The last time we talked about Crimson Trace, it was to announce their new line of weapon lights - sans lasers. In today’s news section, Crimson Trace is announcing an entire line of new products without lights or lasers.
Crimson Trace’s announcement today is the addition of red dot optical sights to their product offerings.
According to the news release, the company decided to offer the units to “meet the needs of 3-gun competitors, home defenders, hunters and numerous other firearms users and owners.” They also offer parent company American Outdoor Brands to offer a total vertical integration of gun, light, laser and optical sight.
The five red dots begin with the CTS-1000, an open red dot with a 2-MOA aiming reticle, the CTS 1100 , a 3.5-X battle sight with a custom and full-illuminated “advanced hybrid BDG reticle”, the CTS 1200, a red dot reflex with a 3.25 MOA aiming reticle designed for pistols, the CTS-1300 a compact red dot for long guns, and the CTS-1400, another open red dot, this one featuring a 3.25 MOA dot, wide field of view and the company’s advanced motion detection system that notes inactivity and automatically shuts off to conserve battery life. Although I don’t have specific MSRPs on the units, Crimson Trace says pricing starts at $199.
The CTS-1200 and CTS-1400 both have side-opening access slots that allow users to change batteries without having to remove the optic.
Crimson Trace's new line of red dot sights. Crimson Trace image with permission.
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All the sights, according to Crimson Trace are waterproof, night vision compatible and offer “excellent light transmission.” As is expected, each sight offers adjustable brightness levels, are shock-resistant and fog proof. Open red dot sights will ship with protective covers to help keep them clean.
They’ll also be covered by the company’s Free Batteries for Life program and be serviced at the Company facilities in Wilsonville, Oregon.
Crimson Trace provided me with a couple of their early units (A CTS-1000 closed model and a CTS-1400 open unit) well in advance of today’s announcement. I haven’t spent a ton of time with them, I have found them comparable to the units I removed from my guns to give them a few test runs.
When I took the other optics off my guns, I simply put the Crimson Trace units in the exact same mounting positions. Since they were all red dot sights, I figured it would make getting them on target faster. After all, they would be in the spots I already knew worked for me.
And that worked, the sights were virtually dead-on at mounting, and it only took a couple of minor adjustments to get them right on target. After that, it was boringly simple to make hits on steel from 25 to 125 yards. Beyond that, my eyes get shaky and I prefer magnified optics for rapid, reliable hits. Slow-fire off a bench, it’s not as difficult. And I’ve long abandoned the idea of precision shooting without magnification.
According to my information, both these units were designed for use on long guns, and they performed well on the S&W M&P and Wilson Combat rifles where they were mounted.
Of the new products, it appears only their CTS-1200 is designed for pistols. I’d hoped to mount the 1400 on my Smith & Wesson M&P Pro CORE, but it was slightly larger than the ready-to-mount optics cuts on the CORE.
I tested the a pair of Crimson Trace's new red dots (a CTS-1000 (top) and CTS 1400 (bottom). Both ran fine, provided clear field of vision and easily sight adjustments. I also mounted the CTS 1400 on my S&W R8 competition revolver (below). It wasn't designed to run on the revolver, but it did. Jim Shepherd/OWDN photos
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But since the 1400 unit also includes a rail mount, I decided to give it a try on the Smith & Wesson R8 revolver I’d used in the Bianchi Cup -despite Crimson Trace’s admonition the optic wasn’t designed for mounting on a handgun.
As they old saying goes, the “gun don’t know” and I had no problem getting it adjusted and on target enough to shoot decent 10 and 15-yard groups. At 25 yards, I went single-action and cleared a plate rack. For me, that’s good shooting.
As you can tell from looking at the photos, my R8 revolved isn’t exactly set up for everyday carry. With it’s top rail and gigantic competition grips, adding the rail and CTS 1400 red dot didn’t exactly upset its balance. It did allow me to draw and shoot from my Safariland competition holster an average of a quarter-second faster than my best times without it. Aging eyes do benefit from optics-and lasers.
Crimson Trace is being mum about what’s next, but it’s likely there are other announcements ahead - especially with NASGW coming up soon. I’m making that prediction based on a different “look” on their website and Crimson Trace president Lane Tobiassen’s having been named president of American Outdoor Brands’ electro optics division.
Five red dot optics is an solid move into red dots, but it’s not enough to constitute a new corporate division. That implies there’s more in the pipeline- and that an already crowded optics category is probably going to get even more competitive.
That’s good news for shooters.
As always, we’ll keep you posted.
—Jim Shepherd
