Yesterday I shot a Service Pistol match – twice. Once with iron sights and once with a red dot (Vortex).
I wanted to see how much advantage there is to an optic on a pistol (if any). The pistols were a pair of Caniks. Both have excellent triggers and the only real difference is the sights.
I am 75 years old and have cataracts. They are not yet bad enough to warrant surgery, so in the mean time I have to put up with slightly blurry vision and the feeling that the lights should be turned a notch brighter.
With iron sights, one must focus on the front sight in order to get a good sight picture and accuracy. Those of us over 40 benefit from shooting glasses with the lens for the shooting eye set to focus at about 25” (eye to front sight). These glasses have a convention lens for one eye and a reading glass lens for the shooting eye.
With a red dot one focuses on the target, so our ordinary glasses work just fine. This fact, alone, is a major advantage.
I have shot IPSC matches with both iron sights and with a red dot. For the accuracy shots at 25+ yards, the red dot is superb. I can make those shots easily. For the fast and furious close up shots, the iron sights are much better. The red dot accuracy is not required and the time it takes to find the dot is wasted time.
With a red dot you get instant feedback of how the shot went. The bullet hole appears where the dot was when the shot broke. If the dot was skidding left on the shot, because I slapped the trigger, the shot misses left. As a result, with a red dot you learn to shoot better. That is, the better score is not because of the optic, but because you learned to shoot better.
The Service Pistol shoot included a “two to the body, one to the head” stage. With the red dot it was easy to get the head shots, with no doubt they were there. With irons I tended to get more shots skidding to the left because I was slapping the trigger, but could not see myself doing it.
Some of the stages included weak hand only and also 2 handed, on the weak side. For these it was more difficult to find the red dot in the sight and it took longer to get each shot off. Given the time constraints, the result was more rushed shots and bigger groups than with iron sights. My score with irons was much better than the red dot score. I need practice.
In comparing the irons vs optics results, the only stage where the optic showed a real advantage was the last stage, where we had to shoot at a 4” bull at 25 yards. With irons I got 7 bulls. With optics I got 15.
My final score was Optics -581, Irons – 570. Not a big difference.
I wanted to see how much advantage there is to an optic on a pistol (if any). The pistols were a pair of Caniks. Both have excellent triggers and the only real difference is the sights.
I am 75 years old and have cataracts. They are not yet bad enough to warrant surgery, so in the mean time I have to put up with slightly blurry vision and the feeling that the lights should be turned a notch brighter.
With iron sights, one must focus on the front sight in order to get a good sight picture and accuracy. Those of us over 40 benefit from shooting glasses with the lens for the shooting eye set to focus at about 25” (eye to front sight). These glasses have a convention lens for one eye and a reading glass lens for the shooting eye.
With a red dot one focuses on the target, so our ordinary glasses work just fine. This fact, alone, is a major advantage.
I have shot IPSC matches with both iron sights and with a red dot. For the accuracy shots at 25+ yards, the red dot is superb. I can make those shots easily. For the fast and furious close up shots, the iron sights are much better. The red dot accuracy is not required and the time it takes to find the dot is wasted time.
With a red dot you get instant feedback of how the shot went. The bullet hole appears where the dot was when the shot broke. If the dot was skidding left on the shot, because I slapped the trigger, the shot misses left. As a result, with a red dot you learn to shoot better. That is, the better score is not because of the optic, but because you learned to shoot better.
The Service Pistol shoot included a “two to the body, one to the head” stage. With the red dot it was easy to get the head shots, with no doubt they were there. With irons I tended to get more shots skidding to the left because I was slapping the trigger, but could not see myself doing it.
Some of the stages included weak hand only and also 2 handed, on the weak side. For these it was more difficult to find the red dot in the sight and it took longer to get each shot off. Given the time constraints, the result was more rushed shots and bigger groups than with iron sights. My score with irons was much better than the red dot score. I need practice.
In comparing the irons vs optics results, the only stage where the optic showed a real advantage was the last stage, where we had to shoot at a 4” bull at 25 yards. With irons I got 7 bulls. With optics I got 15.
My final score was Optics -581, Irons – 570. Not a big difference.
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