When I saw the new SIG Romeo MSR for a little less than $150 at CheaperThanDirt!, I had to have one. I have enjoyed excellent luck with the SIG Romeo series, and I enjoy firing and testing red dot sights, so this seemed like a match made in heaven. SIG’s pistol offerings are as great as ever, but pistols are not its only great products in the line. If you have not checked out SIG’s rifles, accessories, and line of optics, you are sorely out of touch.
After meeting stringent guidelines and testing requirements, the SIG Romeo has been adopted by several agencies. This piqued my interest when I considered the Romeo MSR. The more affordable SIG Romeo MSR, I reasoned, would be good but perhaps not as elevated as some of the others. As it turned out, I did not give it enough credit. It is ideal for many uses.
SIG Romeo MSR Features
The Romeo series spans the $450 Romeo 1 to this wallet-friendly jewel. While the SIG Romeo MSR isn’t expensive, it comes with a battery and a decent, well-designed, skeletonized riser.
The SIG Romeo MSR is powered by the common CR1632 battery. SIG tells us that we have 20,000 hours of battery life at the lowest setting. This is a tremendous advance over the red dots I tested some years ago.
The red dot is a 2 MOA (minute of angle) type. The Romeo MSR offers 10 standard settings, and two for use with night vision gear. That is impressive. There are the usual elevation and windage adjustments. The battery rides on top of the on/off/mode adjustment switch and is easily installed.
The brightness-adjustment turret featured positive clicks. It indented in a tight manner and wasn’t going to lose its adjustment. After some fiddling with the adjustments and testing the red dot, I found that the SIG Romeo MSR wasn’t a low-quality red dot, simply a basic one.
The SIG Romeo was designed to mount easily, zero easily, and stand up to recoil. It is shock and water resistant.
Shotgun Testing
I did not yet know which rifle would wear the MSR permanently. After all, this sight was designed for the modern sporting rifle. Just the same, I also use red dot sights on several of my shotguns.
I matched the red dot to the Toros Copolla T4 12-gauge, self-loading shotgun. I was eager to test the new Apex Predator Tungsten Super Shot as well. These shells are awesome but expensive…
The Toro Copolla T4 was set up and sighted in with an inexpensive, generic buckshot loading. When the time came, I ran several full-power slugs from Hornady through the shotgun with excellent results. I also tested the Apex Tungsten load. This is a superior loading with a super-dense cloud of BB shot. Two ounces of BB shot at 1,200 fps will get the attention of any predator.
I sighted the SIG Romeo at 25 yards and let fly. The Apex load shredded the target with a dense cloud as designed. I also test-fired the shotgun with a good mix of Winchester buckshot in #4 and #1. Firing with both eyes open, speed and accuracy were excellent — as they should have been with a modern shotgun.
As you will note from the images, I did not remove the riser. This allowed me to retain the use of iron sights. Since the front sight is an XS Big Dot Tritium sight, this was important for night use and home defense. (Order the front sight for the Benelli M4. The Toros Copolla is not a close clone, but identical in almost every way to the Benelli.) I had to raise my eye, but little, and enjoyed the SIG Romeo/Toros T4 combination.
AR-15 Testing
I also mounted the SIG Romeo MSR on a Springfield Saint rifle. With the red dot, it is important to shoot with both eyes open. At 10–25 yards, the SIG Romeo is brilliantly fast on target. The rifle handles well, and the SIG red dot offers excellent hit probability.
Experimentation with the red dot size will lead to the sweet spot for accuracy in each light condition. I found the dimmer settings worked well in dim light — for my eyes — offering a solid aiming point. More and more, I find myself needing a brighter setting to overcome brighter light and outdoor conditions.
Moving to longer ranges, it wasn’t difficult to punish the X-ring at a long 50 yards. Settling into a rest, using a solid rifle rest, I fired several three-shot groups at 100 yards.
The Springfield Saint 5.56mm rifle is a solid 1.5-inch MOA accurate rifle at 100 yards. With a red dot, the primary advantage is speed and firing with both eyes open. At 100 yards, I was able to get into the groove and fire a singular 2-inch group — most were a little larger.
At 200 yards, the red dot will subtend six inches of the target, but that is a long shot. You are not helpless with a red dot that you are familiar with, but that is a long shot. For most of us, firing quickly at man-sized targets at 50 yards is what the red dot is about. The occasional 100-yard shot isn’t that difficult.
The SIG Romeo MSR is a budget-friendly red dot that delivers plenty of quality for the price, and is among the best choices for getting your feet wet in the red dot game.
The SIG Romeo MSR red dot sight is a bargain at any price. However, when the quality is considered, the Romeo MSR can be considered a steal at under $150.
The SIG Romeo is a robust but simple design with much to recommend. House clearing with a red dot is simple enough — locate the target and drop the plane of sight slightly to the aiming point. The SIG Romeo MSR is supplied with a handy tool that offers plenty of leverage for quick, easy adjustments. 
The author engaged in a good bit of dry fire with the Springfield Saint and SIG Romeo MSR combination. 
A slight concern was that the turret adjustments are exposed with no cap. Just the same, the device functioned without any type of problem. 
The SIG Romeo MSR is a clean designed, minimalist, with good features for the price. 
Any firearm with rails is a good fit for the SIG Romeo MSR. The SIG Romeo MSR is supplied with lens covers. 
This is an affordable optic with much versatility. 
The adjustment top is centrally located and offers excellent adjustment. 
The SIG Romeo MSR handled shotgun recoil just fine. 
The SIG Romeo MSR’s riser is well designed. The SIG Romeo MSR is fairly narrow in cross section, allowing it easily mount near other furniture and optics. 
Finish of the SIG Romeo MSR is very nice. 
Firing with both eyes open is an advantage of the red dot sight. 
The SIG MSR is compact and light — adding little to the rifle’s weight.
I bought one for my magtech ar pistol I liked it so much I bought another one for my ar9 pistol was able to hit a 12″gong target about 75% of the time at 100yds the other 25% was me wobbling
I have one on an HK416 .22 LR version, while my KAC has an Eotech XPS2-2. Also used a friend’s Romeo 5 on a CMMG Banshee. Comparatively, for recreational use, I can’t say I’d chose the others over the MSR. For the money, I agree that you can’t beat the MSR! I’ll be purchasing another for an upcoming pistol build, hopefully on deep discount during Black Friday sales.
That nice that it fits on a popgun ar, but will it mount on a 1943 Mosen Nagant with a 4,5 inch rail mounted where the rear tangent sight was and positioned rearwards?
Nice article, as I have been considering one of these. Thank you for this review