Why use a red dot?

Why a Red Dot?

The question comes up occasionally “Why put a red dot on a handgun?” and the answer has been debated for some time. Red Dot Sights (RDS) have come a very long way in development over the past several years. What used to be large and clunky with poor battery life are now compact, extremely durable and in some cases battery life is over a year or more. Use of a RDS has become standard practice for military, law enforcement and most rifle shooters but pistol use has only grown in the past few years.

We will be highlighting different components of using a RDS on a handgun over the next few months in our blog. We will be covering accuracy, technology, durability, and situational awareness just to name a few. Many of these findings have been published by Aaron Cowan of Sage Dynamics in his 4 year study on RDS use. We encourage you to read the entire study online at this link: http://docs.wixstatic.com/ugd/7dc128_50a7c57f2d284e53bca8584a7f7925b1.pdf

First, and what some consider the most important aspect is accuracy. As the saying goes “only accurate rifles are interesting.” And we think this applies to handguns also. We all know that the most common handgun sighting system has been the front and rear sights which require alignment both horizontally and vertically. This is something responsible handgun owners can practice through dry firing in order to become more proficient at speed.

The use of a RDS aids in accuracy as it is simply a one plane sight. The red dot “floats” within the sighting system allowing the shooter to see the target instead of having it occluded by the handgun’s sights. The more of a target that is visible allows the shooter to use more precise aiming with the dot than what they could have achieved with standard iron sights in most cases.

Next Blog post we will cover a different aspect of RDS use on handguns. Thank you for reading and if you are interested in mounting a RDS on your handgun please check out our Modular Red Dot Adapter (MRA) at this link: https://outerimpact.com/product-category/red-dot-sight-adapter/

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