Rds on handguns

[RussDXT]

How important are RDS on handguns in your opinion?

I have two Glocks with one with rmr and the other with an sro and can run them alright but I prefer my staccatos with irons.

Been playing with the idea of putting rds on one of my staccatos but I feel it will add bulk to the gun (one is a threaded p I run suppressed, the other is a cs).

At long distance I can shoot a little better with a rds but can still make hits consistently with my staccatos with irons.

What’s your thoughts?

 

[NSI]

What are you trying to accomplish? What is the mission of those Staccatos?

-J

 

[RussDXT]

Fun to shoot and besides the occasional 365 it’s what I carry most of the time.

 

[NSI]

Red dots are easier to shoot precisely than iron sights, generally speaking. I find both fun. They are slightly higher profile to carry. it doesn’t sound material whether you attach one or not. If you do, on a carry gun, ensure you practice acquiring the dot efficiently. This is the usual sticking point when transitioning from irons. You already have an RDS so you should know this, but presentation is different with different grip angles.

-J

 

[RussDXT]

Wish staccato had a direct setup for the rmr. I really like their stuff but cmon, cutting their slides for the delta point.. why?

 

[Donk]

What are you trying to accomplish? What is the mission of those Staccatos?

-J

This.

 

[Formidilosus]

Wish staccato had a direct setup for the rmr. I really like their stuff but cmon, cutting their slides for the delta point.. why?

There are a couple of reason, but mainly- because they thought at the time that the Delta Point was going to become “the” standard RDS.

 

[RussDXT]

There are a couple of reason, but mainly- because they thought at the time that the Delta Point was going to become “the” standard RDS.

Form, do you see any advantage to a rds on a staccato? Thanks!

 

[RussDXT]

This.

I want a mix of shoot-ability, ccw comfort, accuracy. I feel that I have it now with iron sights, but not rmr’ing a staccato I don’t know what I don’t know.

 

[RockAndSage]

I personally won’t run a handgun with anything else, given the choice - and I grew up on irons. Very comfortable with them. But the advantages stack up hard in favor of RDS.

- Allows you to keep your eyes downrange, target-focused

- The actual mechanics of putting the sight on target and firing is faster, especially transitioning between multiples, and this gets even more pronounced at distance.

- Much more precise, increasingly so at distance

- Already a “night sight”.

- With my particular eyesight, I can shoot without glasses with an RDS in an emergency, and from awkward angles where glasses aren’t aligning up between eyes/sight/target. This is especially helpful when prone or kneeling low to shoot from behind cover, where a situation somewhat forces you to kind of have to be looking up underneath your eyebrows.

- Accuracy for me has been significantly enhanced when shooting with high physical exertion, where the body is really struggling to keep oxygen pumping everywhere, including eyeballs. In that state, it’s surprisingly hard to get the really fine sight picture with the front sight you need, including simply not realizing your eyes aren’t working as precisely as you think. The picture can look fine, but between the struggle for O2, the adrenaline, and other body chemistry stuff, the eyes and brain can give you a false perception of visual precision. Red dots dramatically increased my hit rate in those conditions.

Overall, pistol red-dots have been one of the most helpful advances in weapons tech for me personally. Can’t recommend them highly enough.

 

[Beendare]

I think it's all about what you are trying to do.

The gun games guys love the Red dots- faster , quicker to pick up, better in low light and a tad more Accurate for sure.

I use my pistols for Self Defense and backup on Bowhunts. I have resisted going to the RDS's because I've seen guys use them in the bush and they get crap on the lens. I've used a Clarifyer in my peep and had it collect gunk in the woods.

So I'm going to KISS and stick with Irons for now.

I do think if it's a Self Defense weapon with RDS and you can keep the lens clean it could be an advantage in those situations.

 

[Formidilosus]

Form, do you see any advantage to a rds on a staccato? Thanks!

Sure. Depends on what you want from it. I have mixes of both Staccato’s with irons, and with dots- though near 100% with Aimpoint Acro’s.

 

[Dobermann]

Sure. Depends on what you want from it. I have mixes of both Staccato’s with irons, and with dots- though near 100% with Aimpoint Acro’s.

Any experience with the RCR yet?

 

[Donk]

I want a mix of shoot-ability, ccw comfort, accuracy. I feel that I have it now with iron sights, but not rmr’ing a staccato I don’t know what I don’t know.

Not sure on your background.

Have you done a MRDS transition training class?

Most of these classes are 2 to 5 days of learning the how to get the most out of these optics. There are some things that need to be covered like shooting them obstructed, shooting them occluded, shooting them with water on the lens, shooting them in low light. Etc.

- Shooting them in weird positions shows you how fast your grip will break down.

-Shooting them in low light should make you think a little. What brightness setting are you using for CCW? Most will advise a higher brightness setting. My conclusion for a carry gun is I want it to have a weapon light if it has an MRDS. You may come to a different conclusion and that is fine.

Im not trying to complicate this issue. I think it’s great you are asking questions. I thought MRDS were plug and play, but they are far from it IMHO.

Not claiming to be the expert on this topic but if you got other questions feel free to PM me. I would love to help you out.

 

[HingleMcCringleberry]

Important? That depends on the person and use case.

Are red dots on pistols the future? Yes, in my opinion. Do I use one? Not currently.

 

[Coopsdaddy]

Just put a rmrHD on a g45 and g20.
Just to many benefits.
Definitely would not put subpar red dots on.

 

[RussDXT]

Sure. Depends on what you want from it. I have mixes of both Staccato’s with irons, and with dots- though near 100% with Aimpoint Acro’s.

How would you break down use and why some have the acro, and some don’t? (perhaps this would be a Form Friday).

 

[Sadler]

I started shooting red dots on my pistols late last year. I’ll never go back to irons. I have an Acro on my full frame Glock and a Holosun micro (407k) on my 43X. It’s not bad to CC the 43x on my person but I mainly carry in a sling bag or a Fanny pack for convenience

 

[zdc1775]

I'm going to just copy a post I made on another forum a while back about my transition to using dots on pistols.

"I was against the idea of optic on a defensive pistol for several years but saw their advantage on range or competition pistols. But about two years ago I started seeing the possible advantages so I decided to buy an MOS Glock and give it a try. I chose the Glock for the fact that I truly hate shooting Glock pistols due to the trigger and ergonomics so it would really be more of a test to see if I liked the dot not the pistol and that once that decision was made I could sell the gun quickly for about the same amount I paid for it.

After a few hundred "rounds" of dry-fire draw and fire drills with the dot I decided to take it to the range and see how it stacked up with my custom duty/competition M&P that I have around 25,000 rounds through. First outing, shooting a 6" target at seven yards, I averaged 2.1 draw and fire with the Glock and 1.8 with the M&P but shooting a B8 target at 25 yards I shot a 96 with the Glock compared to 86 with the M&P. That encouraged me to spend another few months shooting the Glock, around 1,000 rounds, and I ended up with my first round averaging 1.7. Borrowed a friends M&P with optic just to make sure that it wasn't a fluke coincidence and the M&P with a dot averaged 1.6 for a draw and fire.

So I pulled the dot off the Glock and sold it, then bought a Canik Rival with optic. First time shooting it and I was already averaging 1.6 and now have gotten that to around 1.4. That alone made my decision for me so I have ordered a replacement carry pistol, swapping from a non OSP Hellcat to a Hellcat Pro and mounted a Holosun 507K, and have since bought a Sig P320 X-Carry Pro and added a Holosun SCS on it to replace the M&P.

So I guess you could say that I'm all in on pistol optics now.

Oh, and I guess that I should add that I am far from a beginner at shooting a handgun since when I was actively competing in IDPA I was in the master class in SSP, ESP, and CDP, but in fairness I've been out of practice for a few years now so I am no longer quite at that level."

Basically to me it all boils down to are you willing to put in the time to relearn how to shoot with the dot.

 

[kpk]

I've been shooting Holosuns for maybe 2 years now and I'm shooting better than I ever have......by a lot. I admittedly was not very fast or accurate with handguns prior to using RDS and there's no way I could go back to irons now.

Even if you get water or debris on the emitter/glass it's pretty likely to blow out after the first shot. It's also easy (on most of them) to turn the dot off and do some training by simply framing the target within the window and/or using co-witness sights. I haven't had either of mine come off zero and they've been carried/dropped/shot thousands of rounds at this point.

The list of pros vastly outweighs the cons for me personally.