I’ve dropped the ball. In my January 2009 column of Law Officer, I wrote about using a mini red dot sight on a handgun and how I intended to use it during the coming year to determine its validity on a combative pistol. I had told readers that at the end of the test period, I would report back about what I had found. But I forgot. Then I was reminded at the 2011 SHOT Show by an officer who attended my Enhancing Combative Pistolcraft Skills lecture. The officer asked, “What did you discover about mini red dot sights on pistols? You said you would report back, but I never saw it!” As Charlie Brown would say, “Rats!”
The first time I saw a compact red dot sight on a combative pistol was on the Glock 19 of trainer Kelly McCann. A former Marine with an extensive background in special ops, as well as a master in hand-to-hand combat and firearms skills, McCann left the Marines in the early 1990s and started his own training company called Crucible. He and his staff train military special mission units, security contractors, teams and individuals who are deploying around the globe for high-risk environment operations.
McCann wanted to have the same visual sight on his carry pistol that was on his carbine, so he placed a Docter optic on his Glock and began to run the gun. McCann presents his reasons for changing to a red dot sight in his video training series Inside the Crucible, from Paladin Press. His use of the sight led a number of others to place compact red dots on their combat handguns—including me. The concept is becoming so popular that a number of custom gunsmiths are now mounting these sights into (cutting a dove tail) a pistol’s slide to offer a lower profile and allow for co-witnessing with iron sights in the event of failure.
During the year that I used the red dot, I used a fixed-sight slide as a control. I carried the red dot (I selected the J Point from J.P. Enterprises) in all weather conditions, as well as a few competitions and training courses, all in an attempt to see how well the sight would hold up. Although it takes time to get used to the red dot and not look for the front sight, after an officer grasps the concept, the red dot sight is fast and accurate even at a distance and allows the shooter to look at the target through the sight. I passed this gun around during SWAT training for a local team, and all who shot it liked the idea that the pistol sight looked the same as their rifle sight. Such continuity would be a real plus during training and operations.
Do I believe these are the next generation of pistol sights? It will depend on how the sights develop and what their cost will be. Very few people are going to spend $700 to $1,000 on a pistol and then another $500 to $1,000 for a sight. Those who purchase a less expensive gun are even less likely to do this. If the gun comes from the factory with the sight attached and the cost is built into the gun, then I think there may be a possibility that this sight system will be what the YouTube generation will be using on their combative pistols.
Will iron sights go away? No more than they have for carbines. A contingency plan is always a good thing and having sights to fall back on in the event the optic fails is just good practice.
Trijicon Trials
Do compact red dots offer any advantage over traditional iron sights? Trijicon instructor Pete McGrath partnered with criminal justice professor James Ryan of Norwich University to determine if the Trijicon RMR (RM02 8 MOA dot) optic enhanced the learning curve of new shooters. 27 students majoring in criminal justice from Norwich underwent a simulated training course of fire using the International Defensive Pistol Association (IDPA) silhouette targets for four different stages of fire. Thirteen students used iron sights and 14 students used the RMR optic. The test subjects for this project group were thought to represent those likely to be entry-level police cadets or military recruits. The firearm used was a 9 mm Glock 19. The course of fire consisted of four stages with the subjects firing all shots from the standing position using an isosceles two-hand stance.
Stage 1: A slow-fire exercise at 15 yards with each subject firing 10 shots.
Stage 1: The group using iron sights fired a total of 130 shots, 97 of which hit the target for a hit percentage of 75%. Those using the Trijicon RMR fired a total of 140 shots, 137 of which hit the target producing a hit percentage of 98%.
Stage 3: The group using iron sights fired 130 shots, 105 of which hit the target for a hit rate of 81%. Those using the RMR fired 140 shots, 136 of which hit the target, producing a hit rate of 96%.
Norwich University researchers readily admit the study was too small to be considered trend setting, but it does offer interesting research possibilities for the future. While I admit I’m not a statistician and don’t know how statistical significance is determined, I can’t help but notice that shooters hit their targets at a higher level of accuracy when using the mini red dot sight. To me, any tool that helps cops hit their target while under the stress and duress of armed conflict is worth studying. Red dot sights on pistols are the future of combative pistolcraft. It’s just a matter of when it will happen.
• The sight is fast and accurate. Though I didn’t overly abuse the sight, it did hold its zero through normal-to-rugged use.
• When going from cold to hot environments, the sight would always fog over. I tried several different defog products and most worked as advertised. The only problem was knowing when I might have to defog. I found that wiping the sight with saliva worked just as well, and I always had a supply of that on hand!
• The sight got in the way of the rotating hood-style of the police duty/SWAT holster. A thumb break worked just fine, as well as open top concealment holsters, which is what I used most of the time.
• The sight window was chipped on several occasions by extracted brass that went back instead of out. This didn’t affect the sight or obscure the dot because the J Point has an acrylic window, not glass.
• Although the sight did stand up to abuse, I don’t know what would have happened if the gun was dropped with the sight top down. It’s doubtful that the sight would go flat, so the back-up fixed sights should work fine.
• The sight was no harder to conceal in a proper belt holster than traditional fixed-pistol sights, and was even faster to draw from the holster.
Pete McGrath offered some interesting observations and advantages in his report to Trijicon executives. The following is taken directly from his report.
2. Elimination of “eye sprint”: Citing an article written in Law Officer Magazine January 2009 by Dave Spaulding, eye sprint is a term often used to describe exactly that: the eye sprinting from the target to the front sight to verify alignment and then back to the target while maintaining awareness of the location of the front sight between the rear sights. The process can be slow and takes practice to get faster. With that in mind, it’s widely known that one of the physiological effects of imminent danger instinctively forces someone to focus on the threat, not the front sight as is required in a three-dot sight set-up. The red dot sight allows a shooter in a gunfight to do what is natural, focusing on the threat, while superimposing the red dot on it.
3. Decreased training time: It costs departments and agencies money to conduct initial training and subsequent annual training in firearms. The traditional three-dot-style sight takes training and practice to get a shooter used to lining up all three dots and bringing them to a level of proficiency where they can qualify. If you eliminate the three-dot-style sight and simply have one dot, you can very possibly cut training time and ammo costs associated with training.
4. Old eyes: There are many law enforcement officers who have been “on the street” for many years and have skill sets that only come with age and experience. Often, these very officers struggle as they get older because their eyes simply cannot focus on traditional pistol sights as well as they used to. A red dot style pistol sight would significantly reduce this problem by placing the dot on the same focal plane as the target, possibly buying these professionals some more time in public service.
5. Increased effectiveness in low light: In a low-light situation, where an officer may struggle finding his sights to engage a threat, a red dot illuminated-style sight would ensure that speed and officer survival wasn’t compromised.