Quick acquisition of the slide mounted red dot on a pistol

[BehindBlueI's]

Visually aware refers to my ability to track iron sights in recoil, and accurately call my shots.

At this point, I do not notice a difference up close between irons and dot to shot one, but as the distance increases I become increasingly faster to shot one, and successive shots, with a dot.

Are you using a timer? On any given drill, what I'm looking for is:

What was your time to first shot with an iron before using a dot equipped pistol?
What is the time to first shot with an iron now?

[GJM]

Are you using a timer? On any given drill, what I'm looking for is:

What was your time to first shot with an iron before using a dot equipped pistol?
What is the time to first shot with an iron now?

I use a timer virtually every session. There is no difference in my times between irons and dot, warmed up, I am .70's-.80's to a one shot draw at an open target at seven yards from an open range holster.

[BehindBlueI's]

I use a timer virtually every session. There is no difference in my times between irons and dot, warmed up, I am .70's-.80's to a one shot draw at an open target at seven yards from an open range holster.

I'm not asking what the time difference is between dot and iron. I'm asking has using a dot improved or degraded or made no difference when comparing your previous time WITH IRONS vs your current times WITH IRONS.

[voodoo_man]

I use a timer virtually every session. There is no difference in my times between irons and dot, warmed up, I am .70's-.80's to a one shot draw at an open target at seven yards from an open range holster.

What are your times cold?

Have ran standards cold with both and compared the times?

Asking for comparison.

[GJM]

I'm not asking what the time difference is between dot and iron. I'm asking has using a dot improved or degraded or made no difference when comparing your previous time WITH IRONS vs your current times WITH IRONS.

As it turns out, I was heading out the door to shoot, and decided to set this up for you.

What are your times cold?

Have ran standards cold with both and compared the times?

Asking for comparison.

I am not sure what "cold" means. Not directed at you but a general issue with people quoting cold performance. Does cold mean the best time I have shot on stage one of a match, my average time on stage one, or my worst time. As a result, while I can tell you the best I have done, I am pretty much out of the business of predicting what I will be able to do on any particular day.

To try to get some data for today, I decided to head out, put up some targets at 7 yards, do three dry fire draws, then do three draws with my Q5 and DP Pro at 7 yards, immediately grab my PPQ with iron sights (which is as close as I have to the Q5 with iron sights with me), and repeat the three draws.


Walther Q5 with DP Pro, shot one .86, shot 2 .70, shot 3 .70, all A zone hits.




Here is the target.





Then, the Walther PPQ iron sights, shot 1 .94, shot 2 .79, shot 3 .75, 2A, 1 close C hit.






For fun, considering a 2.0 Bill drill is considered good, I pushed it to see what I could do for all three targets with two each, instead of just one target, 1.99 with two close deltas. An .81 draw helped with the overall time.





Finally, here are draws to an eight inch steel at 10 yards, 4/5 hits, .98-.75.

[voodoo_man]

Cold would be the level of performance without warming up, dry firing or otherwise with your particular gear setup.

So, you walk on the range and the first drills you run on a timer. I'd say first thirty or so rounds depending on the drills.

[BehindBlueI's]

As it turns out, I was heading out the door to shoot, and decided to set this up for you.

None of which answers the question I've asked. Thanks for trying, I guess.

[Luke]

None of which answers the question I've asked. Thanks for trying, I guess.

I'm not GJM, and idk if you care about my opninion or not, but for the sake of information here it is. Shooting a dot makes me a better shooter of irons. The only caveat being is I'm not a stagnant shooter, I'm getting better everyday. My irons capability is growing as well, but I shoot a dot much better. It's easier to see what you need to see to with red dots so your vision grows and helps with irons as well. It's like training your eyes

[busdriver]

I can actually somewhat answer the dot/irons question.

I stopped shooting irons with any regularity (essentially no dry fire, and only occasionally take an iron sighted gun to the range to screw around) around October of 2015. At that point I was unclassified in USPSA but had shot a couple matches and was finishing in the middle of the C class pack. I shot a match with a single stack gun back in November, I dry fired reloads the night before but that was the entirety of the "prep" beforehand. I shot 70% (dead center B class) on the classifier without pushing at all, came in second place for the division behind a fellow A class open guy shooting SS.

I know it's not time to first shot, but a year of shooting almost exclusively with a dot and I still improved with irons.

[cclaxton]

Are there any peer-reviewed studies about using the red dot compared to iron/fiber sights across a cross-section of shooters? For instance, I would like to see: Under 30yo, 30-55yo, 55-80yo, male and female, those with corrective vision, those who are farsighted, Master-level iron-sight shooters, average level IDPA/USPSA shooters, and novice shooters. I would love to see if there is more of an advantage for certain categories of pistol shooters.
Anything out there?
Cody