Outerimpact: Red Dot Mounting Options Without the Hassle

“Add new capabilities to your pistol with the Outerimpact Modular Red Dot Adapter.” That’s at least on tagline Outer Impact has used on social media.

Micro Red Dot Sights (MRDS) have made waves in the firearms industry giving new capabilities to shooters. Many have found that the addition of an MRDS to a handgun gives them better situational awareness, improved accuracy at all distances, and faster target acquisition. The cost of modifying the handgun or purchasing a new handgun/ new slide with an optic cut is a downside for many. The Idaho-based company Outer Impact saw this challenge and created a solution with the Modular Red Dot Adapter (MRA).

Outerimpact MRA Springfield XD with RMS Shield Sight. — The RMS Shield Sight on the Springfield XDs.

The MRA is a simple, mostly universal solution for shooters to add a red dot to a handgun. The installation replaces the rear sight, adding a plate that currently fits over 20 MRDS on the market (a list is at the bottom of this article) and includes the most common mounting screws for those optics.

Outer impact Modular Red Dot Adapter mounting spots on P226. — Here’s a view of the different mounting spots on the P226.

Currently, Outerimpact produces MRAs for the following handguns.

And hey, I added links to each page on our website to keep the beancounters happy. Feel free to buy something.

Browning Buckmark (Buy mags here)
All Glock Models (Buy mags here)
Ruger Mk series (Buy mags here)
Ruger 10/22 (Buy mags here)
Ruger American handgun (Buy mags here)
Sig Sauer P226/220/227/229-1 (Buy mags here)
Sig Sauer P320/M17/ X-5 Legion/ X5 (Buy mags here)
Sig Sauer P365/ P365XL (Buy mags here)
Smith & Wesson M&P all models (Buy mags here)
Smith & Wesson M&P EZ 380/9 (Buy mags here)
Smith & Wesson Victory (Buy mags here)
Springfield XD/ XD Mod2/ XDm/XDs/ Hellcat (Buy mags here)
Steyr A1 (Buy mags here)

The MRA is produced in the United States by a family-owned business and is made of 7075 aluminum with the dovetail mount being made of steel. The weights of each model vary but usually hover around 2 ounces. Installation is simple, removing the rear sight and replacing it with the steel dovetail that has two posts on the top. The MRA fits onto the plates and using the screws provided, tightens down. From there two timing posts can be placed on the MRA depending on what optic is being installed and using the optic specific screws your tighten the optic down. That is it, install complete and you are now red dot ready.

Here's the Vortex Venom on the P320 X Carry model. Without the Outer impact adapter, the P320 would only host the Sig optic. — Here’s the Vortex Venom on the P320 X Carry model. Without the Outerimpact adapter, the P320 would only host the Sig optic.

Red dot technology has improved astronomically over the past decade. Micro red dots give shooters more capability than ever before and their popularity will surely continue to grow as options become more affordable and rugged.

The Outer Impact Modular Red Dot Adapter helps people ease into using a red dot without the large initial investment or for some older handguns that may not have an optics cut model or the slide is not capable of being milled. This option makes switching to a red dot an easy choice for those that may have been on the fence. We look forward to seeing what other handguns Outer Impact provides solutions for in the future.