High Exposure

Laser is a poor substitution for a RDS mounted to your slide. I have a pretty good chunk of time behind a pistol with an RDS and have taken quite a few classes to teach you how to properly employ them. I see zero disadvantages to an RDS on a pistol. They excel there for the same reason they do on a rifle or carbine. They are absolutely worth it and I encourage you to take the plunge. You want your optic as low in the slide as you can get it. You what your irons as low in the window of the optic as possible. Do not purposefully cowitness your irons and your dot. They are independent of each other and may not line up. That’s OK. Sage Dynamics (Aaron Cowan) is a great resource when researching RDS pistols and equipment. Check out Modern SamuraI Project (Scott Jedlinski) on for the best RDS Pistol instruction on the planet. He comes to PA regularly. Worth the drive if you can get in . Yes. There is a steep learning curve. Yes. It can be frustrating. You just have to persevere until the proverbial the lightbulb goes off for you. Buying quality gear to start and getting quality instruction from a reputable instructor early on in the pistol optics journey make this frustration much less. They also see white light. They also see you under normal daylight conditions. So what if they see the laser? I have no lasers on any full-size pistols. I have tried and always ended up removing them. I do have one on a Gen 1 Ruger LCP (this little .380 has virtually no usable sights - they are vestigial nubs milled into the slide, so it’s either the laser, or using the Force) to get hits at 25yards. I do have lasers on a couple carbines - IMO they are much more useful there than on pistols. Anyway.... Visible and IR Lasers have their place. On pistols, I don’t think they are as versatile or as useful as a RDS mounted to the slide - but that’s a different conversation.

Agreed. AR’s are different that way. Of all my AR type carbines, only 2 were bought as complete rifles. The rest were all bought as stripped lowers from brick and mortar shops that I then built up to fit my needs buying parts (uppers, barrels, BCG, parts kits, accessories, etc...) from online retailers.

I have bought zero guns via the internet “brokers”. I have bought a few from members here that I did not previously know - that may count as “internet” to some, but it was really more of a face to face type. 66% were bought at a gun shop from their stock 33% were personal transactions. Of those I’d say 75% of which were with close friends or family.

It’s an .88 magnum. It shoots through schools.

Buy once, cry once. I wish more shooters understood this concept. There is a distinct difference between “cheaper” and “best value”. I have a CED timer as well. Very happy with it. Not the greatest at indoor ranges though, I find myself fighting the sensitivity settings and never finding that sweet spot.....

I forget what I paid, but I use mine all the time. Make sure you RTFM (read the f’n manual). You need to reset the Torque setting to zero when you aren’t using it. I had to send mine back to calibrate (they probably just sent me a new one) after torquing a screw head off at a setting that should not have snapped the screw.

There is way too much going on there for me. With a 14.5” barrel (or more) 5.56 carbine, all you need is a dot and a little knowledge of your preferred zero distance to get hits from 0 to past 300 yards.

Has the last actual novel even been released yet? The last thing I read was a short story “Auberon” released in late fall of 2019. “Tiamat’s Wrath” was the last novel released in March of 2019.

Sounds like you are using the red dot like iron sights. The target needs to be clear. Not the dot. Many people don’t realize that if they are using the optic properly, the dot will not be crisp regardless of how good your eyesight is - unless your target is very close. The dot should not be your point of focus like a front iron sight would be with irons. The dot is superimposed on the crisp target while keeping both eyes open. Visualize it as if you are looking at the target and the dot just appeared on the intended point of impact, like someone slid a sheet of glass with a dot in it between your eye and the target. Don’t focus on the dot and follow the dot to the target. Look at a light switch. Focus on one of the screws holding it in place. Now point at the screw without taking your eyes off it, hard focus stays on the screw - this is how it should be done. If you are trying to get a hard focus on the dot, like a front sight on an iron sighted pistol or rifle, you’re doing it wrong. Close your eyes, take a breath, and open them again focusing on the target. The whole point of the RDS is to give your brain one focal point (your target/threat) to think about, instead of 3 focal points (rear sight, front sight, target). Don't sprint your eyes between focal points. ID your target, superimpose the dot over where you want to hit keeping both eyes open, and press the trigger straight to the rear. Repeat as necessary.

Love the books. Watched the show when it originally aired on cable, enjoyed it thoroughly. I stopped when it moved to Amazon, just didn’t have time and it fell below the radar. Started watching the series again from the beginning in October, just finished season 4 a couple weeks ago. I am very much looking forward to watching season 5. I think they are doing a pretty good job covering all the threads in the books. Lots of overlap during last season of books if I remember the order of the books and what happens right. Last season encompassed elements of “Gods of Risk”, “Cibola Burn” and “Nemesis Games” and cliffhanger-ed a set up for “Babylons Ashes” (which is story 11 in chronological order when including all the novellas, and short stories).

Guys - you are all overthinking this. If the dot is a bloom, comet, asterisk, smear, etc.... instead of a crisp dot - it doesn’t matter. When you zero the optic, choose a portion of the dot - the top of the smear, 12 o’clock of the bloom, the point of the tail of the comet - and zero to that point. Don’t make it harder than you need to.

LPVO are great. Suck to learn fundamentals on, IMO. Avoid messing with parallax and eye relief issues as much as possible in the beginning. The less variables, the easier to narrow down where the deficiencies are and work on them with quickly noticeable improvements. RDS is where it’s at for 90% of what most shooters will want a carbine to do.

A quality 1x RDS is the answer. With a little knowledge and practice, you will be able to get hits out to 300yards all day long. Check out Holosun for a quality budget friendly option. The 503 is a hell of an optic for the price. If you want top of the line quality, and you have the $$, look to AimPoint. Check out the PRO or Comp M3 for the lower price option. T2 and Comp M5 are the top of the line choices. Don’t overcomplicate things with a LPVO in the beginning. A magnified optic will help you see better, won’t help you shoot better - you’ll just have a clearer view of our missed shots. You’ll have a faster learning curve starting on a plain dot in the least “Tubey” optic you can find, then move on to the magnified options down the road. Avoid fixed power magnifications optics as well. While great for niche roles, they are very frustrating to learn on when you want to shoot inside 50 yards with an optic designed to get hits at 400.

True! But, I still have two 1911s, a S&W 15-3 and a model 38 J frame. I am not completely uncivilized! And Darth Vader as Thulsa Doom is awesome!

Ha! I read this and immediately though PC was Pistol Carbine.

Best bet to see in the dark for a couple hundred bucks is a quality flashlight. NODs that are a couple hundred bucks are not with it.

Yup. There is no free lunch. You want quality NODS - you gots to pay for them. Currently that price is a couple/few thousand bucks. You want to go cheap - you have to deal with the corners cut. Digital NODs have come a long way in the last few years, but they aren’t there yet - that’s why you don’t see .Mil troops or pilots using them - yet. The delay is one of the things they still need to get right. But - that Sionyx setup is the only system that I would even consider if I trying to save some $$ and get “budget”NODs vs getting at least a Gen 3 PVS 14 (which is really the smart answer if you want useful NODs). If I was really saving up, I’d be looking for a set of binocular white phosphorus NODS. You can get a PVS-31 or Anvis setup for $6k-$8k depending on options.

This is not NODs. This is binoculars with a diffused green laser attached that acts like a shitty flashlight. Do not buy.

Check out Sionyx: https://www.sionyx.com/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI8q3biZKB7QIVF4-GCh3KYgHPEAAYASAAEgLRMPD_BwE Its digital night vision - significantly cheaper than true NODS - at about Gen 2.5 quality. I think you’ll see this tech be the wave of the “Night Vision” future. It can be handheld, head worn, and weapon mounted. You can buy two and have a binocular setup giving you some depth perception and allow for some other advanced NOD techniques. Some versions even have color imaging instead of the traditional green or white phosphorus. If looking for true NODs, spending $$ on anything less than Gen 3 is a waste. Avoid Russion surplus stuff. Save your $$ and buy something quality. If you search, you can find a decent PVS-14 for less than a couple thousand.

Happy Birthday Devil Dogs!

What temp kills leprosy? They are known vectors of that disease.

Probably needed all those parts to get the gun to run reliably. Should probably have some tuned mags to go with it. They were notoriously fickle.

Put it on popcorn and pumpkin seeds. You are welcome! My favorite part about ‘Dillo Dust is that while it may be expensive, it comes with a free rifle.