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

NTY. I don't even want adjustable sights on a carry pieces.

I've shot with red dots at the range and it was fun. I still want plain fixed sights for all of my SD handguns. Nothing to go wrong. KISS.
 
I was one who said I will never put a dot on a carry pistol or any other firearm until I did. My groups tighten up and they carry well in a good IWB holster. Acquiring the dot upon drawing just takes a little practice and can be done in the house. You can also get a dot with multiple reticle options like the 507K. The 6 moa dot on a carry pistol also makes it easier to pick up. People say what if the battery or dot dies when you need it most. You can practice that as well at the range. All I can say is to each his own but they sure changed my mind. I have 4 now but they are mounted on pistols that had optic cuts. I still shoot a lot of revolvers but they will never have dots and neither will my 1911s...
 
I've fired hundreds of thousands of rounds through pistols with iron sights. I feel more than comfortable continuing with them. I do have 2 Glocks in my house with white lights mounted though.
 
I haven't converted to a pistol optic yet for my carry gun, as the mounting options are expensive and bulky. I have been heavily tempted to go to a Shadow Systems MR920 Elite for the direct mount and lower one-third cowitness with excellent backup irons, but in the end I like my tuned Beretta trigger too much to switch at this time. I am a definite convert for rifles and target shooting, though. I don't find an increase in precision at close range, but for precise rimfire shooting beyond 15 yards or so, the groups with my Holosun 507C mounted on my Ruger Mark IV are much better than with irons. I'd like to do the same at some point with my carry gun for that longer-distance precision.
 
I have a RDS on what was my mom's Buckmark... and that's only because she lost the rear sight. As soon as I can find one... it's coming off. FWIW, I still kick it old skool on my rifles, too... I have exactly one rifle with a RDS on it, and that's likely to stay that way.

Friend of mine wanted me to test drive his new pistol this weekend... a S&W MP of some sort. Like someone else mentioned, if I have to hunker down and look through the irons to see the red dot, then why have the added weight and bulk of it? Rifles are another story, since you should have a constant index point to shoot from... and that goes for irons, RDS, or an optic. I suppose if I trained on a pistol that fit my hand well, with a RDS, I might become more proficient with it... but I am perfectly happy where I'm at now.
 
Unless I have a perfect stance and grip on the handgun, I am slow to find the red dot. Perhaps more time shooting a pistol with a red dot would help overcome that. But in a self defense situation, I may not have a perfect stance or grip, so I am not sure I would want one on a self defense pistol.
 
I swing both ways. Some have red dots, some don't. With the loss of cataracts iron sights have become usable again with no eye correction, just dark safety glasses. I even have a pair for gloomy days as it has to be very gloomy for me to be outside with no sunshades at all and those are few and far between. I am quicker to acquire a target with irons, more accurate with a red dot.
 
Ok I'll throw my hat in the ring...... I'm a believer in NO red dots on a handgun, GASP!!!!! So people will probably say but Okie, my red dot is from 1995 and still runs on the original battery from 1995, well I'm my experience a brand new red dot battery will actually only last about a year with minimal use. I've had to replace the batteries in my Leupold RDSs on my AR-15 and Remington 870 about a year after buying the red dots as they seemed kinda dim and they were significantly brighter with a fresh battery. And they had barely been turned on.
If any of y'all follow me on the reloading sub fourm y'all know I have horrible luck with reloading and anything that can go wrong, will go wrong.
 
DAMN........that brassy Remington is downright HERETICAL! Whole sections of Eastern Pa. would sink into the remains of coal mines with that thing around!
 
I'm surprised, in fact a little shocked that dot sights are as accepted here as they are. When this thread started, I figured dot sight users would be in the extreme minority. But most seem to be like me in that they use them on some guns and not on others. Even the vast majority who don't use them acknowledge they might be a good thing at least for some people.

If someone can put a dot sight on a BHP and an 1858 SA clone and not get run off the forum, I'd say they are officially accepted.

For now, I see them as an asset for range games, LE use or most any open carry situation and even home defense. At this point I'm not ready to use one for a Concealed carry gun. Not that I don't trust them, I think that with current technology they make a package that is too big to easily conceal. Bigger than I want to conceal anyway.

I'm my experience a brand new red dot battery will actually only last about a year with minimal use.
Click to expand...

Newer versions are better. The Holoson I bought is supposed to be 20,000-50,000 hours of USE depending on the brightness the dot is set on. That is 2-5+ years if it is never turned off. They come on when you pick them up and shut off after 10 minutes of being stationary. Plus, they have solar panels on them. The batteries don't recharge, but if used in good light they run off solar instead of the battery which helps prolong battery life.
 
I'm using Swampfox Optics micro dots on all the pistols the have one mounted. Some are manual ON/OFF, some are shake to wake, and one is always on - auto brightness. I haven't had any issues with battery life with any of them. The auto brightness and shake to wake models are on my EDC pistols. Most manufacturers will recommend changing the batteries once a year but I have a few with the original supplied battery that are over 1 year old and they are fine.

The more I use micro dots, the more I like them. And yes I have astigmatism so I do get some bloom even with my prescription glasses. But they are still easier and faster to use than iron sights. I find that green reticles work best with my eye sight. Now I won't ever put an optic on my pocket carry pistols or snub nose revolvers I have and I probably won't ever put one on any of my 1911's either. I do have an optic on my Glock G43 and G26 since they are both too big for me to pocket carry.

In the end, use optics if you want or stick with iron sights if you prefer. There is no right or wrong answer here. I will keep using optics since they make pistol shooting more enjoyable for me.
 
1. Don't waste your time listening to the the him. He lacks integrity. Were he to claim the sun rose in the east, I would double-check on general principle. There are much better yootoob gungrifters to watch at 2x playing speed until they get to the dang point.

2. Where I live, it is too hot & humid for too long to put a RDS on my CCW. Swampazz on my own self gets transferred to even OWB holstered guns under a cover garment after being out in the heat all day. No, anti-fog juice on the optic is not enough. The Laws of Man may be bent at times, but the Laws of Physics are not optional.

3. RDS contraindicated for pocket carry, swampazz or no.

4. Due to astigmatism, some of the RDS designs are useless to me even if I were in a dry, cool climate.
 
jmr40 said:
If someone can put a dot sight on a BHP and an 1858 SA clone and not get run off the forum,
Click to expand...

The most inflammatory thing about his post is the brass frame on his Remy. Those were never offered by Remington on that model.


I am in the minority here because I prefer no optics. Just iron sights. But I don't have a thing against red dots. To me the biggest issue is they just add more bulk to the pistol. That and the newest of modern pistols don't appeal to me. Most modern I like is 2000s.
Yes that BHP is a modern pistol to me as well
 
Played with a dot on my Ruger MkII, shot about 50 rounds before taking it off. Didn't really shoot any better than with the irons though with practice it might. Also don't need the reminder of how much I shake when shooting offhand...
I think they're generally good to go on long guns though I recently pulled the rds off my Henry in favor of peep sights (because I've been wanting something with peeps on it).
A few weeks ago I watched a guy do a nice job busting clay birds with a circle dot on a benelli m4. We threw some fast crossers for him, definitely got my attention.

I'm not just gun amish...
CIMG3381.JPG

Not the fastest thing on the road but is more FUN than most.
 
Got a Red Dot on my APX. Initial thoughts, I don't like it. It gives me the impression that I am shooting downward. Although I am not. Weird. No worries, I will continue to try it out to see if I can get used to it.
 
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