OK, I’ll try to work with you on this. Let’s see? First of all, I am not entirely sure that you understand the true purpose and utility that an
RMR ‘Red Dot’ pistol optic has to offer.
Back in the late 1990’s when
Bruce Piatt was a widely recognized pistol champion, I read about an interview he had where he praised a brand new pistol ‘
sight’ he had been playing around with as the fastest pistol sight he had ever used!
That was it for me! I’d seen Piatt shoot, and if he said that a certain pistol sight was the best he’d ever used then I had to have one too. Herein is the big advantage to red dot pistol optics: These pistol optics allow the shooter to quickly pick up on a target (including a moving target), and very quickly deliver accurate gunfire onto it.
The main problem I’ve had with these optics is that sometimes, like when you move from a dully lit area out into bright sunlight, they can ‘
wash out’ on you, and too often at the wrong time! Rain can also distort the target image. However, when a red dot optic works it really works well.
Law-enforcement and military units all over the world are now using the latest generation(s) of RMR red dot optics; so it is more than safe to say that red dots are here to stay! They are, indeed, faster to use and acquire a target with than older conventional iron sights.
Would I put one on my own carry gun? The answer for me is probably not. Why? Because, while I have bought and used them, an RMR on a handgun is just too alien for me. RMR red dots can also introduce a lot of technical adjustments that I’ve never been comfortable with.
The ones I owned were always a little too large for my liking; I had to fiddle around too much with adjusting the dot brightness, and once zeroed-in, they’re going to have to stay on the gun for a while. Did I pick up any sort of speed advantage? Maybe, but not enough for me to forsake my good old iron sights.
You have said, “I
just cant see spending the money on something you probably won’t have the time to use and may, potentially, get in the way causing you (to lose) precious life-saving seconds if they get hung up on something or fail.”
If that should happen, and I am not saying that it couldn’t, or wouldn’t, then I would have to say that you waited too long to bring your own pistol (any pistol) into action.
Now, there is a big difference between a CQB pistol ambush situation, and a CQB pistol gunfight. The one event is NOT the equivalent of the other. One of the most useful techniques for staying alive inside of a violent encounter like this is to bring your own pistol into action sooner rather than later; and at this an RMR red dot optic excels!
An ambush is a very close quarter attack that you really can’t do too much about, and your available self-defense options are very limited.
Not so, however, if you are able to see (or anticipate) the attack coming. Anytime you have the advantage of seeing the attack coming you should immediately make one critical (often life-saving) self-defense move: What is it? It is this:
NEVER ALLOW YOUR ATTACKER TO CLOSE THE DISTANCE BETWEEN YOU, AND STEP INTO HIS OWN ‘
PERSONAL SPHERE OF GUNFIGHTING COMPETENCE’ WITHOUT, FIRST, BRINGING YOUR OWN GUN UP AND INTO ACTION.
In my experience, a typical gun-toting attacker will usually wait to begin firing until he’s reasonably certain that his first salvo is going to hit you, and promptly take you out. What distance is being considered here?
Again, in my experience (and I’ve watched hundred of people—all different sorts of people—practice their pistol shooting) the preferred target-engagement distance almost always occurs at between 5 and 7 yards.
This is the principal reason ‘WHY’ I have spent the past several decades teaching myself to be proficient with a pistol at distances between 10 to 18 yards where an RMR red dot pistol optic might certainly come into its own!
