Posted: 3/4/2026 8:24:11 PM EDT
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Hey guys, how do you all train to get used to using a red dot on a pistol? Is there a book or video that works well? I do practice at home (yes with an empty gun) my draw and aim at a point with the dot. |
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Originally Posted By Ewald: Put some piece of masking tape in different places on the wall. Tape over the RDS lens. Dry fire and practice transitions. Go to the range. Tape over the lens. Run some drills. Shooting occluded is voodoo magic. But yeah this is the way. |
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Originally Posted By sirgarreth: Hey guys, how do you all train to get used to using a red dot on a pistol? Is there a book or video that works well? I do practice at home (yes with an empty gun) my draw and aim at a point with the dot. Our transition class is two days, about a thousand rounds. It's a long two days. Lots of work, not your typical LE class with breaks every fifteen minutes LOL. After that class I shot my "new" pistol once a week for four months before I felt comfortable carrying it as a primary. But that's just me. Old school, old gun guy with fifty years of shooting iron sights habits to break. First piece of advice; Muscle memory is your friend. R-e-p-e-t-i-t-i-o-n Most people run with irons as a backup. (it'sa prolly a good idea) You can get high suppressor sights which will put your aligned irons about in the middle of the "window" when you're on/in your normal shooting stance. They also make a mid height that's lower, which I prefer. Less "busy in the window" with the dot, target, screaming mommies running away with kids in carriages unassing the area behind the BG....LOL They also make lower sights, (Still taller than standard) that will end up being just about even at the bottom, barely visible. Some people prefer that. One of my dot pistols is a G34 with the Holosun SCS. That one doesn't need a plate, mounts right to the slide and sits so low I can actually use the adjustable factory Glock sights. Since my two carry pistols are both set up the same way with mid-iron sights, this one's relegated to range duty only until I get the hang of the different sight picture it uses. ^^^^^ This is a hint; RDS sighted pistols NEED a consistent draw to on target. They are also susceptible to issues with cross-eye dominant shooters. I'm neither eye dominant and usually have to close an eye or I see two sets of sights. I had to totally retrain myself to shoot with both eyes open. Cheat-code; During the draw, as the pistol comes up into the bottom of your view, follow the front sight, let it "point" you to the dot. Do a few draws like that, you'll get what I mean. Once you have gotten "comfy" and are shooting decent consistent groups, keeping both eyes open for this next drill; tape over the dot at the front lens. Blue painter tape be perfect. When you bring the pistol to on-target, you'll see the dot superimposed on the target. But you gotta keep both eyes open! 7 yards is good for this drill. Proper gun/sight setup is critical to success. I prefer mid-height irons in addition to the RDS. I've seen guys who use them so low they're barely visible over the bottom. Like equal to. It's all what you are used to. Pick one that works, train. Repeat. Train. Repeat. Train. There 's a slight offset/range at work with these sights. Using a dot the size of a 45 bullet, use that aiming point at 3, 7, 15 yards and plot where the bullet strikes /what the offset is at those ranges. (still within Minute-of-felon) Item last; the dot does seem to magnify the movement of the pistol when it's on target. Using only irons, that movement doesn't appear to be that much. Balance speed with accuracy. Spend too much time "riding the dot" and mashing the trigger when the dot is exactly "just so" will frustrate you with inconsistent huge groups. Start slow and deliberate, build that muscle memory. Speed will come as your comfort level increases. |
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The truthful, non-GD version of my experience with RDS was that I have been using iron sights for nearly 3 decades and shot a few years of local pistol matches once a month a dozen years ago. Back around that time I bought a Burris Fastfire II to mount to my AR on a 45 degree offset mount for 3 gun stuff. I also tried it on my Ruger MkII 22/45 and I really didn't like having to hunt for the dot. It felt awkward and unnatural so I dismissed them and didn't try them again until last year when I bought an M9A4 that had an optics cut. I figured why not try it again. Well I did a bunch of dry fire practice and holster draws early on in the first few months after getting it. It still felt awkward and was very frustrating. I was blowing a lot of time because I no longer had the advantage of being able to see which direction to correct the sights. If you present the gun and the dot isn't there, you lose time finding it. RDS proponents will say "Your index is shit". They should say, "You need to practice your draw and presentation so that the sights are naturally aligned from muscle memory". But instead, they like to tell you you are shit. Anyway, after nearly a year of practicing presentation I am finally at a point where I see the dot more often than not, am pretty comfortable with it, and on those occasions where the dot isn't present in the window I usually know instinctively which direction to correct to get it on target. But for most of that time, I really felt like the dot was a handicap in that I couldn't rely on open iron sights to make corrections to my presentation. The RDS guys are right that the RDS "will make you a better shooter". They don't like to admit that the reason for that is it's totally unforgiving of a less than optimum presentation. They make you a better shooter because you have to be in order to use them effectively. Iron sights enable poor shooters to make corrections faster. For whatever reason the most vocal proponents seem to have a religiously fanatical devotion to them. Point out any negatives and you will be attacked, ridiculed, mocked and shouted down, even if those negatives are factual and provable. I still to this day will contend that iron sights are better if you can't commit to the time and effort to develop that index. Many people can't. If you already have a great index with irons, transitioning to RDS will be easy. If you draw and present your gun and then need to make a major correction to the sight picture, you will probably have a rough go of it initially. If I was 25 and single, I probably could have adopted them much, much faster, but when I was 25 and single I couldn't afford them, or the ammo.  In the end, I like them, and there are better options released all the time. Their biggest weak point is the awful mounting systems most brands use. |
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Originally Posted By Jambalaya: For whatever reason the most vocal proponents seem to have a religiously fanatical devotion to them. Point out any negatives and you will be attacked, ridiculed, mocked and shouted down, even if those negatives are factual and provable. I still to this day will contend that iron sights are better if you can't commit to the time and effort to develop that index. Many people can't. If you already have a great index with irons, transitioning to RDS will be easy. If you draw and present your gun and then need to make a major correction to the sight picture, you will probably have a rough go of it initially. When placed under stress in scenarios using Simunition, less experienced shooters performed better with a red dot versus irons. https://www.sagedynamics.org/_files/ugd/7dc128_6377087e72264cd18dbcb04eea4686ce.pdf |
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Originally Posted By -CRW-: When placed under stress in scenarios using Simunition, less experienced shooters performed better with a red dot versus irons. https://www.sagedynamics.org/_files/ugd/7dc128_6377087e72264cd18dbcb04eea4686ce.pdf If you get an RDS, get a shot timer too. And if your par times are faster with irons, carry irons until you've practiced with the dot enough that you are faster with the dot. |
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| Learning now myself. Finally took the plunge and added an EPS carry on my Shadow 2 Compact. It has been a bit frustrating, I feel like I am chasing the dot. 40 years of irons and now re-learning. I am viewing it as another skill that needs to be learned and am slowly getting better at it. |