I'm curious of those of you who have incorporated a optic on you carry gun if you still practice with your iron sites? Do you make it part of your dry fire or range sessions, or do you just work solely with your optic? Just recently made the transition as my eye sight is not quite what they used to be, and really like my red dot, a lot, but thinking of still practicing with my iron sites on occasion. What, if any, percentage of practice are with your iron sites?
Dismas, absolutely should practice with both and in conjunction. The irons are the pathway to the dot.
And also the malfunction drill if the dot disappears.
If u have an LED version,I recommend running drills with it off as well. Put a little of both in every training session. Focus mainly on the transition between sights and dot. Even have someone turn your dot off or on in between presentations from the holster to work on the dot malfunction.
Also recommend working with the optic/irons completely occluded and working a point shooting,stance directed or what ever buzz word it is being called these days.
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Last edited by J.S. Kamp; 02-22-2017 at 10:27 PM.
I have the same problem as the OP but I practice using irons by using the front sight only. My problem is that my vision cannot accommodate at near distances when I wear my special contact lenses (nothing else corrects my vision). Thus I can't line up the sights and focus on the front sight without making the target appear double vision or closing one eye. I instead use the front sight tritium dot as my "red dot" and use the frame of the RDS as a "rear ghost ring". With this I can still shoot with both eyes open and use the front sight. I just have to remember that my POA is a little lower than the POI. This works pretty good for me 30 yards in and not that much slower. For 25 yds, I just close one eye and line up the sights.
Yes. Definitely practice with irons. Same as SHO or WHO exercises. You never know when something is going to shit the bed.
I've stated this in various rmr pistol threads...
You should continue to practice and train with your irons. Fact is that irons are noticeably faster on the draw than an RDS from concealment. If you draw the way you have been since you picked up a pistol, using the front sights you'll likely not lose speed, then on follow through as you track the front sight back down to the target for a second shot, pick up the RDS. Second, third, fourth, whenever.
Or if you have your pistol out already and need to make an accurate shot, then sure focus on the dot.
You shouldn't neglect irons, more of adding the RDS to your training rather than adding the iron sights back in.
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Maybe you should set up a RDS without iron sights to test your assumptions.Originally Posted by voodoo_man
Likes pretty much everything in every caliber.
Thanks for the info in this thread guys, I am also new to the rds handgun concept. Just got a 320RX. Only one informal shooting session so far and it wasn't quite as intuitive to me as I thought it would be.
Last edited by Balisong; 02-23-2017 at 10:57 AM.
In the same boat as you. Transitioned a few months ago and it does take work to get familiar. Even though I've used RDS on carbine for years it still wasn't like riding a bike. For some reason on a handgun I still find myself focusing on the dot and not the target. It's really weird, but I still have to remind myself to see the target and perceive the dot. Not sure if that makes sense to anyone but me though
Did, specifically to test my hypothesis, before adding iron sights. Even defaulting to the rmr instead of the iron sights on purpose.
Fact remains that most of us have done 10x if not 20x reps with iron sights as opposed to RDS on a pistol.
Trying to undo that is a waste of time, time better spent on trigger control and the like.
I wrote about it http://www.vdmsr.com/2014/10/glock-19-w-rmr.html in 2014 when I tried it.
If it works for you, fantastic. But those of who have dedicated a lot of dry fire to iron sights won't magically become better with an RMR, we have to put the reps in.
VDMSR.com
Chief Developer for V Development Group
Everything I post I do so as a private individual who is not representing any company or organization.
Thanks for the input, pretty much what I thought but just wanted to get an idea of how much and it looks like quite a bit which is fine. I am pretty please how quickly I've been able to get my speed similar to my iron sites when drawing from concealment. Still need lost of work, at first was noticeable slower but after a couple range sessions it's pretty close and I improve a little each time.
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