JPoint turns itself off in the dark; which may or not be a good point. If you order one or an Optima and the sight cover is not included, order one separately so you can keep it on the sight when not in use, which protects it and saves battery life. Oh yea, the sight cover fits both types perfectly.

http://www.opticsplanet.net/jp-enterprises-jpoint-covers-red-dot-sight-accessories.html

Norm, there is a base available for the JPoint and Optima sights that work on a Picatinny Rail, it has only one cross slot bolt so it would work for the FA if you already have an SSK or Picatinny type rail on it. Also Freedom Arms sells the base that will mount directly in the rear sight cut out:

http://www.freedomarms.com/2009%20New%20Products.pdf

Agreed. Just wanted to point out that they are essentially the same thing. I had a chance to buy a bunch of Optima 2000's NIB on closeout for $60 per a few years ago. I didn't know much about them then so just bought one. I kick myself for that move :-(

I bought a Leupold DeltaPoint last summer and mounted it on my 4 3/4" 500WE with the FA-branded mount - as mentioned previously, the DP auto-adjusts to the current light situations, but I have not had any difficulties with mine to date. Bright enough during midday sunshine, and dimming accordingly with the increasing darkness at "primetime".

Mine is the 3.5 MOA dot model, as opposed to the 7.5 MOA triangle. Shoots minute of whitetail out to 100, which is as far as I intend to use the reflex sighted shorty. Battery life has not been an issue - the DeltaPoint is motion activated.

Will definitely not be my last.

I have J-Points on a couple of FA revolvers and a FastFire on a Ruger BH 327 mag. None of my experiences will address the durability of them on revolvers that recoil heavily. However, I plan to mount a J Point on a 475 Linebaugh when Rod finishes it.

My experience shooting the ones that I have is that the J Points do not have as much tendency to "star burst" as does the Fastfire. I have also struggled more trying to get the Fastfire to zero on the 327 than I did with the J Points on the FAs. That difference could well be, in part, the difference between the FAs & the Ruger. The primary J Point that I have shot the most is on a M97 41 mag that shoots very well. Thus, this may not be a completely fair comparison.

Norm, there is a base available for the JPoint and Optima sights that work on a Picatinny Rail, it has only one cross slot bolt so it would work for the FA if you already have an SSK or Picatinny type rail on it. Also Freedom Arms sells the base that will mount directly in the rear sight cut out:

http://www.freedomarms.com/2009%20New%20Products.pdf [/quote]

Thanks Gregg

I lost the cover for my J-Point on the second day of the hunt. I wadded up a hunk of Kleenx to keep snow & sleet off of the glass while I was hunting. When I got home, I took a piece of gun tape and covered up the light senseing "eye" to save battery life.

I'm going to shoot jack rabbits to warm up for spring bear hunting next weekend. I'll let ya'll know how a .480 handles the bunnies on Easter weekend.

i Pasco
If you get a new cover, you'll see a rib on the front end. You can tie a thin lanyard between it and your belt or holster which prevents it getting lost. In the military original it was designed so that if you needed to draw your weapon in a hurry, the lanyard would pull the cover off automatically.

You can get a new one for $8.99

http://www.ebay.com/itm/JP-Enterprises-J...=item519e3b28d4

I'm happy with my Fastfire II, does star burst and low light is a issue. Bought new mount so i back off one torque screw and open sight hunt a little longer. Cut barrel on SRH .44 down to 6.5" and installed sights from Mark III Hunter, has light up red or green tube, great low light now. Tru Glo actually sent me back a replacement for bad sight so i may try more of there products.