So trying red dot you can find out how long TV may last. 
But seriously, you wonāt need to change battery for about 8 - 10 years.
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I was taught three things, front sight, front sight, front sight!
Never tried red dot on handgun, but I would imagine it would skew my field of view! Especially with both eyes open.
What could possibly go wrong, reflections, refractions or aberrations? Or targets unseen by blocked view.
As far as Iām concerned those red circles represent possible innocent bystanders that are blocked.
I can just hear the prosecutions forensics witness question. āIn regards to a handgun, Is it possible that the view was blocked by the ring of the red dot sightā? Answer, āOf course it was blockedā! No further questions!
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This. Was going to write Iāve trained myself well with both options given and am comfortable carrying with either. But I fire at least one magazine each range session using a pick up, point and shoot one round @ 10 yds quickly using no sights. I am also of the camp a true self defense situation will not allow time to align iron sights and even RDS will be iffy. Iād much rather know I have a fighting chance if I canāt rely on sights, regardless of style.
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Iām all for new technology but itās something about irons that makes it a challenge and keeps it pure!
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I am 73yo my eyes are not what they uses to be! Red dot all the way!
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Answer: āOf course those areas were not blocked. The accused appears to have two functioning eyes and there is no evidence s/he failed to use them. The areas blocked to the dominant eye would be plainly visible to the subordinate eye. Guess we should have talked about your theory sooner.ā
Examiner: āOh. Your Honor, I move to strike the testimony of my expert witness.ā
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Iāll stick with iron sights. Wuth my eyes sight I find it hard to find the damn red dot a lot of the time but I can always find the iron sights and my target. Even as my eyes degrade with age I can still hold a tight group in center mass.
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Red Dot in the middle of the night. Allows quicker alignment to the target in any, except the brightest sunlight.
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Hey @Lab4Us . All true. We train to what your body does naturally not train to force your body to do something unnatural.
Case in point, there was a young man in Wisconsin recently that video shows he was in 3 different DCIs over the course of a very short time. When you watch the videos you can see that he was at close range (CQ from on the ground and on his back) and did not use sighted fire for any of the self defense incidents. All appear to be unsighted fire (not to be confused with blindly firing his firearm). If he had taken 1 or even 2 seconds to sight his target in, it could very well have cost him his life. Also a note, words matter, he never refired to his firearm as a āweaponā, and only on a few occasions used the term āgunā, otherwise he used the term āfirearmā.
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Roger that (firearm vs weapon). I will say though, if I had three life threatening incidents in a short time, outside of law enforcement or high target security, Iād be rethinking where Iām hanging out. Granted we should be able to go anywhere and do anything peaceful anywhere in America, but thatās not the realityā¦unfortunately.
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One option to consider if you donāt want the minor bulk of a red dot and your eyes are getting older one day at a time is Crimson Trace. They have a CT laser grip for my EDC that is adjustable and reliable thus far. My iron sight are not affected in any way. Great product.
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I did not find that a satisfactory solution for myself. Yes, the laser grips are a slick package and donāt require holster changes. Yes, they hit pretty close to the dot if properly zeroed. For night time, indoors, cloudy weather, and on simple targets at the range I thought they were pretty quick at ten yards or less.
But outdoors in daylight where I spend most of my time; against complex targets and backgrounds; especially beyond rock-throwing range; it was easy for the projected dot to be too dim or lost against backgrounds. The fact that it pretty much worked at the range made me concerned about being lazy in practice and getting dull on the iron sights. In the end, I didnāt think the give-up was worth the gain. Having wonderful G-10 grip scales ends up being more important to me than a āmaybeā sight aid.
Once I get my skill set up to snuff with a red dot, it clearly will be the best night sight, and the best longer range sight, and Iām hoping at least as good at the more common defensive distances and circumstances. For me, anyway.
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In my humble opinion I donāt add anything to or take anything away from my EDC save for a few non-functioning or non-performance-enhancing cosmetics. In the (hopefully never) event I have to use it I donāt want to give a prosecutor ANY additional ammo (pardon the pun) to use against me. This includes optics. Night/low light sights are okay if they come stock but I personally would not add and electronics for the above stated reason.
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Same with eight-track tape players.
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eight-track tapes were greatā¦ BEACH BOYSā1977.
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So true! LOL
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40 plus years with iron but willing to try.
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I prefer green laser for self defense. When shooting from awkward positions simply place grn dot on Target. One may not be able to raise gun up to eye level
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Yes, that and certain shooting from cover situations are advantages only a projected laser can offer ā if lighting and distance cooperate.
Greens and yellows are not very prominent to my eyes against most backgrounds, except in darkness when white would be about as good for me. Except at night, the widespread move from safety orange #FF7900 to chartreuse #7FFF00 signs/vests/markers has not been helpful in catching my daytime attention. Floruescent red-orange remains my front sight of choice. Swim your own best stroke.
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I have switched to a red dot sight. Itās just better.
RE: Obscuring vision downrange, I find the iron sight does more of that. It doesnāt take much distance until the size of that front sight obscures the target/threat. Many use a ādrive the dotā aim which means literally the objective is to cover up what you are aiming at with the front sight. And the rear sights block view downrange too. In all cases, I have trained to shoot both eyes open so I should have a decent field of view.
Not having to align the sights is a big deal. There is no sight alignment, sight picture, front sight focus with target blurry (if we are worried about whatās downrange, are we not worried about that threat and surroundings being blurry as we are focused on that front sight?)ā¦there is instead, with a read dot, a target focus, and the red dot itself is so small it does not obscure anything (and you can kind of see through it).
Back it up with iron sights just in case, and use one with a very long battery life (years) as well as solar backup, and these things are darn reliable.
Nearly everybody has accepted them on rifles and carbines and even shotguns for awhile now, I donāt see why handguns should be any different, now that the technology is there.
The USCCA Protector Academy has a good course on red dot sights on handguns, I think itās worth the watch if you have that access.
Itās a change for sure, Iāve been carrying an iron sighted handgun daily for about 17 years and just recently made the switch. But, I consider it to be forward progress.
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