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Aimpoint Micro Balor Mount from Raven Concealment

Troy3267

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Information about the product:

The RCS Balor is an optic mounting system for certain Glock pistols. It replaces the rear sight and back plate, and allows the user to run an optic on their pistol without milling the slide. It is available for either the Trijicon RMR or Aimpoint Micro, and it even has a built-in back-up sight system that consists of a single white dot front sight at the front of the mount and a fairly odd rear “sight” that is just a flat top with a vertical line milled into it. To use them you line up the rear line directly under the white dot, similar to the XS Big Dot sights. I’m still not sure how much I care for them, but I will get into that later. While the normal suggestion for mounting an optic is to simply send it off to get milled is still a very valid point, there are pros and cons to both choices. The two major differences for someone just getting into the pistol optics game are money and the warranty. While milling a slide does place the optic lower, making it not only easier and more intuitive to use but also capable of using tall “suppressor height” sights that allow for a low co-witness with the optic, it does cost more than a Balor. For example, sending a slide to ATEi costs around $250-$300 between the cost of the milling, new sights, and to get the slide refinished. The Balor costs right at $200, BUT it does sit the optic higher and may require more time to become comfortable with it. There is also the point of being without your slide for as long as the machining takes, whereas the Balor requires no down time whatsoever. Also, milling the slide voids the factory warranty of the Glock. That is a moot point to many, but seeing as the Glock factory is less than an hour from my house and I take my guns there on a yearly basis, it was kind of a big deal for me personally.



Installation:

When you first open the package, there will be an instructional manual, the mount itself, the new back plate, bolts, 2 Allen head wrenches for the bolts, and a small bottle of SUR-LOK 1242 blue thread lock. The installation is extremely simple, and is pretty much dummy-proof. You use the provided bolts and SUR-LOK to attach the Aimpoint to the mount, remove the rear sight from your slide, and using a non-marring punch and hammer put the mount into the dovetail. They recommend that before installing the mount you lube the dovetail, and it did seem to make things easier. The attention to detail on this speaks volumes about RCS. This is truly a well-designed and thought out product. They even have a small recess machined into each side to place the punch so it doesn’t walk when hammering it. After you install it into the rear dovetail, you remove the back plate from the slide and install the one that was provided for the Balor. If the rear screw hole does not line up with the back of the Balor, just drift the Balor left or right until it is centered with the hole. Then you install the rear screw and are good to go. Like I said, its pretty much dummy-proof.



Carrying:

I did have to modify my holster for it to work, because it was not for an optic. Nothing a Dremel can’t fix, though. I have been carrying it AIWB for the past 48 hours, and I personally cannot tell a difference between how it carried before installing the Balor and after. The H1 is roughly the same width as the slide, and doesn’t extend past the rear of the slide, so for most people it should be a non-issue. (side note, because I know it will come up, I am a little over 6ft tall and weigh around 210lbs, so even though I can carry it fine, shorter and smaller framed people may not have the same experience that I do).



Using the Balor:

So far, after only having this on my gun for around 48 hours, I have run 500 rounds of Perfecta 115gr brass cased FMJ through it. My gun is not stock, so I will list the aftermarket parts for everyone to use as a frame of reference for my experience so far.

-Gen3 Glock 19

-Ghost spring kit and 3.5lb connector (all springs except firing pin and recoil spring are from this kit)

-APEX trigger

-Zev magwell

-TLR1hl

-Grip Force Adapters beavertail

-Finger groove removal and single undercut

-RCS Balor with Aimpoint H1 4moa

Everything else in my gun is stock. Since installing the Balor I have put 500 rounds through it in one range visit. The first 15 rounds were to zero the H1, the next 100 rounds were used on two sets of Dot Torture drills, the first time at 7 yards and the second at 15 yards. This was not only to maintain (or increase) my current skill level, but also to help myself become more familiar and fluid with the Balor/H1 on my gun. Then I ran another Dot Torture drill at 3 yards only using the backup sight system that the Balor has. I’m going to need to spend more time with those before I can tell how I feel about them. The next 257 rounds were spent doing various drills, while trying to run the gun hot. After that, with the gun fairly hot, I burned through three 21 round pmags as fast as possible. This was to see how the optic and mount handled the stress of the nonstop recoil and the heat. Then the last 15 rounds were used to reconfirm zero.



Conclusion:

The Balor handled better than expected. After I was finished at the range, the gun was so hot that the metal trigger shoe was literally hot to the touch. It held zero perfectly, and my gun ran flawlessly. While shooting, my gun handled almost the exact same as it did without the optic on it. The only exception is while the slide was cycling it did seem to cycle forward a tad harder than it did before, but I think it is only due to the extra weight on the slide. It did not affect the reliability of the gun or my accuracy or speed, but I can only speak for my personal experience. The height of the Aimpoint does create a little bit of a problem when you first use it, but it is nothing that a bunch of dry firing and hands-on time can’t fix. At first, it was difficult for me to find the dot after drawing or even lowering the gun, but after 500 rounds and a few hours of dry fire drills it has become MUCH easier, and almost second nature. I strongly recommend this to anyone who wants to step into the pistol optics game for the first time. It is not as good an option as milling the slide, but at the price point, ease of use, and not having a dedicated slide for a particular optic, it is a very solid choice. If you are interested in running a RMR or Aimpoint micro on a Glock, pick a Balor up and try it out. If you’re not happy with it, you can just take it off, reinstall the iron sights, and sell the Balor. I am extremely happy with it so far, and can’t wait to put more rounds through it. Hell, I’m even tempted to get another one for a RMR now.

I will do my best to update this for every 500-1000 rounds fired.
 

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