Hello world!
Hi everyone. I am new to this forum, but have been "eavesdropping" on the postings for some time. Some folks will recognize me from other forums and such, and as others won't, I thought I would post some generic background. I have been noticing one thing on many forums that disturbs me. I wonder if it does others? Whenever I see someone mention something "new", there are always a few that are interested, a few who will offer opinions, and a BUNCH who decry, deny and generally downplay anything "they" didn't bring up! That seems to happen everywhere but a lot on here. (In fact I am going to post this exact message on a few other forums I have decided to join, might as well have all the "don't confuse me with facts" types ALL mad at at once instead of stringing it out!)
I do NOT pretend to be a "expert" at anything but getting my #10 feet in my #7 mouth all the time, but I like to give and get honest opinions and knowledge. Why else would we be on here? I don't care for people to malign things because of a gut feeling, or "knowing better", because they are seldom right. I DO like informed (and experienced) opinions so I can learn from them and maybe escape some mistakes or find a better mousetrap I didn't know about. This tirade, by the way is just a warning that I get interested in everything, and just want folks to understand where I stand, or try to.
Me: I retired after 20 years in the USAF, after being medically refused reenlistment. I served as a Ground Radio Maintenance man, a ROMAD (look at
www.romad.com for exp), and as a Combat Controller until injured too bad to continue those careers. I ended my career as a Safety Engineer on the Space Shuttle program, a vocation I pursued in sillyvillian life also. I have been the owner of a Computer Repair Center for 29 years until closing it last year. I have also served as a LEO on municipal and county agencies, mostly in Maine.
I have been a NRA and military firearms safety and marksmanship instructor, and served on AF rifle & pistol competitive teams for years. I have earned the Distinguished Rifle and Pistol awards, and continue today with active shooting. I went through gunsmith training while still in high school, and have continued in that activity commercially and as a hobby ever since.
That doesn't get me many free coffees anywhere, but I do have an extensive background from which to pull, even if I don't "know it all" (don't let my kids know I admitted that!)
So, now to my first post:
I have noticed several posts here and on other forums about the Goshen Enterprises Hex Sights. Just about everywhere I hear about them, several experts (best described as old drips under pressure or ex-spurts) have to chime in and tell how useless they are. Well, I have only seen a couple who have actually tried them who don't get an advantage from them. So, they may not be for everyone, whether practically or just from a habitual viewpoint. Buy why beat something to death you know nothing about? The usual expert reply from whomever thinks he is the local big frog goes something like "if they were any good they would have been around before!" or some such hogwash. The WHEEL was probably accepted about like that when IT was new! You want to give that principle up? Everything starts somewhere. I have a few patents in my name to prove there ARE still things to come!
This one (put downs of the Hex Sights) kind of offends me because I DO know something about it. I came across it accidentally, but knew when I saw it, what a value it would be, and then mad because I didn't think of it! I had been exposed to the same idea using a hexagonal sight, but for a purpose other than guns. During my AF Radio days, we would have to align transmitters to distant target receiver antennas to accomplish certain testing. (I worked with the Wright Patterson Development Laboratory then) We would manually align the highly directional radio beam towards a distant "target” designating the receiving antenna. We did this with a tubular "scope" (without reticules) and trial and error. Because we are talking 10 or more miles distance, it took quite a few trial and error corrections to be tightly aligned.
Several of the scientists at the lab came up with a hexagonal shaped, short tube sight, not very unlike the Hex Sight. An optical scientist on staff explained to us how the eye doesn't need to focus on a hexagon shaped aperture to find a center, such as a circle (our tube sight, and ghost type rings included) does. They explained that the eye is one of the most miraculous measuring instruments going. Your eye can not easily adjust to a circle because the slightest shift in perspective may be off without having a definite reference for the eye to compare to, and you won't know it. With a diamond shape (vertically), you have 2 invisible reference lines from the apexes, which you do NOT NEED TO FOCUS ON, as your eye does it subconsciously! If you add 2 more reference points (with the hexagonal shape) your eye automatically registers the exact center against 6 reference points and subconsciously draws intersecting lines for it. You literally, according to optometrists I have spoken to about this (I didn't just accept it even though I knew of the principle) cannot avoid realizing the exact center, as your eye and mind KNOW where it is, and won't let you override that knowledge. And this is all automatic and subconscious, there isn't anything to do and it is instantaneous. THAT alone takes some precious time out of "sighting".
Back to my antennas. Using this "new" method, we would take 2-4 tries to be spot on, versus a possible hundred or more on an average day. Our workday went from 8-10 hours to an hour! If you don't think THAT impresses a young GI, you have never been one!
So, when I first saw the Hex Sight in Guns & Ammo's HANDGUN issue in 2008, I KNEW what it would do! I immediately got one of my guns (worse one I could have picked, an ASTRA 100) set up with one and it went like I thought it would. I could look through the sight and at first concentrate on holding the gun so the front sight was centered, which was almost automatic too. It has taken about 1 to 2 boxes of ammo to "get used to" each gun with the Hex Sight, but after that I don't even see the sights, I just "sense" them in front of my eyes. I have been using them now for some time, and a convinced that had I had these when I was in combat, as a LEO or in the military, I would have less holes in ME, and would have had more and quicker placed ones in my opponents! I have been unlucky enough to have been in too many gunfights, several with handguns. I didn't come out damage free, but fortunately my training or reflexes won each time. I have several bullet wounds and YOU DO NOT WANT ANY! ANYTHING that will keep you or loved ones from experiencing that is more valuable than gold !! Trust me, if only on this!
I can also attest that in more fights than I will admit to, I have NEVER been able, afterwards, to truthfully say, I "saw" ANY sights! Adrenalin and a quadrupled heart rate do not allow you to "focus" on sights! You are "focused" on what is making your heart go fast, and that is NOT how good your sight picture is! I have talked to many other soldiers and LEOs who have been in gunfights and every single one said the only time they saw sights were if they had a shotgun! That big assed barrel and sight was too bit to ignore and IN THEIR WAY! The ones who were most successful (though they all were or we wouldn't have been talking) were so used to their guns, they knew when they were on target. Their only problem was if the target moved or another target rose up and they needed to get "sights on" to the new threat. That, is when they saw their sights, and every one has said the time to look at the sights could have cost their lives. Most people will tell you that confronted with possible death out of a little hole looking at you, you don't DARE look at your sights! You can't take your eyes off the threat !! Yes, I know that umpty-leven heroes will tell you in their books, that they coolly and calmly took a good sight picture and by sheer skill and good morals, defeated their foe!
BS!
Even Jeff Cooper, one of the best known surviving pistoleros, admitted "stance, FAMILIARITY with your weapon and CONSTANT TRAINING is what pays off in gunfights! He and Bill Jordan, who probably survived more gun battles than any other Officer, both advocated firing from a stance where the gun is centered in front of you and at almost waist level WHERE YOU CAN'T EVEN SEE THE SIGHTS! Their rational was that you could NOT look for a sight picture AND a threat simultaneously! I trained people for years in the different sight uses and stances, and they were all good for some and no good for others. I believe the only think they were good for in a gunfight was that got you used to holding the weapon properly, and that increased your chances of a hit. According to the FBI report on policing for 2007, shots fired by officers, ranging from armed guards to patrolmen, have only a 20-30% average of hits of ANY KIND during actual action. Non intentional impacts (a euphemism for "missed again") is as high as 99% in urban areas. The safest person in the average gunfight is the criminal! He is the least likely to be hit!
Here come de Hex Sights. I recently got them on my favorite gun, a Browning High Power 9mm that if you have the skills, can drive tacks! I admit I don't anymore. At 63, I don't have the eyes or the motor control skills I had when I was young, and I don't regularly bust off 4-5 thousand rounds every month, like I used to when Unca Sam paid for the ammo.
I will let the results of my last shoot, the first with the Hex Sights on my beloved BHP, say it all. I am already used to the sights, but on this gun, everything goes together like a gift from Heaven. I usually shoot at 15 and 25 yards on the local AFB range. I use those little 5.5" stick on bursting targets. I like to practice combat style, not target shooting, as I never again expect to be attacked by a paper target. I don't rush, but try and put one or two magazines full downrange as fast as I can get on target. My average this last year or so with standard sights, (when you are trying to locate a target threatening your life, you really don't want bright paint, green dots or LEDs in front if the target) I would slow fire 10 rounds at 15 yards with about 6 out of ten in a 5" circle. At 25 yards with 20 rounds, slow fire, (California mags are 10 rds) I usually put 10-14 in the kill zone on a silhouette target. The first time with the BHP and its new Hex Sights, I put 10 rounds ALL in less than 5" in 6 seconds by stopwatch, at 15 yards. My first try at 25 yards saw 19 out of 20 in the center chest area, about an 8" group, in 30 seconds flat, FROM A FOBUS HOLSTER.
THE DIFFERENCE IS THE SIGHTS! I didn't get better, the gun didn't start feeling sorry for me, and the sights are the ONLY difference. On switching targets, I shoot those pie plate sized targets, 5 across, 2 rounds each. I usually take around 5-6 seconds, sometimes longer, to align each target and fire 2 rounds. With the Hex Sight, I see the target through the sight aperture so quickly; I keep both eyes on the target I am shooting plus the next one. Easy with both eyes open, and NOT trying to line up iron sights! Now I try an go left, right, left, right and middle to pick them up differently, and if anything I am equaling my best speed for just sweeping one side to the other. If you haven't figured it out yet, I love these sights. I will soon have them anything I have, that HAS sights. (My little J frame, who needs 'em)
I have NO interest in the company and get nothing for saying all this, though I dearly want to meet Tim Sheehan, the inventor. I just like to share GOOD stuff, and get tired of seeing folks deprived of a good experience and advantages because so many "know it alls" that have never even tried something, feel the need to stop anyone else from discovering something they haven't got!
There IS NO BEST SIGHT! Everyone may use something different that is best for him or her. Just don't deprive others of a chance because you feel deprived of your "expert" guru status. Go find a mountain top and meditate, or open your minds and join people who like to think and experience things, not just be "directed".
Thanks for listening to the tirade, and of course if you didn't then that’s ok too. Don't believe anyone, including me! Find out for yourself. God Bless, and Merry Christmas
Paul Andreasen (Old_Romad)
TSgt, USAF (Ret
ROMAD, 601st DASS
CCT, 1278th APS
(There's no such thing as an Ex-ROMAD)
