New to the carry optics game...

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  • MCgrease08

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    Leaning toward the Holosun ACSS Vulcan.
    Mine is tracking to get here tomorrow. I'm pumped.

    I am trying to keep expectations in check about moving to a red dot. I know a lot of people struggle with the transition and finding the dot. But I've been doing a lot of presentation drills lately by focusing on the target and bringing the gun up into my field of view rather than bringing my eyes to the gun. For me it's much more intuitive. Frankly I have always struggled with multiple focal planes inherent to iron sights and staying focused on the front sight.

    I actually think the transition to a red dot will be fairly seamless for me. That might be wishful thinking, but I'm excited to put in the work.
     

    gregkl

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    Mine is tracking to get here tomorrow. I'm pumped.

    I am trying to keep expectations in check about moving to a red dot. I know a lot of people struggle with the transition and finding the dot. But I've been doing a lot of presentation drills lately by focusing on the target and bringing the gun up into my field of view rather than bringing my eyes to the gun. For me it's much more intuitive. Frankly I have always struggled with multiple focal planes inherent to iron sights and staying focused on the front sight.

    I actually think the transition to a red dot will be fairly seamless for me. That might be wishful thinking, but I'm excited to put in the work.
    I bet you will do fine. I have always struggled with the concept of front sight focus. I was taught to focus on the target, where you or whatever your sending needs to go. Whether that was an arrow, basketball or car, it didn't matter.

    Probably why I picked up Trap faster than the pistol sports.

    I'm still working it out, but I'm slower to learn than most so I'm okay with it. I didn't do much dry fire last week and my times today at the range reflected that. It's still the draw to first shot where I lose the most time. But when I look more than a week or so back, I do see improvement. No where near ready for prime time gaming, but I have the winter to improve. :)
     

    bwframe

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    Like most, you are fighting procedural memory of your draw stroke. You simply need to reprogram your push out to full extension with the pistol held a bit lower. Come on over some time and I'll show you what I mean by that statement. And the good news is that it will only take several thousand repititions to reprogram to the point it will be as comfortable as your iron sights.
    This has been very solid advice for me.
     

    MCgrease08

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    Last night I was experimenting with building a human sized target for presentation and dry fire drills. I live in an apartment currently so to be extra safe I use a 5 gallon bucket filled with sand with different colored aiming spots to practice dry fire. That's going to be my "center mass" and primary point of aim, but I added a basketball head. The black lettering does a pretty nice job of representing the occular window.

    This was a proof of concept more than anything. I'll refine it with larger aiming points once I have the slide milled and dot installed. It's hard to tell from the photo but as it sits, the "attacker" stands about 5' 9" - 5' 10".
     

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    Gd999

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    I have the Streamlight TLR-2 with the green light on my two favorite guns. A glock 19 and a glock 20. I sighted it in with a laser bullet for now, and will adjust if needed at the range. I found a special custom holster that fits it with the light on amazon.
     

    cbhausen

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    Last night I was experimenting with building a human sized target for presentation and dry fire drills. I live in an apartment currently so to be extra safe I use a 5 gallon bucket filled with sand with different colored aiming spots to practice dry fire. That's going to be my "center mass" and primary point of aim, but I added a basketball head. The black lettering does a pretty nice job of representing the occular window.

    This was a proof of concept more than anything. I'll refine it with larger aiming points once I have the slide milled and dot installed. It's hard to tell from the photo but as it sits, the "attacker" stands about 5' 9" - 5' 10".

    Just use your TV set. Dynamic targets depending on content. You can even practice shooting the bad guys and sparing the good guys if you watch the right shows. Add purple if desired.
     
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    jwamplerusa

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    MCgrease08, get on Sage Dynamics youtube channel and watch his series on transitioning to an RDS. His videos were tremendously helpful to me.

    The Sage Dynamics website also has a downloadable cranial and thoracic overlay to print out on 8.5X11. He has videos on both targets on YouTube as well.

    A laser cartridge, and BarrelBlok dry fire setup, along with Sage Dynamics targets make an excellent training setup.
     

    bwframe

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    You can make your gun inoperable and safe with a zip tie through the barrel. If you use a bright color and leave the tag hanging out the muzzle, maybe your neighbors won't call in the crazy man pointing the gun?
     

    MCgrease08

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    MCgrease08, get on Sage Dynamics youtube channel and watch his series on transitioning to an RDS. His videos were tremendously helpful to me.
    Way ahead of you friend. I've already binge watched them and then some.

    I'm also already signed up for a Sage Dynamics RDS pistol class at the Lebanon police range in August.
     

    MCgrease08

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    That looks like it will be a good class!
    I'm excited. Although the course description lists ammo requirement of 1k rounds over 2 days. I hope that's just old boiler plate and the drills are adjusted to allow for a lower round count. I don't know how many students will be willing or able to burn through a case of ammo given the current availability and price.
     

    gregkl

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    Watched that last night. Thanks for posting it. I like the RMR, but if I would decide to put a dot on my Shield, I may end up with the Holosun 407K. The footprint is smaller and I like the idea of using as little real estate as possible on such a small slide.

    At this point, though I'm shooting the Shield with irons almost, and in some cases, better than my Compact that has the RMR. I still need more time as I'm slower picking up the dot on the draw and about equal on the following shots when I compare the two. I won't put a dot on the Shield until I feel I am at a disadvantage by having iron's on it.
     

    cbhausen

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    I’m all in on an RDS for my EDC. Glock 19 MOS with a Holosun 507C-X2 ACSS Vulcan on the way (probably a month out at this point).

    I just got my Safariland 7378RDS and although a bit chunky it holds the G19 securely with or without RDS and light or laser/light combo. One carry rig that can do it all (including home defense).

    Now I have to do my part. Considering the cost of ammo these days, I see LOTS of dry-fire with my shot timer in my future.

    Main reason for transitioning to RDS for carry rig: With my aging eyesight I’d rather be focusing on the target than the front sight.
     

    breakingcontact

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    I'm curious about the grip change. Got any more details on that? Pics or links or something?
    It is what helped me in my presentation. What you need to change may differ.

    Giving more grip/pressure with my support hand effectively tipped the barrel down slightly. I learned that with irons most of us cheat and have the barrel up slightly to see the front sight quicker on presentation. Do that with an RDS and you won't have the dot in the window.
     
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