1911 Red Dot Mount?

I've seen a couple of red dot sights on 1911s that were mounted on the rear sight dovetail.  Is this a good way to go?

It has worked for me.

What kind of mount? Which red dot?

No its not the best or most secure, it also limits you heavily to the dots you can use and eliminates most all that are commonly  used for bullseye competitions.

I have several 1911's with rear of slide mounting using  rear sight cut with Tasco,.Pride-Fowler, Trijucon and Burris  sights & mounting. I like the set up because it doesen't change the handleing of the gun and no drilling or tapping holes in the gun but not a rugged as the 2-1911's with saddle type mount that mounts to the frame .
 I have never used the full length rib slide mounting method.!

I did some limited testing a while back with a Burris Fastfire III mounted to a 1911 that had a Novak cut rear sight dovetail. It had a nice round dot, but I didn't do any testing going from 25 to 50 yards. I like to keep my .45 barrel well oiled, and after a few shots, the open style sight captured quite a bit of the oil spray. The open style sights might be fine for a .22 though.

Walt Jackson

BME Mounts makes a Weaver rail that attaches via an insert that fits the rear sight dovetail on a 1911. The rail, which extends to a point just forward of the ejection port, attaches to that insert. The radius of the underneath of the rail matches at the slide top's radius and so everything stays in place. The company does however state that it is designed for target loads only. With this set-up you can use any of the more common UltraDot-type scopes.

I have FF III dots and Burris dovetail mounts on my RO and two Glocks. They have not moved in three years on any of the pistols. FWIW, I Loctited the mounting screws  and also the wedge that fits into the dovetail.

I have a Doctor micro red dot mounted on my Rock River that uses an adapter for a Bomar cut; it works very well. The system is very light weight (2 or 3 oz.), has a small dot (3.5 or 4 moa), is rugged, and holds true. The dot on my Doctor is very round, distinct, and lacks flair. I have also used Burris Fastfire II & IIIs on my 22s and they work well. Avoid any micro red dots that do not have screws in the back of the sight that lock in the elevation and windage settings (e.g., Fast Fire III and some cheap micro red dots). Another con is that my Doctor and Tasco Propoint only turn off when the plastic cover is slipped over the sight (other models have on/off switches). Some sight makers sell 'blank sight base adapters' that can be machined to fit your sight cut if you can't find an exact fit. Some versions (like all my micro red dots) require that the sight be removed from the base to change battery, which neccitates re-sighting in. But these sights run forever on a 2032 battery. 

The biggest con is that the sights are not easily adjusted and I would never think of adjusting them at a match. That said, I never have to adjust my scope when using my 'standard' 45 load or my 22 for that matter. I just moved to a Pardini Bullseye Sp 33/32 ACP combination gun, which uses the same scope (a matchdot). It is simple to adjust elevation when moving between 22 and 32 and back.

There is a shooter at my club that has an Aimpoint mounted on a S&W 52; she loves it and let me peek through it. I really like that sight but was dismayed by discovering it had moderate flare around the dot. Generally speaking, you do get what you pay for with the micro sights. Who knows; maybe she had a knock-off. Good luck, dipnet