Springfield Armory Hex Red Dots
So the cat’s out of the bag, wait no that was the Hellcat RDP article. Anyway I have been sworn to secrecy for over a year. The people at Springfield are a sneaky bunch. So at the 2019 Shot Show Springfield had a Big…..Almost two story tall picture that flashed a picture of an OSP Hellcat with a red Dot sight on it. Only that red dot was not a brand that I recognized. When I asked about it, It seemed like those that would know, just shrugged off my questioning.
I was like look there it is, I am not crazy. Then distributors released model numbers and names of a new Hellcat SKU with the name Hex Wasp. Ahhh now we are getting somewhere. Let the wait begin, then splat Covid and everything grinds to a halt. One benefit of everything grinding to a snails pace. Means that The Hellcat can catch up on a product cycle. You have new RDP kits, for an even better kick butt release of the red dot. Second next you get time for the Hex sight to go through a product cycle it self all in secrecy. So not only do you get a Hex Wasp Micro red dot, but on public release now you also have a second larger Hex Dragonfly red dot.
The Hex Wasp is in the micro red dot class, and in fact uses the same footprint as the Shield RMSc/J-point. The Micro red dot is meant for small pistols like the Hellcat and XDS. And since Springfield uses one of the industry standard foot prints, while the Hex sights are Springfield products, I bet they would work on different brands of pistols as well. The WASP is an always on red dot that features auto dimming capabilities. That means that the sight can sense if the environment is dark or light. If it is dark the red dot will turn it self down so it does not blind you as you try to shoot your pistol. But in the bright sunlight, you need a brighter aiming point. The Wasp uses a 3.5 MOA red dot, not too small, but also not so big that it obscures too much of your viewing area. How about 2 years of battery life, yep in normal everyday use you can expect about 65,000 hrs before you have to change your batteries. To put that in perspective I got about a year on my Shield RMSC and then I had to change the battery.
The Wasp is machined from 6061 Aluminum and is T6 Hardcoat anodized. The body of the WASP is machined to be used as extra serrations to manipulate the slide. Plus the scratch resistant, anti glare lens is protected by the body of the overhanging housing. The top of the lens hood stands proud allowing you to use the sight to rack the slide giving your glass some protection. The Hex WASP is IPX7 waterproof, the used with the sealing plate. If you have to carry your pistol in the rain you should be good to go.
In the WASP package you get a hex wrench, tore wrench, CR2032 battery, sealing plate and three sets of screws, short, medium and long. Remember when I said the WASP was suitable for other brands of guns? Multiple sizes of screws can go on all kinds of things….just saying. MSRP of the WASP is 299.00
Moving on to the larger Dragonfly red dot. The dragonfly uses the Vortex venom/Burris Fastfire footprint industry standard. The exciting part of this red dot is that it is made to work on many different platforms including pistols, rifles and shotguns just by changing the mount to match the platform weapon. Even though the Dragon fly uses the same CR2032 battery as the WASP the Dragonfly can get up to a 3 year run time, over 100,000 hrs on its lowest setting. The dragonfly has 8 levels of brightness that you manually set. And if you leave your Dragonfly alone for more that 16hrs it will automatically shut it self off to preserve battery life. Agin like the smaller WASP the red dot is manufactured to be used to rack the slide and help protect the glass. It is also IPX7 weather protected and has an MSRP of 249.00. In the box you get everything that the WASP gets, with the addition of a short Picatinny mount.
Springfields insect red dot series sights are a great addition to the Springfield portfolio. I hope to see these sights added as factory options to the different firearms they sell. I could uses a SAINT that comes in a package deal with the red dot, how about you? Springfield has a website set up just for the optics at www.hexoptics.com this leads me to believe that Springfield will push this lineup independent but along side it’s firearms like some other companies do. I do like Swiss chocolate, but on my SAINT thats just scandalous. Lets just keep it in the family and see how that goes.
