Originally Posted by
Gio
In my opinion, it is impossible to outshoot an RDS on a pistol with irons given the same shooter. You can't compare yourself to other shooters, you need to compare to yourself.
That said, despite slightly increased performance (especially as target difficulty increases), I do not think RDS are ready or appropriate for duty use at this point. There is so much that can go wrong with them, and at the end of the day, they wouldn't make a difference in 99% of the LEO involved shootings that happen within 5-7 yards. They make even less sense if you use a rifle as primary such as in a SWAT officer role. If you insist on going the RDS route, you really need a dedicated duty gun and RDS that see very little use, and a training/backup gun setup identically that you use at the range.
Everyone is in a rush to justify swapping to RDS because it's the hot trend right now, my agency included. People take an RDS out and shoot nice tight groups on a qual course and then figure out a way to justify it. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy shooting RDS pistols and am competing with one as my primary division this year in USPSA, and I do think you'll learn something about your iron sighted shooting by spending time with the dot, but I wouldn't carry one on as a service pistol yet.