Trijicon SRO (Specialized Reflex Optic)
The Gold Standard Gets An Upgrade
Spring has sprung and in addition to all the flowers and pollen...
…the firearms industry is seeing plenty of new products popping up at the National Rifle Association’s Annual Meetings & Exhibits, which kicked off April 25 in Indianapolis. Of particular note, industry titan Trijicon announced a couple of exciting additions to its already stellar optics lineup. As an appetizer, the company stretched the legs of its built-like-a-tank VCOG and is now offering it in a 1-8×28 model. The main course, though — and the one shooters will be salivating over — is a new pistol-mounted red-dot optic Trijicon calls the SRO (Specialized Reflex Optic). A few weeks ago, Trijicon invited a few members of the firearms media to an exclusive event in Texas to sample the new goods.
Quick-change top-load battery — nearly twice the lens area — all with an RMR footprint!
The JL Bar Ranch, an expansive 13,000-acre ranch/resort in southwest Texas, served as our test bed. In addition to the mile-long rifle range, pistol bays and sporting clays, the trophy hunting opportunities and amazing food had the potential to distract us from our main focus: Trijicon’s SRO … but it didn’t.
The SRO offers nearly twice the lens area as its predecessor, the RMR, and is geared toward both enthusiasts and competition shooters. In addition to the larger sight window, Trijicon stepped up to the table with a quick-change, top-load battery design.
The SRO is incredibly forgiving — just what the doctor ordered for speed demon competition shooters, as well newbies looking to make the transition away from old-school irons.
With eight brightness settings and large buttons on the vertical lens support, the SRO maintains the same “lock-out” mode to secure the auto-brightness setting we’re familiar with from the Type 2 RMR, but features a new “lock-in” mode allowing the shooter to use their chosen illumination setting indefinitely. The guts of the SRO are built to withstand more than 30,000 rounds, and battery life is reportedly three years when set at illumination setting four (out of eight). Available reticles include 1, 2.5 and 5.0 MOA dots — all with an MSRP of $749.
Mounting the SRO is a simple enough affair. It uses the same footprint as the RMR, and due to the top-load battery, the SRO doesn’t require sealing plates.
Just like the RMR, Trijicon’s new SRO is compatible with suppressor-height iron sights.
After thousands of rounds and a solid couple of days on the range with Trijicon’s SRO already under our belt, the thought of using a smaller-windowed pistol optic in the future is unappealing. In fact, the sight window of the SRO is so forgiving we had to “try” to lose the dot. Support-hand-only shooting has never been easier. The large, unobstructed field of view ensured the dot was always there, allowing us to speed up and focus on our target. Before we knew it, we were clearing plate racks like Jimmy John’s — freaky fast.
We ran them hard in Texas to see if they would break, and we’re still working on it at home — using the SRO to rack the slide off metal barricades, for example. It’s a tough little optic.
Over the past decade, Trijicon’s RMR has become the gold standard when it comes to pistol-mounted red dots, but for some, making the transition from iron sights to an optic wasn’t easy. For those who initially thought “finding the dot” was a tumultuous process, the SRO seeks to make the transition a lot less painful. And it does.
Learn more at Trijicon.
