Gun trends that make no sense to me

[Alan]

Everyone's putting red dots on everything now and I'm still using iron sights on most of my stuff and doing fine. Am I behind the times or is this red dot thing overhyped? Honest opinions wanted.

 

[URIT]

There is nothing wrong with iron sights if you are getting the job done.

LEOs who take shots at a distance over ten yards may benefit with optics or competition shooters, but the civilian who carries a handgun for self-defense or safe-guarding their home may find the added optic expense outweighs the benefit.

My personal experiences on the job have been up close and over within seconds. Often, I had to use one hand to move the gun or knife away from me while drawing my firearm. I've never been in a situation where an optic would have been used. There just was never enough time.

 

[Native_Tarheel]

Like a lot of tools, use of a red dot depends on how the firearm will be used. Carrying/using a handgun for defense at "bad breath" distances doesn't seem like an effective use of a red dot (or even iron sights for that matter!). I put a red dot on my .22 Ruger MkIII Target because I assumed it would be easier to place a dot on my POA than aligning a rear sight with a front site to hold my POA. Worked exactly as expected in relatively relaxed slow fire target shooting. By the way, none of my other handguns, including my CC have a red dot.