Is It Time For A Pistol MRDS?

Recently I took a huge step out of my comfort zone and took a course on how to use a red dot sight on a pistol. The idea of using an MRDS (Micro Red Dot Sight) on a pistol has seemed more like a trendy move and didn't appeal to me in the least. However, I like to step outside of my comfort zone often and try new things, so I coughed up some cash and took a course on the pistol MRDS using a rental pistol and gear. What an experience! Anyways, in the next few paragraphs, I want to glaze over a few things that I noticed that a red dot can do for you that irons never could.

When people first try a red dot sight out, they tend to treat the dot like iron sights. However, the red dot sight allows you to maintain a target focus and completely relieves you of the obligatory sight tracking chore. This is one of the hardest adjustments I have had to make. Some of us have spent years throwing 3 perfectly aligned posts in our sight plane, and replacing those posts with a small dot can screw with you mentally at first. However, once you get some reps and proper guidance on what to do, you start to see why running a dot can make life a little easier.

Using a red dot on a pistol will test your natural point of aim. If you are used to using your sights to help you punch out, you will be slow and ineffective when you use a red dot. The advantage of the red dot is that it more relies of your natural point of aim and ability to "index" the gun on the target.  With a red dot, the only thing you have to do is punch out towards the target and get to work rather than ride the extension and perform a focal shift to verify the sight posts are lining up correctly.

A red dot is going to show you a very fine point on which to aim. This makes it terrific for precision and ranged work if you have it well zeroed to your shooting patterns. Iron sights on pistols are generally crude and yet people seem to still be capable of squeezing good precision out of them. This has more to do with how your brain takes what your eyes are showing it and how you physically respond to this visual data. I noticed for instance that my focus on getting my dot into my visual plane caused me to neglect my grip, which caused the dot to wobble everywhere. This in turn gave me anxiety and I started to rip shots off all over the place, despite a poor grip. As the training progressed, I found that the natural point of aim and grip being solid would show me the dot and stabilize it for me. It have more to do with a proper grip and indexing on the target rather than using your eyes to FIND things.

Throughout the day of training, I learned a good amount about how to control and run the red dot, and even found out how it can be an advantage. However, there are some downsides to it and some reasons why not everyone will be able to just jump on the band wagon. These are discussions for another article. In the meantime, just know that I am pretty happy with the fact that I got to start off on the right foot and get professional guidance while exploring a new technology. My only advise is to spend the money and get professional training and guidance on how to properly run a red dot.