Red dot caused sight withdrawal!

[miles71]

So I’m still pretty new to red dots, but after a steel plate match with my new M&P metal competitor it just seemed like a good addition. I just installed a vortex venom, held the pistol up, realized I couldn’t see the dot and front sight since I don’t have those silly tall sights. My heart sunk……. Where’s the front sight………. Sweat on my brow……….. will it all be ok?

It’s gonna take some getting used to, but hopefully be an improvement.

TD

 

[outrider58]

Lol. You got some learnin to do.
More than likely, your dot was high(you had to tilt your head down slightly to get the dot on your window).
With dots, the aiming principles are different than with iron sights. You don't try to pick up the dot as you raise the gun. Instead, you focus on the target as you drive the gun up and out and transpose the dot where you want it. Here's where you have to relearn your draw. For some, it takes only a slight adjustment to get used to. Others, it takes longer. You will need to practice dry reps to relearn your aim. You'll need to develop new muscle memory.
You do not need higher sights. You need to learn to put the dot in the middle (height wise) of the lens/window. Bring the dot to the target and shoot. Don't worry about sight alignment.

 

[outrider58]

A range drill that has helped me greatly is mag changes and dud drills.

Keep it simple at first. Two mags with two rounds in each. Bang-bang, drop the mag, then bang-bang. It will help you aim under slight duress. From there, you can introduce duds into the mix.

 

[Park ranger]

They say if you shot 10,000 rounds with irons, it will take you 10,000 with a dot to be equally as fast to acquire your sight picture.

 

[outrider58]

They say if you shot 10,000 rounds with irons, it will take you 10,000 with a dot to be equally as fast to acquire your sight picture.

An iron sight guy said that, right? Lol

 

[FrankZ]

An iron sight guy said that, right? Lol

Iron sight sales people say that. Don't want you changing.

 

[outrider58]

Iron sight sales people say that. Don't want you changing.

Hey, there are, and I know some, who it would be a waste of time relearning how to shoot a pistol. Even though, they could achieve better accuracy in doing so. But how accurate does one need to be? I get it.

 

[miles71]

I did sone dry fire tonight and am not really having to much issue finding the dot. Like someone said earlier, I need to forget my good friend, the front sight, and just trust the dot (once it’s sighted in).

TD

 

[Park ranger]

An iron sight guy said that, right? Lol

Ken Hackathorn from a Wilson combat YouTube vid, so yeah.

 

[erwos]

Ken Hackathorn from a Wilson combat YouTube vid, so yeah.

With all due respect to Ken, he's wrong. Maybe a solid month of dry-fire will get you there, easy. Zero shots required. People have essentially been taught to accept more slop in their irons sight picture without realizing it, and then get all scared when their red dot sight picture reveals how bad they were.

 

[outrider58]

With all due respect to Ken, he's wrong. Maybe a solid month of dry-fire will get you there, easy. Zero shots required. People have essentially been taught to accept more slop in their irons sight picture without realizing it, and then get all scared when their red dot sight picture reveals how bad they were.

True dat!

 

[smokey]

They say if you shot 10,000 rounds with irons, it will take you 10,000 with a dot to be equally as fast to acquire your sight picture.

This point does have some validity. I don't think it's a pure math "10,000 iron sight pictures mean you need 10,000... and 1 red dot sight pictures" kind've thing, but I do think it's akin to starting from scratch visually. It does take a lot of practice to become naturally proficient because you've got to re-wire your brain to look at the target instead of searching for the front sight. You're also relying a bit more on good grip and muscle memory in pushing out the gun for that dot to appear as you're looking at the target. With irons, you're pretty much making little micro adjustments as the gun is pushing out while you're looking for the rear sight to raise up behind the front sight.

So I think it's a valid argument to say the switch from irons to a dot will require you to invest a lot of training time to become as fast and proficient as you may be with irons. If you're just starting off with shooting, then it's less of an issue because most people will already know that time needs to be invested to become proficient. With experienced irons shooters, it may take a little ego check to realize they effectively suck again until the proper work is invested.