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After reading an article over at the truth about guns Here I had a serious case of cross-eyed sleepiness.
I was all for red dot sights 20 years ago, how much more fun can shooting get when you put a big ol' BSA red dot on a S&W 22A and eat up the center of a target at 25 yards? Great!
Even better, when you toss a light weight red dot like a BRS 25 on a 10/22 and give it to a properly trained 12 year old, the smiles really come out especially with a 25 round magazine.
What I fail to understand is the trend towards more and more money spent on optics for a carry gun, which is supposed to be as basic, small, and simple as it can be. Putting more crap to carry around and maintain daily (or thereabouts) on a platform designed for light weight backup in the worst situation of your life seems to make as much sense as carrying a packet of mayo to go on your emergency Twinke ration. The article referenced above did not have an MSRP for the presumably Chinese made laser in an ultra rugged housing of aluminum, but my guess is somewhere in the $300 range, which is just a skosh short of what the average consumer pays for their carry weapon.
The average carry gun from a good manufacturer costs between $300 and $500 after tax. Spend more than that, and you get some enhanced features, perhaps night sights or an upgraded trigger. Spend less and you enter Hi Point territory, which as of this writing does not have a reflex sight cut at the moment although it has been done (google for a good giggle). From there, you have to get a comfortable holster that works for your style of carry, extra magazines, and plenty of ammo to train with. The whole package for a carry gun is likely closer to $550 to $800, regardless of what you told your wife, and that does not take into account the time you will need to spend training with it to become proficient. Adding a red dot just took that well into the $1k range for a gun that will be confiscated the first time you really need to use it, and if you believe one is none and two is one, this almost doubles your cost.
I see folks at my local range with their trusty Sig P365 trying to conceal the whole package: Paddle holster, extra mags, extended pinky rest, swiss army mod lock swivel sling attachment, tactical twinky and all. This may work in an overcoat, which can sometimes be called for in our climate, but it is not "concealed." I can recall prominently one portly fellow who had the exact print of his Glock with Optics Cut RMR proudly on "concealed" display underneath his Columbia sportsware jacket. Granted, his clothing choice and pistol arrangement probably had more to do with the printing than the RMR, but the fact stands that if it is bigger, it will show better.
I can see as well that pistol shooters in general do better with better sights. This is undeniably true: if I toss a 9x scope on my match pistol, I can hit things more consistently at greater range, provided I am not forced to support the pistol with just my hands. There in lies the problem: if you want really good accuracy out of a pistol with iron sights, you MUST practice. The same is true for red dots, but less so: the whole argument to use them relies on the purported fact that they are more accurate with less effort. Iron sights have killed many more critters of all size across the ages than any sort of scope ever has, but it takes practice. Even in the covid crunch on 9mm ammo at $20 for 50 rounds, the cost of a red dot pistol sight at $300 would buy a person 750 rounds to practice with, which is more than enough to be proficient at pistol ranges for most shooters. If that amount of ammo is not sufficient for first time proficiency level training, I highly recommend a good shot gun with buck shot.
Long rant short, there is no need for a red dot sight on a carry pistol, unless you like range time less than money or have an inspector gadget style wardrobe. If you have all the money in the world to spend and like red dot sights on your carry piece, please feel free to IM me so that I may be a passenger on your next yacht trip. Besides, I have no idea why you would waste your time reading my drivel, you obviously have better things to do like letting me drive your Maserati.
I was all for red dot sights 20 years ago, how much more fun can shooting get when you put a big ol' BSA red dot on a S&W 22A and eat up the center of a target at 25 yards? Great!
Even better, when you toss a light weight red dot like a BRS 25 on a 10/22 and give it to a properly trained 12 year old, the smiles really come out especially with a 25 round magazine.
What I fail to understand is the trend towards more and more money spent on optics for a carry gun, which is supposed to be as basic, small, and simple as it can be. Putting more crap to carry around and maintain daily (or thereabouts) on a platform designed for light weight backup in the worst situation of your life seems to make as much sense as carrying a packet of mayo to go on your emergency Twinke ration. The article referenced above did not have an MSRP for the presumably Chinese made laser in an ultra rugged housing of aluminum, but my guess is somewhere in the $300 range, which is just a skosh short of what the average consumer pays for their carry weapon.
The average carry gun from a good manufacturer costs between $300 and $500 after tax. Spend more than that, and you get some enhanced features, perhaps night sights or an upgraded trigger. Spend less and you enter Hi Point territory, which as of this writing does not have a reflex sight cut at the moment although it has been done (google for a good giggle). From there, you have to get a comfortable holster that works for your style of carry, extra magazines, and plenty of ammo to train with. The whole package for a carry gun is likely closer to $550 to $800, regardless of what you told your wife, and that does not take into account the time you will need to spend training with it to become proficient. Adding a red dot just took that well into the $1k range for a gun that will be confiscated the first time you really need to use it, and if you believe one is none and two is one, this almost doubles your cost.
I see folks at my local range with their trusty Sig P365 trying to conceal the whole package: Paddle holster, extra mags, extended pinky rest, swiss army mod lock swivel sling attachment, tactical twinky and all. This may work in an overcoat, which can sometimes be called for in our climate, but it is not "concealed." I can recall prominently one portly fellow who had the exact print of his Glock with Optics Cut RMR proudly on "concealed" display underneath his Columbia sportsware jacket. Granted, his clothing choice and pistol arrangement probably had more to do with the printing than the RMR, but the fact stands that if it is bigger, it will show better.
I can see as well that pistol shooters in general do better with better sights. This is undeniably true: if I toss a 9x scope on my match pistol, I can hit things more consistently at greater range, provided I am not forced to support the pistol with just my hands. There in lies the problem: if you want really good accuracy out of a pistol with iron sights, you MUST practice. The same is true for red dots, but less so: the whole argument to use them relies on the purported fact that they are more accurate with less effort. Iron sights have killed many more critters of all size across the ages than any sort of scope ever has, but it takes practice. Even in the covid crunch on 9mm ammo at $20 for 50 rounds, the cost of a red dot pistol sight at $300 would buy a person 750 rounds to practice with, which is more than enough to be proficient at pistol ranges for most shooters. If that amount of ammo is not sufficient for first time proficiency level training, I highly recommend a good shot gun with buck shot.
Long rant short, there is no need for a red dot sight on a carry pistol, unless you like range time less than money or have an inspector gadget style wardrobe. If you have all the money in the world to spend and like red dot sights on your carry piece, please feel free to IM me so that I may be a passenger on your next yacht trip. Besides, I have no idea why you would waste your time reading my drivel, you obviously have better things to do like letting me drive your Maserati.
