My first RDS session

[Gun Nerd]

After some frustrating experiences trying to see my iron sights on an indoor range that's less well lit than I'm used to, I decided I was ready to open my mind to the red dot. A friend offered to lend me some gear (more on that in a moment).

The first part of the experiment was setting aside my PX4CC and going back to my Glock 19 (Gen 4). I dry fired it almost daily over the course of a week, using my Mantis X. My trigger pull scores were a little higher than with the DA trigger on the Beretta, so there's that. I also noted that the Ameriglo FBI sights on the Glock are a better height and width for me than the Ameriglo CAPs on the Beretta.

My plan for the first range outing was to establish a baseline with the G19 and iron sights, then replace the slide assembly with my friend's - a PSA Dagger slide assembly with a Holosun 407C. To be sure I could detect whether I was having a good or bad day, I decided to shoot some drills that I've shot enough to have an idea of where I usually stand. Here are the results:

G19, iron sights:

Wizard Drill - FAIL (2M/1OT)
5 Yard Roundup - 93
The Test - 92 (although I grossly rushed it in under 7 seconds)
FAST - 7.98, 2M on the circle so 9.98 (I think - forgot to write it down from the timer. Definitely under 8 seconds raw.

G19, 407C:

Wizard Drill - FAIL (2M/3 OT) - my first experience of the challenge in picking up the dot.
5 Yard Roundup - 94 -10 for an OT shot (couldn't find the dot on the draw)
The Test - 96 (possibly a personal best)
FAST - 9.19 clean (albeit with a 3.37 draw to first shot)

To try out some reticle choices, my friend also brought his Steyr S9 with a 507K. We set it to the circle-only setting and I shot The Test. I scored 92 points with an unfamiliar gun with a slippery grip. The circle seems to have a lot of merit for helping a beginner pick up the reticle.

Back to the Glock, we decided to close with a pure accuracy drill:

Vickers 300 (G19 w/ 407C) - 290 (I believe this is a PR)
Vickers 300 (G19 w/ iron sights) - 269 (at some point I started holding too low, but there was also a distinct accuracy difference)

I need to do a lot more work with the optic until my presentation equals or exceeds my iron sight performance. But I'm sold on the concept.

[Erick Gelhaus]

The circle seems to have a lot of merit for helping a beginner pick up the reticle.

I do like the circle as a way to transition the visual attention from the sights to the target.

[Gun Nerd]

I do like the circle as a way to transition the visual attention from the sights to the target.

My thought was also that during the learning stage, it’s going to be easier to find some part of the big circle during the presentation, and correct the path of the gun accordingly.

BTW I used your “Set It and Forget It” method to adjust the reticle. I learned that I need to use a brighter light. My ~200 lumen light gave me a setting that I needed to crank up a bit before it was visible on a well lit indoor range.

[SoCalDep]

First, awesome post! I love the direct comparison between irons and dot for a new dot shooter.

Back in 2018 I did a similar thing with members of my old department. I had a Glock with irons and one with a Trijicon RMR (It's what I had at the time) and had deputies run various simple courses of fire alternating between the dot and irons. It was the first official step towards getting dots approved. I learned a lot and one thing I learned was that it's a bad idea to throw a dot on the gun and go without skill-building training and practice.

You identified the first big hurdle to the use of dots... the one lots of people see which confirms their pre-existing bias and self-justifies them moving away...

It's hard to find the damn dot at first.

But here's the snake-oil dude in an alley with a trench coat full of "Rolex" watches proposal...

We can make the dot appear... like magic.



It isn't magic of course, but it's about your ability to put your hands in a position in space for your eyes to see the dot. You don't "find" anything. This isn't an easter egg hunt or Where's Waldo. The dot is there or it isn't (unless you don't set and forget).

So the key, and without going into a typically over-long post... It's about the "feel" of the gun in the right position to see the dot. This can almost entirely, and should be done extensively by dry fire. Remember how your hands feel with the dot in view... go back to holster, retention, gun on table, etc... then try to replicate the "feel" and see (lol) if you see the dot. If not... really concentrate on the "feel" when the dot is in the window and try to replicate it again. Fail until you succeed and you'll be good. There's more, but this is the key to the first big hurdle.

[Gun Nerd]

A couple of extra points I forgot to mention:

My baseline scores with the iron sights were pretty typical for me - maybe 2-3 points above what I would expect to shoot with my PX4. I’m glad I was having an average-to-decent day, because I think it made the comparison more reliable.

Switching guns isn’t as hard as people make it out to be. After four years of shooting the PX4CC, I shanked my first shot horribly and tried to decock after every string in the Wizard Drill. After that, it seemed to be out of my system.

[Utm]

I would also recommend that if you present the gun and the dot isn't there during dry fire to not move the gun and look where the dot is located to help self diagnose what you did wrong. So if you present and dot isn't there move your head to see if the dot is high, low, left, right and adjust on the next rep. This helped me a lot in the beginning.

[Gun Nerd]

A couple of observations from dry fire today:

I noticed that my trigger pull scores on the Mantis were worse with the dot than with irons. After a few presses, I realized that the trigger break was a lot heavier with the PSA slide assembly. My Lyman gauge says it breaks around 6 lbs. 1 oz., compared to my factory Gen 4 trigger breaking around 4 lbs. 15 oz. Relevant to the RDS comparison is that I shot better scores for pure accuracy with the worse trigger.

I also experimented with something that was bugging me at the range. Shooting the Test, I noticed my hands separating in recoil. I wondered if it was just a symptom of arthritis (especially after a press/deadlift workout that morning). But I also wondered if the grip on the pistol was too big. I have medium-large hands so I've used the medium non-beavertail insert since forever. But after some dry fire experimentation tonight I realized that the heels of my hands mesh better with no backstop insert at all. So I'm going to roll that way through my next range session and see what happens.