Red Dot on a handgun .. any regrets?

[BigNate]

I have exactly one handgun with a RDS. I'll have more in the future. Regrets? No. Cautions? Yes. Some food for thought below...

Practice
In my opinion, the RDS sight amplifies the need to practice to unconscious competence - especially for the experienced shooter. Don't think that your decades of shooting through iron sights takes the place of lots of practice through the RDS. This is not like moving from black iron sights to luminescent iron sights. Finding your target is NOT the same as with iron sights and until you really build muscle memory it can take a couple of attempts to find the dot. It's also not the same as an RDS on a rifle or carbine. I found that much easier to adapt to - it was just like looking through a scope. RDS on a handgun - not so much. If you go into it thinking "piece of cake - I'm a good shooter - I'll just screw one on to the gun and throw it in the truck" - you are making a mistake. I'm about 1000 rounds into shooting the RDS handgun and it has not yet made it to "willing to bet my life on it" status. Close? Yep. But not there yet. Until I can draw straight to the dot on the target "every time - including the first time out of the holster on that range trip" I won't bet my life on it. The first draw to sight picture of the day is still inconsistent, and until that changes I'll not be carrying one for defense.

Cowitness Sites
I shot a friend's RDS equipped handgun that had suppressor height iron sights on it and I really didn't like it. I bought cowitness height sights so that if the battery is dead I still have sights. Candidly - I don't even see them unless I look for them. If you want to cowitness through the RDS - I'd start with something that just barely enters the sight - don't get suppressor height sights - you don't want to clutter your picture. Additionally - take the time to practice finding the irons through a "dead" (turned off) RDS. If shooting with a friend ask them to turn off the RDS at some point in the day so that when you draw to the target it is not on (and you don't expect it) - see how long it takes you to find the irons...

Batteries on a Gun
As to the comment(s) about not trusting your life to something with a battery. I get the sentiment - but in my opinion it's a risk/reward question. As my eyes age, I have a harder time getting good focus on the front sight post. I looked to an RDS as a possible solution and found that it really does improve my shooting. At the end of the day getting rounds on target fast is the most critical thing and as I've practiced with it I absolutely shoot tighter groups and get the first round through paper faster than with irons. So it makes me a better shooter - now - is the risk of having it fail "worse" than the gains I get by using it... If I can reduce that risk it gets easy to say that it is not. So, I've made a habit of checking the RDS function at home before going to the range. Once I start carrying the RDS equipped gun that will be part of the daily status check for the gun. I chose the Holosun 507c X2 which has the secondary solar charged power source and claims a 50,000 hour battery life (equates to about 5 1/2 years). I've put a note on the calendar to proactively change the battery once a year. Between the proactive battery changes, the solar backup, and the cowitness iron sights - my mental math says that the risk of having a dead battery / device is nicely outweighed by the substantially improved target acquisition and bullet placement that I see when shooting the gun.

Just my 2 cents...

[Boriqua]

I have exactly one handgun with a RDS. I'll have more in the future. Regrets? No. Cautions? Yes.

In my opinion, the RDS sight amplifies the need to practice to unconscious competence. Until you REALLY build muscle memory it can take a couple of attempts to find the dot - and as someone who has shot iron sight handguns for decades I can tell you that it is absolutely "different." I'm about 1000 rounds into shooting the RDS handgun and it has not yet made it to EDC status. Close? Yep. But not there yet. Until I can draw straight to the dot on the target "every time including the first time of that range trip" I won't bet my life on it.

I shot a friend's RDS equipped handgun that had suppressor height iron sights on it and I really didn't like it. I bought cowitness height sights so that if the battery is dead I still have sights. Candidly - I don't even see them unless I look for them. If you want to cowitness through the RDS - I'd start with something that just barely enters the sight - don't get suppressor height sights - you don't want to clutter your picture.

As to the comment(s) about not trusting your life to something with a battery. I get the sentiment - but in my opinion, particularly as my eyes age, and I have a harder time getting good focus on the front sight post, the RDS really, really does improve my shooting - and at the end of the day getting rounds on target is the most critical thing. I've made a habit of checking the RDS function at home before going to the range and once I start carrying the RDS gun that will be part of the daily routine. I chose the Holosun 507c X2 which has the secondary solar charged power source and claims a 50,000 hour battery life (equates to about 5 1/2 years). I've put a note on the calendar to proactively change the battery once a year. Between the proactive battery changes, the solar backup, and the cowitness iron sights - my mental math says that the risk of having a dead battery / device is nicely outweighed by the substantially improved target acquisition and bullet placement that I see when shooting the gun.

Just my 2 cents...

Great post .. May I ask, at what distances are you practicing at? I too have lost my eagle like vision to age but I can hit reliably out to 7 yds with point shooting especially if I am doing it as part of a draw stroke. I still recognize the front sight but its almost incidental.Just wondering at what distance do you really start to feel its improving your shooting.

[BigNate]

Great post .. May I ask, at what distances are you practicing at? I too have lost my eagle like vision to age but I can hit reliably out to 7 yds with point shooting especially if I am doing it as part of a draw stroke. I still recognize the front sight but its almost incidental.Just wondering at what distance do you really start to feel its improving your shooting.

Regular practice drills at 5, 7, 10, 15 yard. Once I'm "in the groove" and finding the dot immediately I'm better at all ranges with it. Every once in a while for giggles I'll shoot at something at 50+ yards and yes - it helps there too.

[xerts1191]

ANOTHER DOT

[smithers599]

Just for your info:
Last Wednesday had a practice session at Ben Avery with a couple of friends. If you recall, it rained last Wednesday, but we don't let that keep us from practicing. We were slower than usual (drawing from IWB holsters concealed under raincoats), but that's just the way it is. We can't guarantee nice weather when and if the time comes that we need to use our guns for self defense.
The one guy who was using a red dot said "Hey, look at this!" The screen of his RDS was covered with raindrops. It was like looking through the windshield of your car without the windshield wipers turned on. The red dot was there, but the target was pretty badly obscured.
Just an observation that most people don't think about. RDSs (and scopes) are hard to use in the rain.

[Suck My Glock]

Just for your info:
Last Wednesday had a practice session at Ben Avery with a couple of friends. If you recall, it rained last Wednesday, but we don't let that keep us from practicing. We were slower than usual (drawing from IWB holsters concealed under raincoats), but that's just the way it is. We can't guarantee nice weather when and if the time comes that we need to use our guns for self defense.
The one guy who was using a red dot said "Hey, look at this!" The screen of his RDS was covered with raindrops. It was like looking through the windshield of your car without the windshield wipers turned on. The red dot was there, but the target was pretty badly obscured.
Just an observation that most people don't think about. RDSs (and scopes) are hard to use in the rain.

Or a marine environment. We don't think about that much here in the desert. But if you are on a boat or near a lake or river,...no telling if/when you might take an unexpected dip. What if you're in Florida and dive for cover in a roadside canal?

Yep,...reason #212 why I'll never switch from irons.

[smithers599]

Lots of food for thought there.
An item he does not discuss is adjusting the brightness/intensity. At one of our recent monthly shoots, the RO said "Shooter ready," and the shooter said "Hold on, I need to adjust the brightness." Say what? In a gunfight, you don't get to do that. When your gunfight comes, will it be daytime or nighttime? Sunny or cloudy? Inside or outside?

[delta6]

Just for your info:
Last Wednesday had a practice session at Ben Avery with a couple of friends. If you recall, it rained last Wednesday, but we don't let that keep us from practicing. We were slower than usual (drawing from IWB holsters concealed under raincoats), but that's just the way it is. We can't guarantee nice weather when and if the time comes that we need to use our guns for self defense.
The one guy who was using a red dot said "Hey, look at this!" The screen of his RDS was covered with raindrops. It was like looking through the windshield of your car without the windshield wipers turned on. The red dot was there, but the target was pretty badly obscured.
Just an observation that most people don't think about. RDSs (and scopes) are hard to use in the rain.

Or a marine environment. We don't think about that much here in the desert. But if you are on a boat or near a lake or river,...no telling if/when you might take an unexpected dip. What if you're in Florida and dive for cover in a roadside canal?

Yep,...reason #212 why I'll never switch from irons.

Red dot will function fine "occluded" ...prefectly fine...

[Harley66]

Finally put a Trijacon on my Glock 23, love it

[smithers599]

Just for your info:
Last Wednesday had a practice session at Ben Avery with a couple of friends. If you recall, it rained last Wednesday, but we don't let that keep us from practicing. We were slower than usual (drawing from IWB holsters concealed under raincoats), but that's just the way it is. We can't guarantee nice weather when and if the time comes that we need to use our guns for self defense.
The one guy who was using a red dot said "Hey, look at this!" The screen of his RDS was covered with raindrops. It was like looking through the windshield of your car without the windshield wipers turned on. The red dot was there, but the target was pretty badly obscured.
Just an observation that most people don't think about. RDSs (and scopes) are hard to use in the rain.

Or a marine environment. We don't think about that much here in the desert. But if you are on a boat or near a lake or river,...no telling if/when you might take an unexpected dip. What if you're in Florida and dive for cover in a roadside canal?

Yep,...reason #212 why I'll never switch from irons.

Red dot will function fine "occluded" ...prefectly fine...

The red dot was there, but the target was pretty badly obscured.

[blasternaz]

Biden Aiming Concept. OEG=occluded eye gunsight. Great for night time when not enough light light gets passed thru the optic but the other eye can identify the target.

[Joe_Blacke]

One thing with an RDS is finding the dot when shooting one handed or in awkward positions. It takes a lot of practice to make sure you can find the dot when doing a rollover prone from behind cover.