Red dot or not red dot?

Not red dot. But not very good either

I can hold my own inside a phone booth. Beyond that I prefer a short barreled 12 gauge.

Yes, no red dot

I'm great with a pistol it like an extension of my hand I started shooting my dads 9 mil at 5 years old. now I mainly shoot a 45 acp 1911 but any pistol I use I'm great at.
I will refuse to use a red dot. iron sights are the way to go with pistols.

Wrong.
Ask any contractor.
I am great with sights and Fantastic with a dot.

You want both on your carry pistol
Target acquisition is so much faster. With a dot

Vinke- quit shootin' down the kid, so to speak.

My trapline pistol has iron sights and it's very accurate as I am with it.

Never found much use for a pistol myself

red dots can fail irons don't red dots need battery's irons don't the list goes on and on

Go on and on then.
Tell me more .......

I used to have the same fear about red dots and batteries. I don't now, the red dot on top of my main AR has been running for 4 years on the same AAA battery. It's also been in salt water a few times, dropped on rocks, fallen off a snow machine, and seen -40° more than once. And it still turns on and off, and holds zero better than any rifle scope I've ever had

Sorry....
Shooting .Just shooting my mouth off.....

We didn't have red dots back when I was qualifying, revolver days...always a 300 score, but I can see a red dot on a pistol can make a mediocre shot good, and a good shot even gooder, lol

I like both, better to help one keep on track using both I believe, as to how good with a pistol, well no rock or board has ever given me grief back, I have a few to always mix and match to keep in practice !

Good dots have a " wake up" mode.

For myself ..... if i had to shoot at a perpetrator holding a hostage from the back of church to the front,,,, i would want a dot....

.45acp 1911 with factory irons all the way for me. I Can't hit much past ten yards, but that's why spare clips were invented.....lol
can't beat beat it for under $400 at the hardware store though.

I think we should start by defining what is good

people have vastly different ideas of what good is and with what kind of pistol.

so what is competent lots of different measures and different skills and different distances


here is how Jeff Cooper measured competent with a defensive handgun

as a El prez in sub 10 seconds

an El Prez is 3 USPSA/IDPA targets at 7 yards each target is 1 yard apart left right
you start holstered in the surrender position back facing the target , hands with thumbs above ears
on the beep you turn , draw fire 2 rounds into each target , perform a reload and repeat 2 rounds each target

this is a turn and draw , 6 rounds , reload , 6 more rounds
this is a total of 12 rounds on target the A zone is 6 inches wide 12 inches tall center of torso Jeff coopers A zone or zero down zone was an 8 inch circle basically the same area just different shapes.
time to beat is 10 seconds

then you can see how fast you can push it taking a couple C zone hits

Jeff passed away before slide mounted dot sights were available so if a dot take a second off your time do it in 9 seconds.

good dots never turn off and run more than a year on a battery , you replace the battery on a schedule ever year even though they will go more like 2-3 years.

I still like backup irons on a rifle.
on a pistol you still have irons you just have to look a little for it.

A good owner just services their gear . Basic maintenance. Hay extra batteries just like extra ammo ,jags cleaning rods ect