Here’s my $0.02 worth. If you possess adequate arm strength and the eyesight to shoot your revolver accurately for 5-consectively shots within 20 seconds at 25 yards you probably don’t “need” to look at optics for hunting. If however, you just want them or don’t possess the arm strength or eyesight to shoot those “small” groups anymore, then optics can be the answer for most handgun hunters/shooters.
What the dot or X-hair does, is take away the need for proper sight alignment – you no longer have to concentrate on that front sight making sure you have equal space on both sides of that front sight and square it off horizontally with the rear. With the dot, you just put it on your target; hold it while you squeeze the shot off and the bullet will hit pretty close to your aiming point. Jerk the trigger and all bets are off.
I don’t like a scope on a handgun because of the weight and it just doesn’t look “natural” to me. The reflex sight doesn’t look natural either but not quite as bad as the ultradot or scope and it weighs under an ounce, so the weight is right for my tastes. The ragged hole rear sight is an aperture and is very fast and accurate but again, you have to concentrate a little on that front sight to be on the money.
Last year (2010) I finally purchased a reflex sight and I now know I should have purchased it sooner – I had gone to the ragged hole rear sight with my Rugers and BFR's previously with the hi-viz front sight and that was a great improvement for me over standard open sights but the red dot is better yet. There are several great sights on the market but I choose the Leupold DeltaPoint as the Delta is 7.5MOA, so it’s fast coming on target and I use the tip of the delta as my aiming point. I feel it’s as accurate as a 2X scope. Takes a lot of practice to be able to bring the revolver up and have the delta right there – but after a couple of weeks of steady work you will get the “hang” of it. I can shoot the delta point out past 100 yards as well as I can a 2X scope – I’ve got a 2.5X8 Leupold that I use for load development, as for pin point accuracy you can’t beat magnification off a rest and 8X gets the job done at ranges of 50 yards to whatever.
As for minute of deer with a 357 Mag or a 500 Mag – a dot will give it to you as far out as you care to practice. A 100 yard shot with a 357 on deer is very doable with the dot or scope – all you have to do is place the shot with a good constructed bullet and follow the blood trail – no different than a 25 yard shot, except for the fact it’ll take a whole lot more practice time to place that shot well at extended range.
