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It wasn’t all that long ago that there were no real alternatives to the built-in sights (more commonly known as “iron sights” since, in a nod to the obvious, they’re made of metal) on a pistol, but now there are Red Dot Sights. Rifles had scopes, but as for scopes on a pistol…well, while we’ve seen it done, that doesn’t make it a good idea. (Besides, scopes are for long-range shooting. Not only are they unnecessary at short range, but they also actually make it harder to acquire a close target quickly no matter the weapon.)
About the only upgrade available was to so-called “night sights,” consisting of two dots on either side of the rear sight and one dot on the front sight made of a glow-in-the-dark material (on the cheap side) or just white paint (on the really cheap side) or tritium and phosphor (on the expensive side), which glows because tritium is an isotope of hydrogen that’s radioactive. These days there are also fiber optic options…but night sights are a topic for another conversation altogether.
Over the past couple of decades, the holographic, or “red dot,” sight has become increasingly common. Early versions were pricey, and it’s still possible to drop a respectable wad of cash on one, but these days there are plenty of good quality red dot sights available at very reasonable prices.
These sights were designed initially for rifles, but downsized models intended for pistols weren’t long in coming. No matter the intended weapon, the advertised benefit is faster and more accurate shooting—in other words, it’s easier to aim at your target and faster to get the weapon aimed, and your shots go where you intend. All of these are significant pluses when you’re talking about a concealed carry self-defense weapon that will most likely be used in a high stress surprise situation.
The main drawback of iron sights is a concept called sight picture. This involves bracketing the front sight post with the rear sight as shown here. If you’ve done any shooting, you know that sight picture is less complicated than it sounds, but it’s still something that takes training and practice. Getting proper sight alignment while also getting your weapon on target is not always a quick process, especially under stress.
A red dot sight, by contrast, involves putting some type of illuminated crosshair or circle (called a reticle) or in the simplest terms just a dot on your target. If that sounds a lot easier, more intuitive, and faster than sight picture, you’re absolutely right. In fact, a common name for this type of sight is “reflex sight,” which should give you some idea of just how intuitive they are.
These sights consist of a clear window in a metal frame and mount on top of the pistol toward the rear of the slide. (Some typical pistol reflex sights from Trijicon, a leading manufacturer, are shown here.) The reticle or dot appears in the window.
So it probably sounds to you as if a red dot or reflex sight is a no-brainer. Well, the first question you should ask (as with any gadget) is the most basic one: Do they work?
Trijicon (the manufacturer mentioned a moment ago, which incidentally provides weapon optics to the U.S. military) asked Norwich University to research this very question. The study used criminal justice students from the university to simulate a “typical civilian” (that is, someone without law enforcement or military weapons training), which is a plus; the main drawback was that the sample size was small—only 27 people. (That might sound like a lot, but formal research normally uses a lot more.) Still, the results seem to indicate that reflex sights both improve accuracy and shorten engagement times (that is, how long it takes to get the weapon on target and fire). Learn more here Norwich study
The study had the students fire four different shooting drills: slow fire at 10 yards, rapid fire at 5 yards, rapid fire at 10 yards (with all three of these at a single target), and then rapid fire at multiple targets at 10 yards. What were the results?
Again, these aren’t scientifically airtight results, but it does seem clear that accuracy improved and engagement time decreased, whether for slow or rapid fire and regardless of range. So the answer is yes, these sights work.
That being the case, why isn’t every pistol owner running around with a reflex sight on his or her weapon? There are some drawbacks, although they are fairly minor.
A couple of them are caused by the fact that these sights use a clear window. If you wear glasses, you know that leaving an air conditioned building and stepping into that lovely humidity outside causes optics to fog over temporarily. This isn’t a huge issue. It’s especially no big deal if you live in a dry climate, but even if you fight humidity, you can apply an anti-fog agent to the sight’s window. Problem solved.
Another potential problem—and really, this is more for frequent shooters—is that because of the way most semiautomatic pistols eject the empty bullet casing (the “brass”) relative to where the sight is mounted, there is the possibility that a casing can hit the sight window and crack it. Obviously, sight manufacturers are aware of this risk and have designed accordingly. Most sight windows are acrylic, not glass, and pretty resilient.
That brings us to the main issues for a concealed carry weapon: Does a reflex sight affect conceal-ability or draw time? As described earlier, the sight mounts on top of the pistol. Any time you add bulk to a weapon, you make it at least a little harder to conceal. For clarity, here is the same weapon with and without a reflex sight.
As you can see, we’re not talking about a huge addition to the pistol. For a female who is using a purse carry, a reflex sight is not likely to be much of a consideration. Even for a male, who is more likely to use a waist holster, the sight shouldn’t interfere with the ability to conceal. Make sure your bag has plenty of room. A backpack might make sense backpacks for conceal carry
The other issue is draw time—more specifically, what is the risk that the sight will snag on something during draw? You can probably tell that the sight above is contoured and rounded and therefore unlikely to hang up. This is only one of many available red dot sights, of course, so you should always test how a specific sight will work on your own pistol and with how you carry. (Some sights are also bulkier than the one shown here.)
In truth, when it comes to draw time, the issue isn’t as much about what kind of accessories are on your weapon or how you carry as much as it is about practice. Test-drawing a couple of times with no issues and leaving it at that is not the answer. You need to practice a lot—more than you think you should, probably—until you develop muscle memory. You shouldn’t have to think about the process of drawing your pistol; it should be instinctive. This is not a one-time thing, either; you should practice periodically for as long as you carry your weapon.
Enough about practice—that’s a topic for another conversation. The bottom line is that reflex or red dot sights are effective and easy to use and will improve your odds of putting rounds on target should the time come to defend yourself or someone else.
There is, we should add, a viable alternative to the red dot sight that is extremely well suited to self-defense scenarios in particular—the laser—but that, too, is another conversation altogether…so stay tuned!
