The Importance of Red Dot Pistol Training

Recently, I decided to jump on the band wagon and add red dot sights to both of my carry pistols. Mounting a Holosun 507C on my Glock 19 and a Sig Romeo Zero on the P365XL. After a few trips to the range, I felt like I may have made a big mistake. The time it took me from draw to cracking that first shot increased significantly over the iron sights I’d used for decades. Which was highly discouraging.

The Red Dot clinic is a 4-hour block of basic instruction on how to use a pistol equipped with an optic effectively.

So I enrolled in a red dot specific pistol clinic at Marksmanship Training Center. Located just north of Lake City, Michigan, this multifaceted facility offers everything from a 1000+ yard range, CQB range, several 25 yard bays and everything in-between. Plus a strong instructor cadre with MIL/LEO backgrounds. Some readers may recall my long-range and ballistic training at MTC in previous articles. This clinic was scheduled for 4 hours and focused on how to use a pistol equipped with red dot effectively.

Students received instruction and practical application of:

• • Weapon Safety
  • Zeroing your red dot equipped pistol
  • Fundamentals of pistol marksmanship
  • Accuracy with a red dot equipped pistol
  • Drawing with a red dot
  • Red dot pistol equipped manipulations
  • Red dot pistol equipped malfunction clearance

After a thorough safety briefing, all 10 students were on the firing line to check their zero. Fortunately, 9 of 10 were zeroed and we began training shortly after. Starting with grip and stance fundamentals, I was quickly reminded that I was out of sorts. My years in the Ranger Regiment primarily focused on the carbines carried in the line-squads. Pistol training was nothing more than an after thought and it was showing. Bad habits were already leading to sub-par performance.

Once my fundamentals were addressed, I could immediately see better results on the paper. The main reason I was shooting slower with the red dot sight than my iron sights was simple. I was drawing the pistol, pointing it at the target, then moving my head to finally align the dot with the target. Rather than bringing the dot into view and keeping my head stationary. Several repetitions later and I was starting to get it. We also worked on magazine changes and clearing malfunctions. Which is important because the sight changes how you manipulate the pistol.

Another interesting block of instruction had the students place the silhouette in the sight window but with the red dot itself, offset to the left, right, above and below the target center. Basically mis-aligning the dot on purpose. Turns out, purposely mis-aligning the dot and shooting from 3, 5, 7, 10 and 15 yards were still scoring lethal hits on the silhouette target. Proving that in a stressful gunfight, just getting the target in the window is typically good enough. This drill ultimately helped speed up our draw to shoot times across the board.

Final Thoughts:

Like red dot sights commonly found on carbines, the pistol red dot is becoming more popular. And will most likely be commonplace for both military and law enforcement shooters in the near future. The incredibly long battery life, automatic turn-on feature and rugged durability make these sights a great choice. At almost 50 years of age, I’m starting to see eyesight deterioration and the dot is much easier to pick up. Simply placing the brilliant dot on the target rather than focusing on the front sight post, aligning the rear sight and target. It simplifies and ultimately expedites the target alignment leading to speedier shots.

If you choose to add a red dot sight to your pistol, I highly recommend seeking out a course in your area with certified instructors to help guide you through a new way of aiming. Who knows, you may get more out of the class than expected, like I did.