What’s going on guys? It’s Hai.
This is my Shadow Systems MR920 War Poet 2.0 Edition and mounted on top is the Holosun HE509T-RD X2. If you’re unfamiliar with these two products, with Shadow Systems, a major selling point is their optic cut that allows users to mount optics with a wide variety of footprints. This is done by cutting an overly large space into the slide, then using spacers to fill the gap depending on the optic footprint. The system isn’t perfect but does offer the least amount of compromises in my opinion. However, with the 590T, this is a closed emitter red dot that doesn’t allow you to screw it in place from the top down like many open emitter red dots. Instead, you would typically install the provided plate that has an RMR footprint on the bottom onto your slide that’s cut with an RMR footprint. This plate has the proprietary 509T lugs on the top, so this plate essentially allows you to convert the RMR footprint to the 509T footprint. Finally, you tighten a bolt from the side of the 509T and it clamps onto the top lugs of the adapter plate.
In terms of mounting a red dot onto a handgun, although simple, that’s kind of a convoluted process. Especially so if you’re slide is cut for another footprint. This means that you’ll have to get another adapter plate to convert whatever you have to the RMR footprint, then the RMR footprint to the 509T footprint. So, what you get is stacking multiple plates on top of each other which is not exactly ideal. Not only would the mounting system be structurally weaker, but the optic would sit very high. It’s already difficult to co-witness now with my suppressor height sights, I can’t imagine stacking even more plates. The best way to mount the 509T is probably to get a slide direct milled for the 509T but obviously, that comes with its own cons. I wasn’t sure how committed I was to this optic so I wasn’t going to do that. Especially considering that I run the 509T on the Shadow Systems so that wouldn’t have been possible anyway.
For a long time, that mounting process was just what you had to do. Until recently, when C&H Precision released an adapter plate that allows you to go directly from the Shadow Systems footprint to the 509T footprint. This means no RMR adapter plate and no spacers are needed. The benefit of this would mean a stronger connection between the slide and the optic.
Unfortunately, I can’t show you the install process for this plate as that would go against YouTube’s terms and service because it can be misconstrued as modifying a firearm but if you’ve ever mounted a red dot it’s essentially that. The plate is held in place by two T10 screws and that’s about it. But if you want to have a little more peace of mind, you can use a torque driver and torque the screws down to 10 in-lbs as suggested by CHPWS. I have a torque screwdriver from Olsa Tools that I keep around for torquing red dot and scope rings and it does the job. I find using this screwdriver is easier than something like the Wheeler Fat Wrench because, with this, you can precisely set the torque value whereas the Fat Wrench has a bar that raises up and down with no exact indicator as to what value it’s set to. This Olsa Tools toque screwdriver is a nice item to have if you install a lot of optics.
Now that my 509T is reinstalled with the new CHPWS plate, I have to say that I’m pretty happy with how things turned out. The fit and finish are fantastic and as someone who’s had a lot of time with this combo and has looked at it a lot, I would say that aesthetically, the gun looks a lot better. The new plate just makes things look like they belong together.
In terms of this specific combo, the Shadow System optic cut and the 509T mounting system, I do want to note that this isn’t exactly supported. In the past, Shadow System has put out statements saying that the 509T doesn’t mount properly on their optic cut and that’s largely because of the screws. The Shadow Systems slide mounting holes thread pitch is a specific diameter, one that does not match the thread pitch of the screws that come with the 509T. So what you end up having to do is use the screws that come with the Shadow System optic cover plate and hope that that works. This definitely is a hit or miss as some fit and some don’t. My Shadow Systems screws didn’t fit the 509T adapter plate properly and were a bit oversized. I had to bore the holes of the plate out just a bit for the screws to fit. This is not the case with the new CHPWS setup because they provided exact fitting screws. With the old setup and because the screws were oversized, you can see them sticking out from the sides. That’s not the case anymore. Everything is slick and streamlined.
I also want to point out that with the old setup, the spacer was in the rear and CHPWS has moved it to the front with their plate. From my research, this is more of a durability thing. People will argue that with the forces that the slide and optic endure during recoil, having the spacer up front with be able to endure that energy better than having it in the back. I don’t know. It’s worked for me in the back but I would say that it looks better in the front. There’s less of a gap between the optic and the rear sights so I’m happy with that.
To conclude things, if you’re a Shadow Systems user with the newer universal mounting footprint and you want to use the Holosun 509T, this CHPWS plate is the absolute way to go. Spend the money and do it right. Forget about the included plate, just go with this.
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