Will Pistol Iron Sights go the way of rifle sights and AR carry handle?

[ATLDave]

Then that’s why you don’t see any benefit to RDS’s.

 

[35 Whelen]

Then that’s why you don’t see any benefit to RDS’s.

And why dont I see the benefit?

 

[ATLDave]

And why dont I see the benefit?

because RDS increase speed. Or, rather, allow accuracy to be retained at greater speed. Even world class (literally) iron sight shooters are faster with RDS’s.

If hitting things quickly is of no interest to you, or if you think speed (or accuracy) is a yes/no proposition, then these advantages don’t make any difference.

My aunt wouldn’t get any benefit from an extra 100hp in her car, either. She doesn’t drive fast, ever, so something that lets a car go faster doesn’t have any benefit to her.

 

[taliv]

https://www.thehighroad.org/index.php?threads/s-w-m-p9-core-review.744988/#post-9365094

hard to believe i've been carrying a red dot (RMR dual illum (the one with no battery)) on my daily carry pistol since 2013 now. seems like just a couple years, but i'm getting close to 45,000 rounds fired thought them (i got 3 pistols set up identically). time flies i guess. but i don't shoot pistols as much as i should, since i tend to focus on sniper matches and PRS type stuff.

i can't imagine going back to irons. but i get it's not for everybody.

atldave's posts are spot on in my experience. for people who don't use NV, or shoot in the dark, the major advantage is speed. but if you use NODs, the RMR is a whole new world.

3 minutes with a dremel back in 2014 and i haven't had any problems with IWB or OWB holsters since lol

it did take me about 1000 rounds to get used to it.

 

[herrwalther]

Having my first range session with a dot optic answered plenty of questions for me as a new owner of one. My accuracy was better than using the iron sights on the same firearm, pre optic. My training curve is getting my head aligned with the optic. I am still presenting the firearm like I am looking for iron sights that aren't there (essentially). Gives me an excuse to go to the range more often.

 

[taliv]

Part of my challenge was when I shifted to RMR I also swapped guns. From more than a decade carrying Wilson combat super grade compact 1911 to an m&p9. So pointing it was completely different and I had to learn it.

I would think if you’re used to pointing a pistol with iron sights then when you point it the dot is going to be right there on top of your front sight post. Unless it’s not cowitness? Or you’re trying to center the dot in the window?

 

[OregonJohnny]

I have now logged over 100,000 rounds through pistols with reflex sights on them over the past 18 months (yes, 100k).

I am sore, I am tired, I am a much improved shooter, I am slightly older, slightly wiser...and I am enlightened. Red dot optics on pistols are here to stay, and they will eventually do to pistols exactly what optics did to rifles.

It takes INCREDIBLE patience and determination to become fast and proficient (consistently) with a reflex sight, when you've had decades of iron sight pistol shooting drilled into your muscle memory. But once you reach the promised land of reflex sight proficiency, there is an epiphany, and there is no going back. It's glorious.

 

[ATLDave]

Having my first range session with a dot optic answered plenty of questions for me as a new owner of one. My accuracy was better than using the iron sights on the same firearm, pre optic. My training curve is getting my head aligned with the optic. I am still presenting the firearm like I am looking for iron sights that aren't there (essentially). Gives me an excuse to go to the range more often.

Dryfire draws are the main medicine for this.

 

[herrwalther]

Dryfire draws are the main medicine for this.

Yes, have been diligently doing those whenever possible. Practicing at the range with ammo just reinforces the behavior, at least in my case.

 

[35 Whelen]

because RDS increase speed. Or, rather, allow accuracy to be retained at greater speed. Even world class (literally) iron sight shooters are faster with RDS’s.

If hitting things quickly is of no interest to you, or if you think speed (or accuracy) is a yes/no proposition, then these advantages don’t make any difference.

My aunt wouldn’t get any benefit from an extra 100hp in her car, either. She doesn’t drive fast, ever, so something that lets a car go faster doesn’t have any benefit to her.

Well there you have it then, and you were right! I have no interest or need to shave a few nanoseconds off of the time it takes me to engage a target and even less interest in what world class shooters are using to do the same.

35W

 

[ATLDave]

Different goals = different evaluations!

 

[doubleh]

My two cents. Iron sights are still available on rifles and are the best option for some uses. The same will hold true for handguns.
One thing I learned from the first picture in this thread is that there is a handgun on the market now that out uglies a glock.

 

[35 Whelen]

I admit to using firearms in ways and situations that 99% of users never will and over the last 30 or so years this has lead to a somewhat opinionated view of fragile sighting systems. On three different elk hunts, far from any paved road, I've had scopes knocked off by foul tempered riding stock bucking the rifles out of the scabbards. So now my dedicated elk rifle has a simple, but effective backup aperture sighting system. Much of the chores around the house are physical; repairing fences, cutting firewood, on and off the tractor, working/loading cattle, crawling over and through pipe corrals, etc. so the handguns I carry have to be a balance effectiveness with utility. And come to think of it, it's been 8 years since I used optics on a game hunt and I shoot at least one deer per year, and mostly with fixed sighted revolvers.

35W

 

[FlSwampRat]

@jmorris I'm always jealous of your home range setup, but I have to ask, have you ever done some target shooting from the pool on a hot day, not that would 'Murica at it's finest.

If I had that setup I'd be experimenting on whether 6 rnds from a .44 revolver could propel me across the pool in an inner tube better than 17 rnds from my 9mm pistol.

 

[FlSwampRat]

My two cents. Iron sights are still available on rifles and are the best option for some uses. The same will hold true for handguns.
One thing I learned from the first picture in this thread is that there is a handgun on the market now that out uglies a glock.

You mean you've never seen a Hi Point .45?

 

[eastbank]

I play with a few, but I don,t carry any on my guns for my personal defence.

 

[Deleted member 262298]

Doubt it. The guns are often employed so quickly you don't have time to aim.

 

[doubleh]

You mean you've never seen a Hi Point .45?

Yes, I have and a number of times. The hi-point is only ugly AS a glock, not uglier THAN a glock.

 

[TTv2]

I don't think so, not until the price drops considerably and the size of the optics too. With handguns, we're mostly focused on concealed carry and adding another inch in height to a pistol doesn't scream concealable to me. If we were some kind of LE agency we're they're much more likely to use their handguns and they carry openly, sure, I can see them adapting pistol optics in droves.

IMO, the future of optics for guns is retinal implants that give you access to an augmented reality that allows you to see where the bullet is going. Think of it like a laser sight, except it also compensates for windage and bullet drop, and also gives you the ability to zoom without any physical device.

Very science fiction, but I can't say it's impossible because once we find ways to connect the brain to computers, we'll be able to connect to anything. I wonder if they'll ever make retinal implants that allow me to shoot lasers like Cyclops in X-Men?