quote:

Originally posted by bcjwriter:
OK...so after 27 years in Law Enforcement and just over 24 years as a firearms instructor, my agency staff are pushing for red-dots o duty pistols. The SWAT guys are all giddy about them, and others see the new systems as a better way to shoot.

OK...but I just don't get it. I've tried them, and they sow me way down. Compared to point shooting and using sights, the red dots seem so much slower as I struggle to find the dot when I should already be putting roads downrange. Second place is first loser in a gun fight, so speed is important.

OK so are they really that great? Or do others feel like me that red dots on pistols is just a fad.

Red dots on pistols are the future and are here to stay. The tech is just catching up to being truly duty ready / durable - kind of like where RDS on carbines was 20 years ago.


You are slower with the RDS on the pistol because you have been shooting irons for nearly 30 years.

As an FI you know re-training / breaking old habits is harder than training new skills from scratch.

You also likely know one of the key elements is the mental change of focusing on the front sight with irons vs target focus and placing the dot with an RDS, whether on a carbine or a pistol.

In addition to the optic eliminating sight alignment issues, the advantages of a target focused sighting system for LEOs who need to assess threats to make shoot / no shoot decisions are obvious.

quote:

Originally posted by cas:
Using a red dot on a pistol are nothing like using a red dot on a rifle.

Red dots on pistols require practice. Something most officers aren't going to do. Rather than bringing accuracy up, I see them bringing it down.

Shooting pistols requires practice. Period.

Pistols are harder to shoot well than rifles and pistol skills are more perishable regardless of sighting system.

The basic concept of using an RDS on a pistol and rifle, target focus, place the dot, are the same.

You are making the mistake many make. They mistake their personal unfamiliarity with RDS on pistols vs what they are used to (irons on pistols) with RDS being harder to use in general. Experience with 20 years of RDS on carbines shows us otherwise.