Red Dots on Pistols: Are backup irons really necessary?

[kwelz]

I can only speak for myself. But open emitter RDS are still not as bombproof as the closed emitters we use on rifles. So I still run BUIS on all mine.

[yoni]

I was one of the first to run a red dot on a carry pistol. I have the receipt from Spring 2001, for my first red dot a Dr. Optic. This was mounted on a mount that fit into the dovetail of the rear sight. I carried that Glock 34 for years, it had to back up iron sights.

I then went to a RMR with full backup irons. I found the rear sight to be a distraction.

On my red dot pistols today they all have a front sight and no rear sight.

On a carry gun, lets be honest the chance of having to shoot past 25 yards is so small as to be almost nonexistent. I can get good hits out to 25 yards with no sweat using the body of the red dot as a big ghost ring with the front sight, if I should lose the dot. I can go out to much farther but the times really slow down. I will note that on my CZ P07, the front sight is a night sight. The other night when my battery went down, a new battery I might add, I looked at the glowing night sight through the glass and felt just great.

So my set up is front sight no rear, it works great.

[markm]

I have yet to see an RDS pistol set up that comes within a MILE of reliability. The market is there for the development of a system that can take the beating and have the battery life of an aimpoint rifle sight.

In a few years, we'll be looking back at the current options like the dark ages.

[seb5]

I've played with them, shot a few, and don't own one yet. I've got an MOS 19 and 41 but no RDS yet. My thoughts are that with rifles, which I adopted RDS early, the Aimpoint rose to the top quickly. It's not the only one but it's still the top of the pack as far as I'm concerned. We haven't had one of the pistol RDS float to the top yet. When that happens I'll pull the trigger, so to speak. I also know that they are becoming more and more reliable as we progress. However I don't think they are as big an improvement on a pistol as a rifle. I can't imagine not having an optic on an AR but just don't feel it's a necessity on a handgun.

[.45fan]

I recently put an rmrcc on a S&W Shield with a suppressor height front sight and NO rear sight,
I'm not the biggest fan of it.

All my others have suppressor height front and rear black sights with the rear behind the RDS (at back of slide). I like this the best.

My cousin has a line painted on the RMR window and no rear sight with suppressor height front, I tried to save a few bucks and copy that with the above mentioned shield, but its not the best choice for me.

I run backup sights because I've seen one RMR window pop out during a class and about a dozen halosun RDS fail either in classes or competition.

I swear by Trijicon but have witnessed that one failure with my own eyes so I now say RDS are not 100%. I still really prefer them but realize that plan B and even C aren't bad ideas to have.

[.45fan]

I have yet to purchase a red dot pistol sight. However when researching the j point I read an article where the author stated that at night, the dot can be washed out with a powerful enough weapon light. Just one more thing to take into consideration but if it were me, I would absolutely have irons.

This us true, even with the Trijicon RMR.

I learned the auto adjust brightness models have this issue, I corrected it by switching to manual adjust brightness models now.

Before leaving the house in the dark, I bump up the brightness two times and haven't had an issue since.

I've done this at a low light class also with no washout during the class.

[MegademiC]

I run std hight sights on my glocks w/rmr.
Id be ok without a rear but would always have a front.

[Ron3]

Thanks for replies!

[DuckFart]

There's no way that reliability is the string suit for a group of products that is dominated by NEW Chinese companies. I had an RMR on a patrol rifle for some time and it was fine, but I wouldn't trust a 1-5 year old random Chinese company to make a reliable aiming device that I might depend on in a dire situation.

[yoni]

I have watched Aaron of Sage Dynamics beat Holosuns and they have held up beyond what I thought they would.

As of now my dots are RMR and Leupold Delta micro.

As part of my responsibilities for my company, is to search out new and good products for our clients. I found on Gunbroker a Holosun 509T that had been a demo model in a gun store, but never on a pistol that has been fired. It was at a huge discount, so yesterday I bought it with the idea of trying to break it under conditions are clients work under.