I love the concept behind The Mako Group’s Meprolight FT Bullseye Micro Optic. In short, its a single sight/optic for a handgun that completely removes the front sight from the handgun and instead replaces it with a an interesting bullseye apparatus that supposedly removes the need for the front sight.

Per the Press Release:

Meprolight’s engineers solved the issue of bulkiness with normal pistol red dot sights by combining fiber optics with tritium. The innovative FT Bullseye is a sleek, low profile single rear sight, which helps shooters to get on target, faster, in all lighting conditions. With this inventive design, there’s no need for a front sight; it’s all in the red-dot. When the dot is centered in the circle, you’re on target. It’s as simple as that!

The low-profile design sets it apart from other micro sights and allows the shooter to pull the gun from the holster without having to worry about snagging a shirt or jacket on the sight. “It’s a real breakthrough in sight design”, ” I’ve never seen anything like it. You acquire the target quickly”, are comments frequently heard when experienced shooters use it for the first time. The combination of fiber optics and tritium make it effective under any shooting condition. Day or night, you’re good to go.

A shooter normally acquires the target by aligning the front and rear sights. Meprolight combined the dot and the circle on the rear sight, eliminating the need to use the front sight. Whether in competition or in defensive situations, the goal is to place rounds on target quickly and accurately. The FT Bullseye’s design is intuitive and allows the shooter to quickly and accurately get on target. When milliseconds count, give yourself the advantage.

Don’t get me wrong, its actually an exciting development relative to the deployment of sights on a handgun, but I contend (with my limited knowledge) that the concept will likely not translate through to normal shooters. I see a few issues:

1.) What happens with the handgun is completely off the target?

-In the exact same vane that I am a huge proponent of keeping irons with red dot sights, this sight would likely benefit from the same issue. Irons are an easy reference point to show the shooter visually how and where they are off target. Removing the front sight then presents an issue for alignment.

2.) How does one aim it?

-Is the dot placed in the center of the target? If so, how does one shoot longer ranges without seeing the target? Does it have parallax or can it be mis-aligned like iron sights? If so, what is the advantage?

The photo from Meprolight’s website seems to imply it can be mis-aligned like any iron sight.

However, color me curious on the idea to review it (hint, hint Marketing people at Meprolight…). It does have a few things going for the concept:

-No option on front sights, which is usually what is snagged

-No batteries and hard to ding up.

-Price is $199, which if it works as promoted, is a bargain compared to most carry mico dots.

For those curious or ready to be first-adopters, the FT Bullseye is available now. Check it out on Meprolight’s website. It is available for most common handgun platforms (Glock, M&P, XD, etc.) in both red and green.