It will handle the recoil, but it is not clear to me. I have a $400 Aimpoint 9000SC also and the Bushnell is a toy compared to the Aimpoint. Mounted the pistol scope and just as I suspected the field of view is way too small on 2X, and even worse if you crank up the magnification. I put a plain old simmons 3-9x40 riflescope on mine a few years ago right after I got a weaver type rail installed on my gun just for kicks and it worked fine but I was always nervous it was going to scope me even though I had about 5 inches of eye relief. I think I am going to go with a Leupold VX1 in 2-7 power range, or maybe the new Freedom2-7x33 line that Leupold has out.