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I was shooting my Kimber TLE/RL 1911 at an indoor range yesterday. I was doing some research basically for an upcoming feral hog hunt (if it materializes) and was checking POA/POI at 15 yards. I was shooting a 3" ShootNC and doing pretty good I thought, but I noticed the guy in the lane next to me was doing badly either.
In fact he was doing a little better than me. Hmmm....
So I get to talking to him and he has this elegant Feinwerkbau .22 LR pistol. I found this pic on the web and his gun looked just about like this, except I believe he was using a different RDS. He had Ultradot which has adjustable dot size and brightness.
The attached pic is a bit small, but I didn't want to spend a lot of time 'fixing' it up; I think it's enough to get the idea.
One thing lead to another, and before I knew it, he was loading 5 rounds into the mag for me to shoot. Fortunately, he had that RDS dialed in perfectly, and he had been shooting from the bench rest in his lane.
Well, for some reason, I decided to shoot at a clean 3" dot on my target, at 15 yards off hand. The first shot was inside the inch ring on the dot. I wasn't sure where the second shot went, but I kept shooting. The third was also inside the one inch ring and I could tell one of the fourth and fifth shots hit inside the 1" ring.
I reeled the target in and the reason I couldn't tell where the second shot went was because it was so close to the first shot. All five shots were in a group under 1". I was simply amazed. It wasn't just that I had shot so well, but how easy it was. The gun/setup was simply amazing.
I found myself not enthused about shooting my Kimber at 15 yards anymore. Fortunately I ddin't have to - I was out of ammo.
I pondered why the gun was so accurate and easy to shoot - I eventually decided that the RDS, the incredible trigger, and the inherent accuracy of both the gun and ammo was the reasons.
So, I'm thinking, which one of my 1911s could I mount a RDS on and adjust the trigger down to about 3 lbs. I think I'm gonna order a base for my Burris Fastfire III RDS and just mount it in the sight dovetail and see what happens. That way if I don't like it, no harm done.
If I do like it, I'll machine an inset into the slide and mount the sight lower and more permanently. I've had this RDS on several Glocks, but they did very little for speed or accuracy.
However, there is a 'red dot sights' on SD pistols' following that swear by these things. I have an unproven theory though, based on my experience that many of that 'following' couldn't shoot well with iron sights and the RDS was easier for them. Because I shoot a lot and have good eyesight and use my sights regularly, I'm not sure I get much of an advantage in either speed or accuracy.
E.g. I put some Pro Sights on one of my Glock 17s, and the Burris Fastfire on another Glock 17 and I actually shot better and faster with the Pro Sights than the RDS.
But, after my experience yesterday, I saw that some of my groups at 15 yards was due to slight variations in sight pics. Then comparing my irons to the RDS I immediately saw an improvement. Of course there was 'some' (like night and day) difference in the gun and ammo. He was shooting match grade ammo, ironically enough, because that's all he could find.
Now I have to put one of my Bushnell TRS-25 RDS's on my Mark III and see how it does.
Getting to shoot a gun that basically takes the gun's inherent accuracy out of the picture and puts the accuracy on the shooter was eye opening.
No, I'm not going to buy one .
In fact he was doing a little better than me. Hmmm....
So I get to talking to him and he has this elegant Feinwerkbau .22 LR pistol. I found this pic on the web and his gun looked just about like this, except I believe he was using a different RDS. He had Ultradot which has adjustable dot size and brightness.
The attached pic is a bit small, but I didn't want to spend a lot of time 'fixing' it up; I think it's enough to get the idea.
One thing lead to another, and before I knew it, he was loading 5 rounds into the mag for me to shoot. Fortunately, he had that RDS dialed in perfectly, and he had been shooting from the bench rest in his lane.
Well, for some reason, I decided to shoot at a clean 3" dot on my target, at 15 yards off hand. The first shot was inside the inch ring on the dot. I wasn't sure where the second shot went, but I kept shooting. The third was also inside the one inch ring and I could tell one of the fourth and fifth shots hit inside the 1" ring.
I reeled the target in and the reason I couldn't tell where the second shot went was because it was so close to the first shot. All five shots were in a group under 1". I was simply amazed. It wasn't just that I had shot so well, but how easy it was. The gun/setup was simply amazing.
I found myself not enthused about shooting my Kimber at 15 yards anymore. Fortunately I ddin't have to - I was out of ammo.
I pondered why the gun was so accurate and easy to shoot - I eventually decided that the RDS, the incredible trigger, and the inherent accuracy of both the gun and ammo was the reasons.
So, I'm thinking, which one of my 1911s could I mount a RDS on and adjust the trigger down to about 3 lbs. I think I'm gonna order a base for my Burris Fastfire III RDS and just mount it in the sight dovetail and see what happens. That way if I don't like it, no harm done.
If I do like it, I'll machine an inset into the slide and mount the sight lower and more permanently. I've had this RDS on several Glocks, but they did very little for speed or accuracy.
However, there is a 'red dot sights' on SD pistols' following that swear by these things. I have an unproven theory though, based on my experience that many of that 'following' couldn't shoot well with iron sights and the RDS was easier for them. Because I shoot a lot and have good eyesight and use my sights regularly, I'm not sure I get much of an advantage in either speed or accuracy.
E.g. I put some Pro Sights on one of my Glock 17s, and the Burris Fastfire on another Glock 17 and I actually shot better and faster with the Pro Sights than the RDS.
But, after my experience yesterday, I saw that some of my groups at 15 yards was due to slight variations in sight pics. Then comparing my irons to the RDS I immediately saw an improvement. Of course there was 'some' (like night and day) difference in the gun and ammo. He was shooting match grade ammo, ironically enough, because that's all he could find.
Now I have to put one of my Bushnell TRS-25 RDS's on my Mark III and see how it does.
Getting to shoot a gun that basically takes the gun's inherent accuracy out of the picture and puts the accuracy on the shooter was eye opening.
No, I'm not going to buy one .
I'll have to try and remember to take pictures of the groups next week when I go shooting again. you can find Model 41's for sale running anywhere from 800-1200 on backpage. Some of the best money I've ever spent on firearms, was my Model 41, and that CZ 452.
