Practical sight acquisition.

[jbilling85]

I've been a gun nut for a handful of years now, and over the times I've owned rifles both with and without scopes. Me personally, I STRONGLY prefer iron sights over scoped. Yes, I've read the howto's and have calculated my yardages according to notches in the mil-dot line, and can see a clear purpose for scopes in very very long distances (600 yards+). For whatever reason though, give me a scope on my gun, and I don't perform nearly as well as with an iron sight. With iron sights I guesstimate the yardage, set my elevation accordingly, and viola, if im not hitting my target, he's ducking. So here's my question, call it a troll question if you will but I see it as a practical truth- do we REALLY need all these fancypants scopes and red dot sights? I've got a buddy that dropped like 350$ on a red dot sight for his 16" ar-15...I'm almost certain I can beat the pant's off him with my A2 style with no goodies to go along with it. Please keep in mind, I will accept the answer "The best setup is the one the shooter prefers..." but when I see dudes popping soda bottles at 50 yards with thier expensive optics, I can't help but scoff. Am I in right field here, or someone please tell me I'm simply not experienced enough to appreciate an expensive optic piece.

[joelogic]

Accuracy is based on the shooter more than the gear. Red Dots are much faster at target acquisition. At 50yd I could sight down the barrel and hit the target. People over buy gear all the time because its cool, like buying an ACOG for an indoor range.

[SuperSet]

Shooting iron sights in low-light or no light environment is no fun. Shooting iron sights in an awkward or compromised position like supine is no fun. And are you even factoring time in this at all?

[23's Dad]

I hear ya!

I agree with SuperSet that iron sights have their limitations, but most shooters aren't (and never will) use their fancy optic in low-light and awkward positions. They aren't training in those conditions anyway.

I watch folks set up their fancy equipment, lay it on sandbags or a rest, and shoot away.

I give a slight smile, pull a loop sling, take a good position (there's four to choose from - 3 with a sling) and out shoot them. I don't even rub it in. Stranger's notice that I shoot without any fancy rests or optics and usually approach me.

My usual shooting friends? They don't take my bets!!!

[Quickdraw Mcgraw]

The only time I sit is when I'm zeroing whatever reddot/scope...actually thats the only time you'll see me at a conventional range. as far as red dots I like them for the same reasons the other posters do an for one other reason...anyone can pick up my pre-zeroed eotech an pop cans at 75-100yards with little to no practice...my girlfriend, yer little brother, whoever with a little trigger control can have a blast...peoples faces light up an they actaully enjoy shooting the gun! Big + for first time shooters.

I also have a hard time hitting moving targets with Iron sights where-as with the red-dot I can Lead my target an get acceptable hits in the time frame allowed!

[greybeard]

Okay these 63 year old eyes like red dots and scopes.

[jimmykan]

Another plus of optics: the reticle and target can both be in focus simultaneously.

With iron sights, there's the target, the front sight, and the rear sight. And only one of them can be in sharp focus.

[Jack L]

Okay these 63 year old eyes like red dots and scopes.

I'm with you. I dig my red dot. No matter how I am feeling, I can pick up the AR and quickly hit whatever I am aiming at. Red dots for me are here to stay unless something even better comes along.

[ejhc11]

It depends on the eyes - with my poor eyesight I do better with a red dot or scope. But do I also enjoy open sights yes I do too.

[Kempfer]

I've been a gun nut for a handful of years now, and over the times I've owned rifles both with and without scopes. Me personally, I STRONGLY prefer iron sights over scoped. Yes, I've read the howto's and have calculated my yardages according to notches in the mil-dot line, and can see a clear purpose for scopes in very very long distances (600 yards+). For whatever reason though, give me a scope on my gun, and I don't perform nearly as well as with an iron sight. With iron sights I guesstimate the yardage, set my elevation accordingly, and viola, if im not hitting my target, he's ducking. So here's my question, call it a troll question if you will but I see it as a practical truth- do we REALLY need all these fancypants scopes and red dot sights? I've got a buddy that dropped like 350$ on a red dot sight for his 16" ar-15...I'm almost certain I can beat the pant's off him with my A2 style with no goodies to go along with it. Please keep in mind, I will accept the answer "The best setup is the one the shooter prefers..." but when I see dudes popping soda bottles at 50 yards with thier expensive optics, I can't help but scoff. Am I in right field here, or someone please tell me I'm simply not experienced enough to appreciate an expensive optic piece.

I scoff at people that scoff at other people... so sometimes I end up in a infinite loop of scoffing myself. But anyway...

Short answer yes you may need Red Dot or Magnified Optics depending on what you are doing. You have not experienced a need for them so yes you could technically say you are not experienced enough to appreciate them.

Red Dot sights were developed to increase the speed of acquiring a target at close ranges ( less than 25 yards ). So they were never intended to substitute iron sights for longer ranges. That being said I have a older guy I work with that can no longer see his iron sights and so he uses a reddot sight for plinking.

Magnified Optics (1.5-4x) were developed to to take quick high precision shots that are difficult at long ranges.

Both optics provide a significant advantage in that they are parallax free so people that need to shoot from unconventional shooting positions or have a lot of stuff hanging off their body can take good shots without having to worry about getting a perfect cheek-weld.

There are definitely people in the world that need one or the other. Everyone else probably just enjoys them.

[Chaparral]

My eyes have been steadily going to hell for the last 15 years or so. I have optics on most of my rifles. I have.a sporterized 03 tho with a 70 year old peepsight tho for trying to hit things far away without glass.

my next visit to the eye doc might allow me to retire some glass as I really do enjoy iron sights on those rare days my eyeballs work according to God's specs.