Have you heard of the Swampfox Liberty II red dot yet? If not, it’s worth checking out, along with their other products. I’ve been able to use a variety of their optics and so far, I’ve not been disappointed.
After the success of the Sentinel II, Swampfox released the Liberty II red dot with a 24mm lens and multi-reticle selection. It uses the RMR footprint making it compatible with many guns on the market.
So far, I’ve had the Liberty 11 on my Glock 45 and Walther PDP. Between the two, I’m favoring it on my PDP because they seem to complement each other.
I grew up using iron sights because handgun optics were mostly seen as a futuristic thing. Often depicted in movies and video games, they were not used in real life. It’s strange how many things from movies and video games are now commonplace in today’s world.
Many people don’t like change and I’ll be the first to admit I blew off handgun-mounted optics for years. If iron sights were good enough for my grandfather, they are good enough for me. Or so I believed. I think it’s still a good idea for shooters to learn the basics with iron sights first. But there is no denying the benefits of a handgun-mounted optic. And, it’s hard to find a new handgun today that doesn’t have a cutout for an optic.
Swampfox Liberty II Red Dot
As I mentioned above, the Liberty II red dot has a 24 mm lens and uses the RMR footprint. That’s not the largest lens out there but it’s a good size. There are a lot of cool features with the Liberty II that make this optic such a great deal. These features include:
1. Top Loading Battery
As much as I’ve come to appreciate handgun optics, taking one off the gun to change the battery is just annoying. It also exposes the optic to more vulnerabilities, especially water and moisture.
The Liberty II is powered by a CR1632 battery and has an expected run time of 50,00 hours, which is about as good as it gets in the optics world. Swampfox provides a wrench for installing the optic and removing the lid from the battery compartment.
2. Shake N’ Wake
An auto shut-off feature helps preserve battery life and eliminate the need to turn it off when not carrying the gun. Swampfox calls this the “Shake N’ Wake” feature which turns off the optic after four minutes with no movement. When it senses movement, it turns back on the previous setting.
With such a long run-time, many optics companies are starting to make “always on” optics. But it’s even better if you can have a feature that turns off and back on by itself.
3. Four Reticle Options
Most handgun optics use a single red dot, which works great. But why not have more options like rifle optics do? On the Liberty II, you have a choice of four reticles to choose from. First is the standard single red dot which is a 3 MOA. Second is a circle only, followed by a circle with a dot in the middle. The last one is a square made of four hash marks.
Mounting and Operating the Liberty II
Mounting the Liberty II optic to an RMR slide is easy and Swampfox provides four sets of screws for this. They include the most common sizes to ensure you don’t have any issues. You can install it with a T-10 Torx wrench or S-Wing optic tool, both of which come in the box.
Operating the Liberty II is straightforward. There is an Up arrow on the left and a Down arrow on the right of the optic. Press the Up arrow one time to turn the optic on. Press and hold the Down arrow for three seconds to turn it off.
Once the red dot is on, you can choose from 10 brightness settings. The first two are for night vision, 3-5 are great for low-light and 9-10 are for use in bright conditions. The mid-range settings can be used indoors.
To change the reticle on the red dot, press and hold the Up arrow for three seconds. Repeat this process each time a new reticle appears on the screen. Changing the reticle style does not change the zero on the optic.
When zeroing the Liberty II, one click equals one MOA on the windage and elevation settings. Swampfox provides a tool for zeroing (any small flathead will also work).
For those who prefer a green dot, Swampfox also offers the Liberty II in green.
On the range with the Liberty II
It only took me a few shots to zero the Liberty II at 15 yards because it wasn’t that far off to begin with.
Since the Liberty II has multiple reticles, I was excited to try some out on the range. I started with the single red dot and fired a couple of mags through my Walther PDP Compact. I cycled through each reticle and found I liked the circle with the dot in the middle the most. It helped me gain target acquisition faster than the other three did.
Another good test (if you have the ammo) is to fire several hundred rounds to see if the optic stays zeroed in. In the past, I’ve found some optics that slowly lose their zero and need adjusted every few hundred rounds, which is not acceptable at all. AmmunitionToGo.com provided some 9mm Sellier & Bellot ammo so I was able to put 250 rounds down range during the review.
I didn’t really do any formal drills with the Liberty II but instead, just had some fun with it. I shot from various distances at different targets. It stayed zeroed in and was a blast to shoot with on my 9mm PDP. The 24mm window and 3MOA reticle make it easy to find your target and stay on target during multiple shots.
An optic worthy of the price?
The Liberty II red dot retails for about $250 which is a great price for the quality and features it offers. When mounted on my Glock 45, it fits in the Safariland 7360RDS-7TS, which is my favorite duty holster. As long as you select the “standard optics similar to Trijicon/Holosun” option on Safariland’s Holster Finder, the Liberty II will also fit.
While I won’t go into the details in this article, I performed my standard durability tests on the Liberty II. This includes freezing, heating, dropping, and soaking in water. Because I have reviewed Swampfox optics before, I had no doubt it would pass but I put all my optics through it.
Overall, this is a well-built red dot, making it a great deal for the price. If you haven’t checked out any Swampfox products before, I recommend taking a look.
