Pistol Red Dot Transition Advice

jron

jron

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Hello fellas.

I recently made the jump to using a red dot on a pistol. Kind of reluctantly I might add but wanted to give it a try.

I was wonder what your experiences have been with making the transition from irons to red dot? I know this isn’t an overnight switch and that everyone’s experience will vary. Just curious as to what to expect 3 range sessions, 6? 12 range sessions to get comfortable? Obviously more time behind the gun the better.

I have had my first range trip and have been practicing dry draws at home. I will dry draw at night to simulate finding the sight picture in the dark and that’s where I have the hardest time. I am far slower than irons.

Gun I have been running is a G45 with and Aimpoint Acro P-2.

Thanks for your feedback

Picture for fun
IMG_0011.jpeg
 
I have one without the 30 Moa circle. I did well with a friends that had it and didn’t think it was necessary. I may have been wrong.

I haven’t put a lot of rounds through it, but I may regret the co-witness suppressor height sights…..the front blocks my view of the target.

I’m just getting used to it as well. I did much better when handed an already dialed in setup that wasn’t mine. I’m OK, but I may remove the front sight…
 
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There’s a pretty steep learning curve so it may take a while to transition, but you can shorten that time period with the proper techniques. I’d suggest looking up YouTube videos of Scott Jedlinski from Modern Samurai Project and Aaron Cowan from Sage Dynamics. Even better if you’ve the got time and money to take one of their classes for hands on training, as there’s stuff you can only learn by taking the course.

I took a MSP red dot pistol course with Scott and that really helped me with transitioning from irons to the dot. I won’t ever go back to irons unless absolutely necessary. The main thing I was struggling with was finding the dot on presentation, however he showed me some techniques to make the dot drop down from the top of the glass every time which has made things much more predictable and repeatable.
 
Lots of dry draws and focusing on the target. One thing to help you focus on the target is to put a paster on the front of the red dot. That will require you to focus on the target with your support eye. Your brain will superimpose the image of the red dot over the target.

There is no replacement for dry reps. You want to start slow. Focus on getting the gun up high and the slide nearly horizontal before pushing out. With iron sights, you can draw with the gun at hip height and then press out at an angle, only coming up to eye height at the end. That works with iron sights because you can see the iron sights in your peripheral vision. But that doesn’t work with a red dot because you can only see the red dot once the slide is horizontal and at eye height. So get the gun up to eye level early in your draw stroke — that will give you more time to pick up the red dot as you push out.

Start slow and focus on a consistent draw where you can pick up the red dot early. Only start to speed up after you are consistently picking up the red dot.

I shot Irons for a couple decades before transitioning to a red dot. It took me months of work before I was comfortable with the dot. I’ve heard that folks with less experience with irons pick up red dots easier.
 
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Grip it hard and pay attention to your strong hand ring finger and potentially pinkie pushing the gun into your palm. Make sure there is no air between your hand and the beavertail, this contact should be almost painful. You're doing it wrong if after 10-15 shots or dryfires your hands are not slightly tired.

Shooting with RDS will improve your technique and make you a better shooter even with irons.

I haven't gotten to the range with my first RDS before dryfiring with it hundreds of times. For me, RDS really shines for difficult shots that can be found in a competition setting but I don't feel undergunned daily carrying a handgun with irons only. YMMV.
 
I took a class using my red dot and found that to be a great way to find it consistently now
 
I’m about to switch from irons to a dot myself, so I’m in no place to give advice. But… Check out competitive shooters like Joel Park & Ben Steoger. Switching to target focused shooting has helped me a lot with irons and the best shooters seem to be saying it’s the way for finding the dot.
 
VTski4x4 said:
In my experience, the first few times you'll catch yourself trying to find the front sight versus focusing on the dot.
Click to expand...
Don't focus on the dot.
Repeat with me, don't focus on the dot.

Your visual focus must always be your target.

Look at your target, point the gun at the target, the dot will appear over the target.
Practice dry and live with the front window covered "occluded dot" as the internet instructors say... And it works

took a MSP red dot pistol course with Scott and that really helped me with transitioning from irons to the dot. I won’t ever go back to irons unless absolutely necessary. The main thing I was struggling with was finding the dot on presentation, however he showed me some techniques to make the dot drop down from the top of the glass every time which has made things much more predictable and repeatable.
Click to expand...
The "dot drop down from 12 o'clock" thing is a good and acceptable technique for a novice to make quick and useful gains in their speed and abilities. It isn't however what Scott himself actually does while drawing and shooting at full speed. It can be seen when watching his draw in slow motion, and has been proven by other internet instructors.
The act and motion of elevating the muzzle (even super briefly) over the target during the draw is simply wasted motion.
 
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MAGA99 said:
I haven’t put a lot of rounds through it, but I may regret the co-witness suppressor height sights…..the front blocks my view of the target.
Click to expand...
I have one pistol with absolute co-witness with suppressor sights and one lower 1/3 with factory sights. I hate the absolute co-witness for the exact same reason. Sight image is all sorts of cluttered and makes me more aware of the boxing of the red dot frame. Plus, I mistakenly (IMHO) bought tritium sights. I feel the green dot on the irons is a distraction.
 
M1911 said:
Lots of dry draws and focusing on the target. One thing to help you focus on the target is to put a paster on the front of the red dot. That will require you to focus on the target with your support eye. Your brain will superimpose the image of the red dot over the target.

There is no replacement for dry reps. You want to start slow. Focus on getting the gun up high and the slide nearly horizontal before pushing out. With iron sights, you can draw with the gun at hip height and then press out at an angle, only coming up to eye height at the end. That works with iron sights because you can see the iron sights in your peripheral vision. But that doesn’t work with a red dot because you can only see the red dot once the slide is horizontal and at eye height. So get the gun up to eye level early in your draw stroke — that will give you more time to pick up the red dot as you push out.

Start slow and focus on a consistent draw where you can pick up the red dot early. Only start to speed up after you are consistently picking up the red dot.

I shot Irons for a couple decades before transitioning to a red dot. It took me months of work before I was comfortable with the dot. I’ve heard that folks with less experience with irons pick up red dots easier.
Click to expand...
This is the way.
 
ReluctantDecoy said:
I have one pistol with absolute co-witness with suppressor sights and one lower 1/3 with factory sights. I hate the absolute co-witness for the exact same reason. Sight image is all sorts of cluttered and makes me more aware of the boxing of the red dot frame. Plus, I mistakenly (IMHO) bought tritium sights. I feel the green dot on the irons is a distraction.
Click to expand...
Yeah I want to put regular old irons, non-co-witness, like it was at first.

At this point it’s just a range toy to play with, I’m not carrying an RMR gun yet. But I would like to develop the skill to do so.
 
SJan said:
Don't focus on the dot.
Repeat with me, don't focus on the dot.

Your visual focus must always be your target.

Look at your target, point the gun at the target, the dot will appear over the target.
Practice dry and live with the front window covered "occluded dot" as the internet instructors say... And it works


The "dot drop down from 12 o'clock" thing is a good and acceptable technique for a novice to make quick and useful gains in their speed and abilities. It isn't however what Scott himself actually does while drawing and shooting at full speed. It can be seen when watching his draw in slow motion, and has been proven by other internet instructors.
The act and motion of elevating the muzzle (even super briefly) over the target during the draw is simply wasted motion.
Click to expand...

This and a ton of reps, and not just standing still with a target in front of you.
 
Took me 3 - 4 trips to the range and lots of dry fire w laser. In the early days I kept drawing with the muzzle way up.
 
Supermoto said:
The drill at 14.25 is a really good drill, teaches you to shoot exactly where you are looking.
Click to expand...
I have heard that called the "Touch your buddies hole" drill :)
Very effective at teaching to focus on the target and not the red dot.
 
jron said:
Hello fellas.

I recently made the jump to using a red dot on a pistol. Kind of reluctantly I might add but wanted to give it a try.

I was wonder what your experiences have been with making the transition from irons to red dot? I know this isn’t an overnight switch and that everyone’s experience will vary. Just curious as to what to expect 3 range sessions, 6? 12 range sessions to get comfortable? Obviously more time behind the gun the better.

I have had my first range trip and have been practicing dry draws at home. I will dry draw at night to simulate finding the sight picture in the dark and that’s where I have the hardest time. I am far slower than irons.

Gun I have been running is a G45 with and Aimpoint Acro P-2.

Thanks for your feedback

Picture for fun
View attachment 746196
Click to expand...
you can try, if you wish - if you order a holosun scs from the amazon, so it could be easily returned back if it will produce no improvement - the red dot you have now is somewhat higher than the regular iron sights level and for a lot of people with a developed grip it causes issues.
scs unit sits its dot at the level where stock normal height iron sights were, so it will - most likely- going to align automatically with your normal gun presentation muscle memory.
anyway, it is a thing worth trying, and it can be shipped back to amazon if it will not work out for you.
 

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