I finally got sucked into putting a dot on one this past fall. Have five now with number six on the way.
I knew from what went on with my rifle red dots a couple of decades ago how this would go, and it has.
Initially, it took me a good month of constant dry and live fire, but most of what you need is in dry fire and constant presentations, from both the holster and just picking the gun up and quickly getting the dot. And, as I did with just irons, its still a daily thing, just with both now. Either way, its something you should be doing every day anyway.
Personally, too, I think if you are a point shooter, especially if you're one who shoots over top of the gun regularly, its going to be easier/quicker to pick up.
And to be fair about things, the only way you're actually going to know and understand things here is to take the time and make the effort to learn. Until then, you only know what "you" know, and until you do make the effort, you really know nothing. This is basically the same as learning a new gun that is unfamiliar to you, and you don't do that by trying someone else gun for a mag or two. It takes a bit of quality time to figure things out. And I can pretty much guarantee you, if you do that , you will have a very different opinion on this on the other side too.
For those who are worried about the sights being frail, batteries dying, etc, as with most other things, if you buy things of reasonable quality and known quality, that have a good track record, you're unlikely to have issues. Nothing wrong with buying something cheap to see if its worth the bother. If you think it is, move right on up to something better going forward.
My initial plan was to just go ahead and get a RMR, which are pretty salty, but after a little research, found the Holosuns were getting very good reports, and were more reasonably priced, and I figured Id try one of those, until I was sure I was going to keep going forward with these.
The gun Ive been using in practice is a Glock 47 with a Holosun 407 on it. At this point its got over 5K rounds on it, and there have been no issues or problems with it. It was easy to zero up and I haven't touched it since. It, and four of the others, are still on their original batteries. A couple of these are handled and dry-fired every day too, so they just arent sitting in the safe. All are "on" no stop. I don't shut them off. The 407's, and one SIG RomeoPro1 something or other I have, all have the "shake awake" feature, and the Holosuns shut off after 10 minutes of no movement. I think the SIG is similar.
That shake awake thing is a good thing, but also a bit of a misnomer, as the sight will always be on, as long as there is even the slightest bump or vibration. Thats why the battery in sight number six, had to be changed just the other day. Its on the gun Ive been carrying, and since Im always moving around, that sight is always "on". The only time it isnt, is when its in its holster by the bed while I sleep. So, figure its "on" 16-17 out of the 24 hours.
The battery in that sight also lasted 5 months, so at least for my carry guns, the Holosuns at this point, are going to be a 4 battery a year gun and Ill swap batteries every 3 months. Easy to do to and I don't have to take the sight off the gun, just open a tray.
And don't forget, there are also a lot of BUIS options available here too, so depending on what you want, you can have the best of both worlds in that respect. And like the long guns, once you're used to the dots, you'll likely rarely, if ever, use the irons again.
Shooting wise, there is no question, the dot is faster and more accurate, especially as the distance opens up, for me anyway. Up close, there is really no difference, as Im still shooting without sights anyway, but at the distance where I would start to look for the sights Im still focused on the target and the dot is just there.
And yea, the dot bounces around as you shoot, but if you keep your focus on the target, where it belongs, the dot goes away in recoil as the shot is fired, and comes right back on target where you're still looking. If you have to go look for the dot again, then you're doing it wrong.
Theres no doubt there is a lot to take in here from the learning standpoint, and then the cost of getting shifted over, and for some extra ammo in practice. If you can get past all that, Im finding it was well worth the effort and aggravation. I always knew cost was going to be the bigger issue, as I'm one that needs multiple duplicates of things I use, so for me, the cost quickly goes up. And that's really the main reason I waited this long. Technology too, to a point.
I ended up trading off a few things to get the guns and sights I needed, and that helped offset the cost by a good bit. That made it all doable. Bullets bitten and its done.
And now on to the true biggest cost here, and that's burning ammo. Compared to ammo, the guns are the cheap part of the equation.
