First Look: SIG Sauer Romeo-M17 Handgun Optic

NEW from SIG Sauer comes the Romeo-M17 handgun optic!

Designed for the U.S. Army’s Modular Handgun System, this optic will be the first fully adopted and fielded pistol optic of the United States Military. 

That’s the cool news. 

The good news is that the Romeo-M17 was designed, tested, and will be built in the USA, one of the very few pistol dots that are. It has also been tested and selected to receive a NATO Stock Number meaning other NATO nations may adopt it.

The bad news is that the Romeo-M17 uses a special mounting footprint and is totally incompatible with all current civilian P320, P320-M17, or P320-M18, slides and/or pistols. The Romeo-M17 will only fit military M17/M18 pistols, M17/M18 Commemorative Special Editions, and M17/M18 Surplus pistols with a single hole in the slide to secure the sight plate.

However, SIG says that commercial variations of compatible pistols and slides will be coming to the civilian market soon.

“The fully sealed ROMEO-M17 is the next revolution in red dot optics; it answers the call to withstand the rigors of the battlefield and works seamlessly with the U.S. Army’s Modular Handgun System,” said Andy York, President, SIG SAUER Electro-Optics. “The ROMEO-M17 is the first red dot sight to incorporate SIG SAUER's patent pending SIG-LOC™ mounting system. SIG-LOC (Leveraged Optimized Connection) features a new proprietary bottom-mount technology that has multiple interface features between the pistol slide and the optic that provides for an extremely strong and robust lock-up. This new mounting system, when combined with the side mounted battery on the ROMEO-M17, allows the optic to have an extremely low position when mounted to the slide, giving the user a full sight picture and co-witness with the existing standard-height iron sights. This sight was engineered, tested, and built in Oregon to be the ultimate aiming solution for the MHS pistols.”

The SIG SAUER Electro-Optics ROMEO-M17 is a mil-spec, fully enclosed and gas-purged red dot reflex sight with a distortion-free glass aspheric lens, and is submersible to depths up to 35 meters. Other features include a new and very robust flexure-arm adjustment system made of the same Beryllium Copper found in many riflescope designs, and a housing that is forged and machined from 7075 Aluminum with an integrated loaded chamber indicator (LCI) gas deflector and machined anti-reflection grooves on all rear facing surfaces for reduced glare. The optic incorporates a high-efficiency point source red LED emitter, with 2 MOA dot/32 MOA circle reticle, independent brightness adjustment buttons, 15 brightness settings including night vision settings, and a side-mounted CR2032 battery compartment with a threaded battery cap so the optic does not need to be removed from the pistol for battery changes. The ROMEO-M17 has a minimum continuous runtime of 50,000 hours at medium brightness setting, and utilizes MOTAC™ (Motion Activated Illumination), MAGNETAC™ (Magnetic Activation), and D.A.R.C™ (Dark Adaptive Reticles & Coatings) technologies.

ROMEO-M17 SPECS:

• Objective Lens Diameter: 24mm
• Reticle: Circle dot with 2 MOA Red Dot / 32 MOA Circle
• Lens Type: Asphere
• Brightness Adjustment Settings: 15 (12 Day / 3 Night Vision)
• Water Resistance: Submersible to 35 meters (115 feet)
• Overall Length: 2.4 inches
• Overall Width: 0.9 inches
• Overall Height: 1.1 inches
• Mounting Footprint: SIG-LOC™ MHS
• Battery Type: CR2032
• Battery Location: Side
• Weight (w/o battery): 1.5 ounces

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