Shalom Jim:
Recently I've been doing some research on laser sighting systems (primarily
for pistols). Two of the companies I have looked at are Crimson Trace and LaserMax.
1.) Do you like or recommend laser sights for pistols? If so, which is your
favorite company or system?
2.) How do laser sights compare to tritium sights? Are there any significant
advantages to either?
BTW I am planning on attending an Appleseed shoot sponsored by the RWVA in March of '07. Have you ever attended one of these shoots? What is your opinion?
Thanx for your most excellent input. - Dr. Sidney Zweibel
JWR Replies: I do not recommend
laser pointer "sights"--aside for a few very specialized
applications, such as nighttime pest shooting and nighttime building
entry/clearing.
(The latter is not usually a concern for preppers like us.)
Most laser pointer sights are essentially useless in daylight, since
they are often
too dim
to be
seen
in full daylight unless the target is in a shadow. Under typical
circumstances, waiting to acquire the dot on a target in daylight at
average combat distances is slower than
lining up iron sights. I have observed from combat training that
laser pointer
sights subconsciously prevent the shooter from pulling the trigger
until after the dot is acquired, even if the shooter has proper iron
sight alignment. Frantically searching for the red
dot, some shooters will ignore their iron sights under combat stress. Odds
are that Mr. Badguy will pull his trigger first. Your mileage may
vary,
but
IMHO,
in
most
cases
laser
pointer
sights are a bad
idea. You should train the way you plan to fight, and that training should not involve a battery operated gadget. Under stress, you wil revert to your training. If that means looking for a red dot before you pull the trigger, that could be a very bad thing. Especially if the lighting is wrong (i.e. glaring daylight), or your laser is broken, or you don't have any charged batteries.
I much prefer tritium sights. No muss, no fuss, no
batteries, and they are good for 25+ years. (The half life of tritium
is about 11 years.)
I have Trijicon brand tritium sight sets on four of my Model 1911
.45 ACPs that were installed in 1994. These sights have only just now
mellowed
to
about the right
level
of
brightness. (They were much too bright when they were first installed.)
I haven't personally attended an Appleseed shoot, but everyone that
I've talked to that has positively raves about them. They are are a
fantastic
training opportunity at very low cost.
