WTF Pistol Moment

[vinniedelpino]

I went to the range to do some final load development today. Since I was only shooting a few rounds through the rifle I brought a pistol to plink with to make the drive worthwhile. My dad brought an older browning buckmark .22lr with a cheapo red dot that he found in the back of the safe.

I'm a marginal pistol shooter. To say I'm an average shot would be generous. As soon as I picked up that little .22lr with the RDS I turned into John Wick. In other words, no (few) misses while moving fast enough to bring up my heart rate. Smooth, fast and accurate enough to drop panties. It was incredible.

So this begs the question... how much of this immediate improvement is due to the RDS as opposed to the fact that I was shooting a .22lr with a better trigger than my stock triggered glock? Should I be sending out my slide for machining? Or am I going to be disappointed when trying to replicate that performance with a 9mm regardless of what I do?

I get that I should be working on the fundamentals with iron sights, but this was waaaaay too much fun to brush off.

 

[1moaoff]

RDS on 22 is fun

 

[Hobo Hilton]

How is your eyesight... eyeglasses ?

 

[alamo5000]

Personally I would attribute the success to a combination of the red dot and zero recoil.

If you learn techniques for recoil management it's definitely possible to get fast.

 

[Coffee_and_Pipes]

I’ve got a Buckmark from the ealy- to mid-90’s, and that thing shoots! Hang on to that pistol.

 

[newguy2k3v2]

I think it was a combination of good trigger, red dot, non reciprocating sight and low recoil. That said dots are the way if you’re willing to put in the reps to become proficient

 

[FuhQ]

I went to the range to do some final load development today. Since I was only shooting a few rounds through the rifle I brought a pistol to plink with to make the drive worthwhile. My dad brought an older browning buckmark .22lr with a cheapo red dot that he found in the back of the safe.

I'm a marginal pistol shooter. To say I'm an average shot would be generous. As soon as I picked up that little .22lr with the RDS I turned into John Wick. In other words, no (few) misses while moving fast enough to bring up my heart rate. Smooth, fast and accurate enough to drop panties. It was incredible.

So this begs the question... how much of this immediate improvement is due to the RDS as opposed to the fact that I was shooting a .22lr with a better trigger than my stock triggered glock? Should I be sending out my slide for machining? Or am I going to be disappointed when trying to replicate that performance with a 9mm regardless of what I do?

I get that I should be working on the fundamentals with iron sights, but this was waaaaay too much fun to brush off.

Throw a suppressor on the Buckmark with the red dot, and you'll have more fun than you ever thought was legal...

 

[Yondering]

So this begs the question... how much of this immediate improvement is due to the RDS as opposed to the fact that I was shooting a .22lr with a better trigger than my stock triggered glock? Should I be sending out my slide for machining? Or am I going to be disappointed when trying to replicate that performance with a 9mm regardless of what I do?

Hard to say what the improvement was from, without seeing you shoot. If you have issues with the Glock trigger (which is by far the biggest reason people have trouble shooting Glocks), then the Buckmark would be a big step in the "easy to shoot" direction, and you'll never really get that feel from a 9mm Glock. If you have the trigger well mastered but your issue is with aiming iron sights, then yeah, definitely go for a red dot.

I say this with a red dot-equipped Glock in my belt that has an excellent trigger, which I use to compete (and win) in GSSF matches, along with the stock and G43 classes too of course. I do prefer a red dot on my serious pistols; even though I have excellent vision and shoot well with irons, the dot still allows me to be a little faster and more accurate. Just don't expect it it be a cure-all though; it won't help with trigger or grip issues, and if you're shaky then you'll see that with a dot a lot easier and that can be a hit to some people's confidence at first.

One comment about your last sentence - the most important fundamentals for you to work on are the trigger and grip. Using iron sights is a distant 3rd place at best; you can't aim hard enough to overcome a bad trigger pull, but with a good grip and trigger control you can make fast and accurate hits without paying a lot of attention to the iron sights.

Last thought - do get your slide machined for an RMR with cowitnessed iron sights; a good robust red dot like the RMR makes a great charging handle too, aside from the shooting benefits, as long as you've got it mounted securely. It can be used for one-handed slide racking easier than a bare slide since it's easy to hook the RMR on your belt, a nearby counter top or other hard surface, an opponent's eye socket , etc. Avoid the dovetail dot mounts, they're cheaper but a lot less robust as well.
I don't care for most other dots, and would rather have irons than anything Vortex on my carry guns, but the Holosun 507c is a good (and slightly cheaper) alternative to the RMR and seems to be holding up well. I've got a couple of those as well, and a 507c with the ACSS Vulcan reticle is in my belt right now. The pros and cons of each can be a separate post if you want.

 

[Yondering]

Throw a suppressor on the Buckmark with the red dot, and you'll have more fun than you ever thought was legal...

Absolutely; a suppressed Buckmark or MK II is a must-have, IMO.

I'll admit to being a little disappointed in my Buckmark for suppressed use though, compared to the Ruger MK-whatever series. The Buckmark slide rings a little bit with each shot, and lets out more ejection port pop with it's more open layout. The Rugers in comparison make a duller flatter sound. Both are excellent, just an observation from owning both and comparing with the same suppressor and ammo side by side.

 

[FuhQ]

Absolutely; a suppressed Buckmark or MK II is a must-have, IMO.

I'll admit to being a little disappointed in my Buckmark for suppressed use though, compared to the Ruger MK-whatever series. The Buckmark slide rings a little bit with each shot, and lets out more ejection port pop with it's more open layout. The Rugers in comparison make a duller flatter sound. Both are excellent, just an observation from owning both and comparing with the same suppressor and ammo side by side.

Yeah, I really like the sound of my .22LR converted 1911 with my Mask HD. It's super quiet, and has a nice thump sound, and no "ring" to it.

 

[vinniedelpino]

Hard to say what the improvement was from, without seeing you shoot. If you have issues with the Glock trigger (which is by far the biggest reason people have trouble shooting Glocks), then the Buckmark would be a big step in the "easy to shoot" direction, and you'll never really get that feel from a 9mm Glock. If you have the trigger well mastered but your issue is with aiming iron sights, then yeah, definitely go for a red dot.

I say this with a red dot-equipped Glock in my belt that has an excellent trigger, which I use to compete (and win) in GSSF matches, along with the stock and G43 classes too of course. I do prefer a red dot on my serious pistols; even though I have excellent vision and shoot well with irons, the dot still allows me to be a little faster and more accurate. Just don't expect it it be a cure-all though; it won't help with trigger or grip issues, and if you're shaky then you'll see that with a dot a lot easier and that can be a hit to some people's confidence at first.

One comment about your last sentence - the most important fundamentals for you to work on are the trigger and grip. Using iron sights is a distant 3rd place at best; you can't aim hard enough to overcome a bad trigger pull, but with a good grip and trigger control you can make fast and accurate hits without paying a lot of attention to the iron sights.

Last thought - do get your slide machined for an RMR with cowitnessed iron sights; a good robust red dot like the RMR makes a great charging handle too, aside from the shooting benefits, as long as you've got it mounted securely. It can be used for one-handed slide racking easier than a bare slide since it's easy to hook the RMR on your belt, a nearby counter top or other hard surface, an opponent's eye socket , etc. Avoid the dovetail dot mounts, they're cheaper but a lot less robust as well.
I don't care for most other dots, and would rather have irons than anything Vortex on my carry guns, but the Holosun 507c is a good (and slightly cheaper) alternative to the RMR and seems to be holding up well. I've got a couple of those as well, and a 507c with the ACSS Vulcan reticle is in my belt right now. The pros and cons of each can be a separate post if you want.

I can shoot relatively decent groups with irons, but that’s taking my sweet time. When I increase the speed I shoot like that lesbian dog breeder with the AR pistol that was just in the news.

I’m going to give the rmr and an apex trigger a go. If I can get 1/4 the improvement seen when picking up that little .22lr I’ll be thrilled.

 

[vinniedelpino]

How is your eyesight... eyeglasses ?

Nope. 20/20

 

[WGOMF]

A combo of all the above helping your shooting.

Better sights & trigger, less recoil & noise.

Noise is a lot more important than I thought. I've found the better my hearing protection is, the better I'll shoot. To a point. So switching from a 9 to a 22 is a big reduction right there.
Hurting your ears, or making you think they are getting hurt can degrade the shooting performance in all but the most mentally tough shooters.