Does learning how to shoot (pistol) with a red dot cause you to "forget" your iron sights training?
Posted by Mushroom_9058@reddit | Firearms | View on Reddit | 17 comments
Title is explanatory, but I am training and learning with iron sights on my pistols and getting decent. I know some red dots have the co-witness feature where you can see your iron sights through the red dot optic, should your dot battery fail. However -
I am just wondering about how much if any iron sights skill would be lost (say, on my pistol with ONLY iron sights) due to me using and training a lot with my Red Dot equipped pistol. When I go back to the pistol with no dot, am I going to suffer?
Strong-Review5880@reddit
Don't worry about it bud, it's like riding a bike
THELEGENDARYZWARRIOR@reddit
Why would it be a problem to “forget” to shoot with irons? Once you try Reddots you likely won’t go back.
Mushroom_9058@reddit (OP)
😮
WestSide75@reddit
Red dots help a lot with getting your indexing on target.
CZFanboy82@reddit
It made me shoot irons BETTER. Both eyes open and target focused works great with irons too.
MapleSurpy@reddit
Probably, which is why I don't personally RDS. I have a 5ish gun carry rotation and at least 2 of them aren't optics compatible, so if I put optics on the other 3 and train with them, I'll shoot worse with the rest so I don't like that.
I run irons on everything for the consistency, and I've been doing it for 15 years so haven't had any issues yes.
That being said...as soon as I stop being lazy and send my BG2.0 to Monsoon for an optics cut, then I'll cry and spend 2k on optics for all of my carry guns.
englisi_baladid@reddit
You rotate 5 different guns for carry?
Diligent-Parfait-236@reddit
It can make you lazy, which will make it harder to shoot well.
With transitioning to red dot most shooters switch from sight focus to target focus, so going back to irons you're going to either have to switch back to focusing on the wrong thing or get used to a presentation you've never done before.
wetheppl1776@reddit
Most shooters THINK they’ve switched to target focus. Lol.
Slugnutty2@reddit
Does driving a car cause you to "forget" how to ride a bicycle?
FritoPendejoEsquire@reddit
The opposite. Becoming proficient with a dot has made me a better iron sight shooter.
Donzie762@reddit
No.
It substantially helps with learning how to grip your pistol. If you can track the dot and make return to the target, you’ll be able to do the same thing with the front sight.
thelegendofcarrottop@reddit
I train both. My CCW and primary competition gun in Carry Optics is a G19 with a dot. I keep another 19 with irons and periodically shoot Production just to stay proficient.
My honest opinion is that practice is practice. Dry firing helps.
The biggest difference I notice is that I don’t focus as hard on the front sight when shooting irons as I used to.
906Dude@reddit
You are capable of switching at will between irons and dots. I have faith in you.
WizardMelcar@reddit
To some degree yes, you will suffer.
But even switching guns causes this too.
For example, when I started shooting matches I was using my FNX. After a couple of years I bought a Styer M9a1
After shooting that almost exclusively for several years I went back to my FNX.
The Styer M9 & the FNX have completely different grip angles. My muscle memory was used to bringing the Styer sights to eye level. When I went back to the FNX I was aiming at the ground because the grip angle was so different.
DY1N9W4A3G@reddit
No.
jrragsda@reddit
Most technique issues with pistols have more to do with grip, trigger pull, and stability. None of those really change between irons and a dot.