Originally Posted by
kirkland
Really great video and just confirms a lot of my thinking on pistol red dots. The biggest disadvantage in my opinion is the possibility of losing the dot, having to reacquire the dot, or if the dot has failed, switching to irons. On a rifle it's completely different. It's very easy to get behind your optic on a rifle. With four points of contact and a longer stick which naturally helps to get lined up correctly, the dot is gonna be there, you won't have to hunt to find it. With a pistol being held out in front of you at arm's length and only supported by your wrists, it's much easier to have a slight misalignment, and it doesn't take much for the dot to be out of the window. Smaller optic, farther away from your eye = less forgiving of misalignment.
His points about the amount of practice required get proficient with one and the extra added maintenance made a lot of sense too. I love red dots on rifles, they're proven and work great. There's no denying the aiming advantage they have over iron sights. Full size red dots made for rifles have rock solid mounting and longer battery life and it's not something that really needs to be worried about compared to the mini red dots on pistols.
I'd still like to aquire one at some point for range practice. But for carry pistol I'll be sticking with irons for the foreseeable future.