BLUF: RDS with black sights is the way to go for pistol use under NVGs.
Over the years, we have tried, trained with, and taught a variety of different equipment combinations and techniques, many of which worked to one extent or another, but none of which was ever wholly satisfactory compared to using an RDS.
On the one hand, it is possible to use night sights with NV if necessary, though it is neither quick, nor particularly accurate, and requires a good bit of training to really learn how to do, as it is nowhere near as easy or intuitive as good TTPs and engagement techniques are. Long story short, it requires the use of three-dot night sights, and rather than worry about focal planes or front sight focus--you simply line up the three blurry dots, which will more or less allow you to engage at "typical" handgun distances.
That being said, from an end-user standpoint, the typical "technique" was simply to transition to white light during pistol engagements, with the logic following that if it came time for you to deploy your pistol, staying covert using NVDs was likely moot, especially considering that many organizational TTPs used NV during movement to the objective, but transitioned to white light fairly quickly once things really "got interesting" anyways.
There were some obvious limitations to this "technique," but for a long time it was the simplest and most efficient solution, despite those limitations.
Meanwhile, pistol mounted lasers, visible or IR come with some fairly significant limitations of their own, not the least of which being the limited number of options for "duty ready" lasers and holsters--while it's true that many custom Kydex holster makers can make holsters for nearly unlimited variations, they are often unsatisfactory for duty use, while "holster independent" solutions such as the CT IR lasergrips were always relatively scarce and expensive, and only covered a small number of models.
On the other hand, RDS offer an essentially seamless transition between daytime, white light, and NV use--simply present the pistol the same way as always, and as long as you have trained to use pistols with RDS and developed the muscle memory, the dot simply appears on top of the target, and since RDS are inherently designed for the shooter to focus on the target and not the sight(s), there are no issues with focal planes, or any need to mess with refocus devices, or adjust the NVDs in any way--it. just. works. If you're using duals or a monocular over your dominant eye, the dot will appear in the googles--or, if you're using the RDS over your non-dominant eye, you can either use an occluded method, or simply shift the weapon over slightly so it is visible through the NVD.
Even with non-NV compatible RDS, depending on ambient light conditions, the dot is usually effective enough for close-range engagements at "typical" handgun ranges, while the use of an IR illuminator, whether helmet mounted or weapon mounted such as a Surefire V-Series light effectively eliminates the issue of blooming when more precision is required.
The RDS also renders tritium powered night sights unnecessary to the point where they simply become more of a distraction and annoyance, even if they are not likely to be "confused" with the optic's dot, as they are still glowing blobs floating in your field of view (applies both with or without NV).
~Augee