red dot sights on handguns, where are we?

Are you using a red dot?

  • I have a pistol with a red dot

    Votes: 31 49.2%

  • I do not have a pistol with a red dot (no cut, rail, mount)

    Votes: 25 39.7%

  • I have a pistol with a slide cut, but do not have one on it.

    Votes: 4 6.3%

  • I have a pistol with a rail/mount, but do not have one on it.

    Votes: 3 4.8%
  • Total voters
    63
  • Poll closed .
I fit all of the above. Have a Swamp Fox Sentinel on the way. My CZ Shadow 2 is the only pistol I currently have a red dot mounted on that I like. I tried to like a CZ P10S w Delta Point - after a few hundred rounds fired I removed the red dot - I’m faster and more accurate on that handgun with out the red dot
 
Bought a 365XL with the Romeo zero sight, went through about 800 rounds with it before I gave up. Put the fixed night sights on it and my groups improved immediately.
Just couldn't get used to it.
 
I have one on one of my on .22s

My 9mms are all setup around defensive use, and I am much faster from the holster to the first hit with conventional sights.

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I have tried red dot sights on friends' handguns. I don't own any. Most handguns I own are set up for concealed carry and self-defense - sudden close range encounters - and like 9x19 "I am much faster from the holster to the first hit with conventional sights."
 
Retraining yourself to look at the target and put the dot where you are looking takes a good amount of time and effort, especially if you have spent years training yourself to pick up the front sight as you present your pistol. The rest of the fundamentals of pistol shooting don't change, but retraining your eyes on what to focus on can take a long time. I personally feel that it is worth it, I went through 2000 rounds and about ten times that dry fire before I felt comfortable with a red dot equipped EDC.
 
Rob228 said:
Retraining yourself to look at the target and put the dot where you are looking takes a good amount of time and effort, especially if you have spent years training yourself to pick up the front sight as you present your pistol. The rest of the fundamentals of pistol shooting don't change, but retraining your eyes on what to focus on can take a long time. I personally feel that it is worth it, I went through 2000 rounds and about ten times that dry fire before I felt comfortable with a red dot equipped EDC.
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If I could upvote this I would. My own experience and what I’ve seen from others is that people expect the transition from using irons to using a red dot to be very quick. It takes time, sometimes a substantial amount of time.


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I shot club level competition. My Ultradot raised my score about 8% and more, the more fatigued I shot. One week, my batteries were dead. I shot in the lower half of the group by using the big tube as a sort of mega ghost ring. This annoyed some of the fellas that thought my scores were all due to the dot. (I took second in .45 and .22, only because Marcus is way better than me.)

I’ve kept my custom .22 pistol for rabbit and squirrel hunting. In the dark woods, the dot is super. This was all 20 years ago, when my eyes were hawk-like. Now, the dot is even better.

Still, for cowboy gun shooting and little field pistols, I like the iron sights. Rifles get scopes. Old eyes.
 
I have two handguns with red dot sights ... why wasn't this an option ?

A Ruger MKII standard and a Revolver ... a model 64 S&W in 38 Special with a heavy barrel set up for NRA Bullseye (Precision) shooting.

Both have Millet SP-1 red dot sights these are old school , 1" tube type ... back in the day they were cutting edge and kept my old damaged eyes shooting but now the modern mico-sights have supplanted them . But in 1985 it was top-o-the-line sighting stuff !
Gary
 
Put a red dot on my Ruger Super Blackhawk in 44 mag. She's zeroed at 100 yards and I can bang a 12" metal plate at 100 yards pretty regularly with it from a bench rest.
 
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Tried them, gave them up.

Owned an FN 509 Compact Tactical. GREAT gun. VERY high quality. Already set up for multiple red dot mount types, suppressor ready threaded barrel and suppressor height sights. Nice grip, ready for a light, compact, good mag capacity. Multiple capacity mags available.

That said, I like FN pistols a lot! I'd probably have done better with the compact 509 with standard height sights. Yet...damn it was uncomfortable to carry.

Went back to my Gen 3 19. Simplicity is a thing; mags are (not that I care, I can afford them,) half the cost. And, it's and more comfortable to carry W/O the strapped on weight and angles. Accessories and holsters...MUCH more available.

Really made me a nonbeliever in all the crap you're made to beleive you need to strap to a handgun theses day. Wasn't for me.

Have seen the elephant, more than once, don't need the assistance.
 
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When it comes to weight, an RMR with battery weighs 1.17 oz. The bulk can be a factor depending on where on your body you carry and how, but compared to carrying with a light attached it’s much easier imo.


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Many / most Precision Pistol (Bullseye) shooters use a red dot sight. But, note that the record in Precision Pistol set by Hershel Anderson on July 24, 1974 with a score of 2680 out of a possible best 2700 was done with iron sights. Personally, I do not use a red dot, even though my somewhat poor eye sight would qualify me as a user. I shoot better with irons. It's a mind game. I see that dot bouncing around, and rather than accept the movement, I tend to fight it, and that makes the movement worse.
 
I’ve looked though a couple friends’ guns that have had red dots but I don’t believe I’ve ever shot one with them. I’ve always been interested in them but since it seems like you have to spend a good chunk of change to get a good one, I’ve never considered one.

If I’m not mistaken, my Sig P220 10mm Elite that has that adjustable rear sight can be taken off an replaced with a red dot but unless any of my other pistols will work with those base plates I’ve seen that only requires you to drill and tap a few holes to mount it, I’m not really interested in having the tops of my slides milled to accept one and since my Sig is my woods gun, it’s already equipped with a Streamlight TLR-4 laser/flashlight combo.


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I do have some other handguns set up with red dot sights, but they are closer in size and appearance to my SBRs, than my Glocks. These include three Ruger Chargers (two .22s and one .17) and one AR-15 in 10mm.
 
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