Red Dot, or not?

H

herbie1

New member
Will practice with a red dot improve my iron sight shooting?

I have taken up informal bullseye shooting with irons sights. Should I get a red dot? I kind of like the idea of good old fashioned iron sights but if a red dot can improve my general pistol capabilities I would give it a try. Besides, I might just like it.

I am considering either an Ultra dot or a Millet:

http://www.midwayusa.com/viewproduct/?productnumber=546845

http://www.midwayusa.com/viewproduct/?productnumber=158466

What are the pros/cons of 1" vs 30mm?

How do they compare with holographic sights?

http://www.midwayusa.com/viewproduct/?productnumber=527418

thanks,

H.
 
IMHO, a red dot offers little or no advantage when it comes to improving your shooting tequniques/skills with a handgun. A laser can be useful to learn trigger control, though.
 
I have red dots on all my pistols. You will definately shoot better with a dot than you will with iron sights. There is no eye strain or fatigue with dots and the sight picture is perfect. I used to shoot with iron sights and you can shoot very well with them but you will do better with the dot. Iron sights depend too much on the light entering your eye, the direction of the light when you're shooting, the brightness of the light and whether it's changing or not, and many other factors. Eye fatigue is a really bid issue. With a dot, if the dots on the target when the trigger breaks you're going to hit where the dot is. The down side to a dot is that the gun doesn't fit into a holster as well but they make holsters for them, the battery can go dead but they actually last for weeks and it's easy to carry a spare and easy to change, and the gun is heavier but some dots are pretty light and actually help steady the gun with the extra weight. Get one and try it out. If you don't like it, it's easy to take off. I don't think you'll be taking it off though. Good luck and have fun shooting.
PS - take a look at ALL the top shooters at major shooting contests. None of them shoot iron sights except in the stock class and those guys are way down the list score wise compared to the guys using dots. I shot team challenge for ten years (and won or placed at every shoot) and I never saw one person even place using iron sights.
 
I would say no, it will not help your iron sight skills at all. It will help your skills with a red dot.
 
Will practice with a red dot improve my iron sight shooting?
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No, but when you start shooting red dot sights, you'll suddenly find yourself loosing weight, standing taller, holding your liquor better, swearing less, attracting better-looking members of the sex of your choice, disappointing your dentist by requiring fewer fillings and crowns, watching your miles per gallon increase, and winning the lottery.

Seriously: red dot sights make it awfully easy to wonder why you still have guns without them. I've put seven or eight Ultra Dots on .22 caliber match pistols over the years, and have been happy with every one.

Here's a nickel's worth of free suggestion: the smaller and less bright the red dot, the better you'll see the target.
 
I have a Millett 1" on my CZ Kadet. That and my HiPoint carbine are the easy favorites with my friends. So easy to keep both eyes open when shooting.

That being said, the Millett had a bad lens misalignment issue and had to be sent back to CA (from VA). They sent me a new one that works better.

If I had the cash and could do it all over again, I'd get one of those micro holographics instead. Takes up a LOT less space.
 
A red dot won't help your iron sight shooting but it will improve your scores. It's a lot easier to see a dot displayed against your target and keep it aligned. It helps the old guys who's eyes don't have the range of focus they used to have. In bad light I find it increasingly harder to see both sights and the target. Get a sight with the smallest possible dot and crank the intensity down to the mid range. It also demonstrates how steady your hand is(or isn't).

I wouldn't bother put one on a defensive handgun, too big, and at defense ranges not necessary and it would take an additional step to turn the thing on. The batteries last quite a while if you turn the unit off when not in use.

Anyone have comments about pros/cons of 1" vs 30mm? I'd like to see some discuss on that too.
 
I agree with the above. I put a red dot on my 10/22 and it's a different gun. Especially with older eyes ;)
 
Anyone have comments about pros/cons of 1" vs 30mm? I'd like to see some discuss on that too.
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  1. The bigger it is, the more it's likely to weigh.
  2. Hold the sight at arm's length and look at a 25-yard target 25 yards away. Mysteriously, the target doesn't take up the whole field of view; in fact, it takes up only a little of the field of view.
  3. Millimeters are French, not American. I don't care if the French, Russians, Bulgarians, Zimbabweans, and Canadians dearly love those moronic little millimeters. I'm sticking with inches.
 
Seriously: red dot sights make it awfully easy to wonder why you still have guns without them. I've put seven or eight Ultra Dots on .22 caliber match pistols over the years, and have been happy with every one.
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Totally agree and then some. Not to be appreciation until you try one. However, I cannot say either way that it will improve your general pistol capabilities but they will meet or exceed your expectations. I have owned RedDots and all variants, since they first came out and have long since, proven their worth.


Be Safe !!!
 
hate to admit it.....but my own scores improve with the Dot....

I am against using them on all levels.....except they give me better scores....more hits on the right places on the target.

And they make me wish, when NOT using them, that I could shoot as accurately without them as with them.
 
Thanks for the responses.

My primary purpose is to improve my irons sight shooting. I guess I am a little old fashioned and I am a little adverse to adding 'gizmos' to my gun. I would also like to avoid additional weight and bulk. But I am very open minded and shouldn't make final judgments until I give it a try.

Since my interest is informal Bulleseye I don't don't need the scoring advantages of a red dot. This is just for fun.

Since this will be my first experiment with a red dot I think I will go with the 1" Millet red dot. It only cost $80. I think it is a good product at a reasonable price. If I really like it I might invest in more expensive one, such as a Burris Fastfire II.

I plan on putting this on my VQ upgraded, 6.8" Ruger Mark III Hunter, I would get Warne Quick Detach rings, so I change back and forth between red dot and iron sights.

H.
 
Well, I feel like being contrary: I just installed a 1" UltraDot on my MkIII and tried it out for the first time. I don't have much trigger time with my MkIII to begin with and I only could try it at 15 yards, so take it FWIW, but I didn't see an immediate improvement. Could be with more trigger time, and/or longer distance, it'd make a difference.
 
I don't have much trigger time with my MkIII to begin with and I only could try it at 15 yards, so take it FWIW, but I didn't see an immediate improvement. Could be with more trigger time, and/or longer distance, it'd make a difference.
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Yeah.

I encountered to primary difficulties when I first switched to a red dot sight:

  1. I'd always focused on the front iron sight; I've since discovered it's better to focus on the target than the red dot. That took some getting used to; ultimately, it's easier for old eyes to focus on distant targets than relatively close front sights, but figuring that out took awhile.
  2. I'd always used a six o'clock hold, which is to say: I'd adjusted my sights so the bottom of the bullseye rested on top of the front sight like a pumpkin on a fence post. I shoot red dot-sighted guns better when I adjust the dot for the center of the bullseye rather than the bottom.

I can't recall exactly how long it took me to make the transition, (that was about ten years ago,) but three or four or five trips to the range later, my only regret was not having tried a red dot sight years earlier.

By the way, I have a very compact, light Docter sight on one pistol. It works all right for me, though not quite so well as a traditional tube-type sight. The tubes are heavier, and require traditional mounts; the Docter sight, which supposedly fit into the rear sight's slot, required milling.

Ultimately, it'd be a whole lot easier if eyes stayed young.
 
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