Are you "Gun Amish?" Or do you have a Red Dot on your pistol?

[Alllen Bundy]

I'm not opposed to a red dot sight. However a red don't won't work with my carry methods as it is just too tall. I also want the same type of sight on all of my pistols.

I have two pistols. A P365 for pocket carry and a P365XL for my normal carry. I am testing out "Speed Sights" on my P365XL. So far I like them. If I still like them after a bit more range time I'll also install the Speed Sights on my P365 as well.

 

[12Bravo20]

Once you get use to bringing the pistol up into firing position and finding the dot, it becomes easier and second nature. But you do have to practice to get use to using an optic. And for shooting, you should not try to line up the dot with your iron sights. The iron sights are there for backup only. And it should not matter where in the window the dot actually is, POA/POI should still be the same.

About half of my pistols have optics mounted.

 

[Old Dog]

I've got a couple pistols with RDS, but I don't carry them and they only see the range occasionally. I do find these things really easy to shoot, and if I still had to carry a pistol on the job, I'd use one. For concealed carry applications as a normal citizen, though, I for some reason just haven't gotten around to taking the plunge full-time on a carry pistol. Sure seems like cheating though, using an RDS on a qualification course.

 

[GEM]

Someone mentioned lasers - the red lasers really don't work in daylight at any distance. Looking for the dot on a target is hard at a distance also. While, they have some close up, not typical grip applications - their time has come and gone, except for movies! I have a 642 with a laser but found I was just using it's minimal sights in a close range match. YMMV.

 

[MarshallDodge]

I have had a pistol with a red dot for a few years but don't trust them enough to carry it. Yes, I know there are police departments, etc that do.

Red dots are fast but my iron sights don't have to deal with lint, water droplets, dead batteries, tiny screws getting loose, and finicky electronics.

That said, I run a quality LPVO or RDS on my AR, and they can be prone to a lot of the same issues.

 

[GEM]

My SRO gun has backup irons. Folks in the competition world tell me that you don't need them. But then I see folks screwing around depending on the sun placement or a failure. Have both, IMHO.

 

[film495]

I don't see myself doing a red dot. Maybe someday, but I get what he's saying about open division. I want a different pocket gun, and you know and airweight is good, easy to carry, but you know - the extra inch barrel if you go 3", sure makes a revolver easier to shoot, for me it sure does. ha ha - and I'm talking about revolvers, so - yea.

 

[jmr40]

I've developed a degree of astigmatism in my right eye that makes a red 'dot' look more like the nuclear warning trefoil,

To a degree so do I. I've needed reading glasses for many years to see small print but managed to get by without glasses up until about a year ago, I'm 65 now. Without glasses irons on a rifle are near impossible. Surprisingly I can still do OK with irons on a pistol. Without glasses I get the flaring with a dot sight which makes any precision hard, but accuracy is good enough for SD, and actually a little better for me than irons.

With my new glasses I can now use irons on a rifle and the dot is now just a dot. They have been a big help to me.

I'm not ready to trust the dots for anything more than range use just yet. But that may change.

 

[commygun]

Pretty Gun Amish. I’ll put a red dot on a plinking carbine, but I won’t buy any gun, hand or long, that doesn’t have iron sights.

 

[InTheSwamp]

Time will come, but for now 100% Iron Amish.

 

[PistoleroWadcutterGANG]

I don't (each to their own). A vivid BIG front sight is better for me and I'm magnitudes faster with it than a rds on a defensive carry platform. My BIG dot XS system front is great. Point shooting is much faster for me and I'm way better at that then acquiring a dot speedily. But then again, I don't go out much in public and only to lifetime local stops for food / supplies ..... ice cream.

 

[hoardingthemanual]

I'm an iron sight man. I don't compete. I don't have bad eyes. I don't need one.

 

[JeffG]

I'm not sure what's best for winning competitions is 100% translatable to self-defense.

It's not developing the skill to shoot well with the red-dot, but to also shoot well when it's unexpectedly not available.

Count me as reformed Amish. I have some red-dots for competition (Club 13 in Steel Challenge) and a green laser w/light for walking the dogs after dark, but otherwise, iron sights for me.

I'm not sure what's best for winning competitions is 100% translatable to self-defense.

^^^This. I am a Jeff Cooper disciple,(what will you do when you try to shoot a stock pistol) and a Paul Castle/ Center Axis Relock student, (sights aren't needed for all gun fighting).

To label me as Amish for iron sights, is tantamount to asking how much NASCAR equipment I have installed on my Jeep.

Old school? Yes. Still can put out the rounds, and make hits when needed.

 

[Ks5shooter]

no amish here

 

[tommy.duncan]

Once I can find a good holster this will be my CCW.

Edit...I will also try to rotate my FN 510...once I can find a good holster

 

[C-grunt]

Im all in on the dot train. The dot has many benefits. But that doesnt mean plain old iron sights dont work.


20230823_195234 by chase, on Flickr

20210809_092542 by chase, on Flickr

 

[NIGHTLORD40K]

Gun Luddite?

Just bought my 1st Glock and it feels......wrong. Oh, not uncomfortable, just wrong- like it's made of plastic. Or something.
JK

Naw, I have astigmatism, so no blurry red balls for me. Thinking about an illuminated reticle prismatic optic for the CQB gun though.

 

[Hangingrock]

Past the mid point of my seventh decade I do not have a Red Dot sighted handgun. With that said I do not believe there is a Red Dot in my future.

 

[toivo]

OK, somebody's gotta do it ...

What goes clip-clop, clip-clop, clip-clop, BANG-BANG-BANG, clip-clop, clip-clop?

Amish drive-by.

 

[md7]

Red dots on carbines, irons on pistols. So….. partly Amish??

 

[Overkill870]

I don't have a red dot on a pistol. I plan on trying one out eventually but I keep buying other stuff.

I understand the advantages but there are also disadvantages too. For concealed carry I like the simplicity, reliability, and less bulk of just using irons.

 

[mgmorden]

None of my pistols wear them. I don't mind them on tactical rifles (though I still prefer a LPVO), but on pistols I'm strictly irons.

 

[Rodfac]

I've got a Romeo Dot on a 16" bbl'd 5.56 AR that works well...took some getting used to, but I quickly found that it tracks coyote's far better than A2 issue irons. Too, with the long gun, I had no trouble using the Dot vs the clearly visible front sight AR-15 military type sight. As I've used scopes on most of my rifles since the early '60's and become used to the single plane of a scope's cross-hairs and the target, maybe that's why I've been successful with the carbine's Red Dot.

All of my handguns are iron sighted with the CC guns fitted with tritium night sights. Only one, a Sig P226 had a light and that's a bedside gun. I don't foresee a change based on my experience noted below.

As to handguns, & just shy of 60 yrs of the FRONT SIGHT FOCUS mantra, makes using a Dot difficult with it's focus on the target difficult for me. Tried a Dot for over a week exclusively with considerable frustration and no real improvement. My draw/presentation movement in defensive shooting ended up with a search for the Dot. It just never came together for me. And later, returning to irons, I found that my front sight focus had gone to the dogs in that brief lapse.

At 77, I've been wearing glasses since my late 40's and have had no problems maintaining speed and accuracy with irons. I think, based on my admittedly brief trial with the RD, that to be successful, a shooter has to commit to one system or the other: glass or irons.
YMMv of course. Rod

 

[LoonWulf]

Two of my 9s (G3c, and Girsan Mc9) are cut for a dot. I have a Cyelee on the G3 and the Mc9 came with an eaa FARdot. Both are RMSc foot print, and both have built in rear sight notches (and fiber optics) effectively giving me the ability to CoWitness sights. I rather like the arangement.
The G3 I need to add a taller front sight still.
Eventually most of my pistols will ware dots im sure , the HP will probably be the only one that never gets one (not milling the slide). Im MUCH more capable at ranges over 25yds or so with a dot......and blasting berm trash at 100ish is one of my favorite pass times.

 

[CajunBass]

I've got a Ruger Ready Dot for my Taurus G3 T.O.R.O.. I've owned at least one other. I can use them, but am not comfortable with them at all. The "Ready Dot" co-witnesses with the iron so well, I find myself using the irons anyway.

Sorry, I don't have a picture of it mounted. Maybe I'll put it back on and try it again before too long.