This is the first video in a new series on pistol red dots. It covers the benefits of using these sights. Pistol red dots have gained popularity in both shooting sports and defensive communities due to their size, durability and battery life. There are many benefits to utilizing pistol red dots, including the most important – to allow a user to stay threat-focused.
Sponsored by GLOCK
I know that some of you may be thinking, “What is a pistol red dot?” A red dot sight is a sighting system for firearms that gives users a point of aim in the form of an illuminated red dot.
When shooting with a pistol red dot, you’re able to stay focused on your target or threat, rather than having to focus on the front sight. This means the threat never gets blurry and you can maintain a visual sight on the target or threat the entire time.
Traditionally, when you’re shooting a firearm with iron sights, you have to line up your front and rear sight. Once you’ve lined up your sights, you have to superimpose them onto your target while also ensuring that you keep equal space on both sides of your front sight.
A red dot sight, on the other hand, allows you to overlay your dot on the target while maintaining the single focal plane. Simply put, lining up two things is easier than lining up three. This concept makes it easier to track moving targets and engage while on the move. Additionally, this provides more consistency for shooters and translates to better accuracy, especially at greater distances.
Also, maintaining front sight focus only gets more difficult with poor vision. This is why older shooters with vision problems see vast improvements while utilizing red dots. According to the Center for Disease Control, 11 million Americans, 40 years and older suffer from vision impairment issues. This is a substantial number of individuals that could benefit from adopting pistol red dots. This benefit translates to aging shooters staying in the sport longer and also helps maintain confidence in their defensive shooting capabilities.
Many manufacturers, such as GLOCK, are machining pistols that come ready to accept an optic. An example of this is the GLOCK 19 Gen 5 MOS. This pistol comes with hardware to mount your optic in place with minimal skill and effort. Historically speaking, this was something you had to send your firearm off to a custom shop to do. This new ease of use also allows the end operator to bridge the gap into pistol mounted red dots, while cutting cost and saving time.
In the next video in our series, we will explain how to mount your red dot to your pistol.
Avery Skipalis is the owner of Skip’s Tactical Solutions, an organization that focuses on empowering women, men and children to make sure that no one else becomes a victim. She gained her firearms experience from the military where she’s been a military firearms instructor for 10.5 years. She’s also a certified NRA rifle and pistol instructor and Glock Advanced Armorer since 2015. She’s attended Sig Sauer Academy, FNH, Special Operations Command Armorers courses as well as multiple Advanced Shooting Schools across the United States. She resides in Florida with her husband and 2 kids. She’s currently serving in the United States Air Force and loves sharing her passion with others. She thinks it’s important that women also feel like they’re in control of their own safety. View all posts by Avery Skipalis
