Dovetail slide or mount?

[L. Boscoe]

I am convinced I will have to use red dots. No ifs or ands.
That said, I don't mind having a slide milled, but am ignorant of how the mounting of the red dot works with a milled slide. Does the machinist drill and tap for set screws, or do you just rely on Lok tite and a tight fit?
I have also heard that the lower profile of a milled slide helps. That
true?

[stinkeypete]

There are two basic slide mounts.
1. The slide is drilled and tapped and then an adapter plate is screwed to the slide. In my experience, a bit of loctite prevents a lot of later confusion.

2. The slide is milled to accept dovetail mounts. A scope mount is clamped to the dovetail, just like a .22 rifle. In my experience, a bit of loctite prevents a lot of later confusion.

I put loctite on the screws, where places or clamps meet gun parts, and where the dot sight meets the rings. Glued and screwed and clamped hard, too. After shooting enough to verify positioning is correct.

Then there is gluing and screwing a Picatinny or Weaver rail to the barrel and clamping on to that. Loctite is your friend.

Of course you could … you get the idea.
Details depend on your optics choice and pistol.

[lll Otto lll]

Dovetail mounts are the worst.
Either mill the slide for your particular dot or buy a gun that uses a plate system.
For competition, a frame mounted RDS would be my preference.

[stinkeypete]

The Ultradot in the dovetail mount on my TT Olympia clone has not wavered or wobbled in 20 years. Then again, the gunsmith put the dovetail in the barrel.

It depends on what your gun is and what your optic is.