Alignment Issues and Decision to go red dot and some mounting questions

[seblo]

I bought a Glock 19 last year to use as my ccw gun. I loved that thing, however I made the decision to buy some night sights and got them installed at a local gun shop. No matter what I do every time I aim with my new sights it just shoots slightly left.

Guessing the sights are not aligned, I reached out to the shop and they offered for me to take it back to have them check it out however this got me thinking about a red dot.

I am currently looking at a Fox Army FXA10, not sure if its a good choice but its on sale for 104.99.

Is a red dot a good idea on a pistol thats going to be used as a ccw pistol?

What are some good mounting options?

[Zenderfall]

No matter what I do every time I aim with my new sights it just shoots slightly left.

Guessing the sights are not aligned,

I can't assume you shoot well or poorly, but are absolutely positive its the gun that shoots slightly left? Reason is a lot of new shooters shoot "slightly left" from pulling the gun slightly to the left as they pull the trigger. Its not even a matter of them realizing they do it, they don't know they are, attributed to what some have referred to as IRS or "Instinctive Recoil Scare" (the other acronym of IRS is equally bad!).

A shop may push you into "upgrading" to a red dot, its their job to sell products. Perhaps have someone else (who shoots really well) shoot that gun and verify its "left shooting"

But to answer your question, there's a quote somewhere "The more gadgety something is, the more MURPHY it gets." and that certainly applies to red dots. These days, they are much more reliable and heavily featured than before, with shake awake, durability, quality, nice reticle options, solar panels, etc....but when they go wrong, well, that means people have to "go back" to the irons if they even have them on the gun.

And if those people didn't train well on irons.......

Not saying dots are bad, quite the opposite, they can be awesome, especially newer ones. But there's a learning curve, added cost, bulk, and things you have to watch out for when you put one on a gun.

[LBDamned]

I've installed sights on almost every pistol I own, and most of them needed to be slightly adjusted after install...

It doesn't matter how much measuring, bore alignment, etc... frequently they need to be slightly adjusted. Sometimes they end up spot on after initial install, but not always.

Having a sight pusher and dialing in at range (desert typically) is beneficial... but I wouldn't bother going back and forth to a smith for that.

To the RDS on CCW question... personal preference I guess, but none of my carry guns have one ... comfort and simplicity are two primary reasons. I carry any time I'm out ofmthe house, iwb around 2:30... particularly while driving I don't want added crap on my gun... as is, I don't even notice it's there - I don't want a rds reminding me full time. The issue of electronic failure is another.

Others will have their reasons for doing what they do (or 'would do')... the rds thing is your decision OP.

[enorbit3]

Have a range officer or pistol trainer shoot your gun. Then you'll see if it's you or the sights.