Author Topic: "Pincus likes it!"  (Read 5640 times)

Badgersmilk

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Re: "Pincus likes it!"
« Reply #10 on: November 05, 2009, 04:21:08 AM »
Jeesh MB, the man makes a good point!  And thanks for going into the depth you did explaining it.  I'll be the first to say that IMO these sights have ruined the gun for range use, where we're often competing with each other trying to hold the smallest groups on 25 yard paper.  I'm regularly the last to finish shooting because with each shot I get a good sight picture, then move the gun up to cover the bull's eye with the big bead ("Kentuky windage you mentioned").  

I do still like the XS's from my practicing with them in the house.  The big dot does exactly what you mention.  "Distracts" me from all the other things that may normally catch my eye.  When sweeping the house I'm looking for two things, an intruder, and that front sight.  Varying light conditions that happen in the house at night (this alone has a huge effect), things being moved, things possibly being broken and thrown about in a break in situation, all the thoughts racing through your head like.  "Does this guy have a gun?, How many guys are there?, Is my family OK?, Will I be in jail when this is over?!?".  This stuff and a hundred other things are ALL racing through your mind like mad! It makes a BIG differance to me to have that big white dot to focus on mentally.  That white dot, and the "bad guy" need to be primary in my mind no matter how much other "traffic" is racing through my brain.  When the bad guy comes into view, having the big white dot is kinda reassuring in that I KNOW I'm going to be able to find it quickly, no matter what (don't forget the XS's are tritium)...  I know, sounds stupid to say.  :-\  

Another frame of mind in these situations may come with better, more thorough training.  I honestly just don't know.  While I describe a "home defense" situation here, I think many "self defense" situations may be similar.

Badgersmilk

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Re: "Pincus likes it!"
« Reply #11 on: November 05, 2009, 05:00:26 AM »
The perfect compromise?

Hi-Viz "Tactical" front sight.


I use the Hi-Viz sights on my Mark III for squirrel hunting and love them! 

Michael Bane

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Re: "Pincus likes it!"
« Reply #12 on: November 05, 2009, 10:49:17 AM »
Rob has excellent points (which is why he's handling the firearms end of THE BEST DEFENSE)...in this case, I disagree with those points based on personal experience, personal philosophy and, sadly, on my aging eyes.

1) Virtually every decision involving a carry gun is a compromise. The reason we had/have big fat flat-blade Bo-Mar rear sights and narrow post fronts on competition pistols is that we have to make precision shots at long distances, and that combination has proven itself for making precison shots relatively quickly. Doe this mean you can't make long-range precision shots without a set of "target" sights? Not at all...but the compromise equation will change, usually in the direction of more time.

2) Guns are in many ways mission-specific...carry guns are smaller because they're easier to carry. But in accordance with Point 1, we make a series of compromises for that smaller/lighter pistol — shorter sight radius, greater perceived recoil and, as a result of those 2 factors, slower shot-to-shot "splits."

3) When a civilian, e.g. non-LEO, carries a gun for self-defense, that person "defines" his or her area of response by the choice of weapon. To use a hunting analogy, if you are hunting whitetail deer with a .357 revolver with iron sights, the gun defines the distance at which you can "guarantee" the shot. You may be able to clearly see the deer at, say, 125 yards, but the gun and cartridge combination tells you that you cannot guarantee a humane shot. Can some people make that shot dead bang? Sure. Some people also juggling running chainsaws for a living, but I'm betting that person isn't you or I.

4) I have taught people for a couple of decades to "hard focus on the front sight;" 5 million years of evolution as a hunting primate tells you to "hard focus on the threat." Which voice wins? There is a great line from my first cave diving instructor — "Never train against the operating system."

5) Outside of a square range environment, your physical limitations may addiitonally limit your area of response. Note the caveat...one of the winners of the .50 BMG 1000-yard championships a couple of years ago is legally blind. He has, however, a profound understanding of the trigger and the gun. I can make center mass 50 yard shots on the range all day long; what I can no longer do is clearly identify the target at that distance.

6) Your area of response is limited by you "lowest common denominator," which may be the gun, your physical limitations, the area in which you are forced to respond, etc.

My personal experience is that in an altercation in the "hot zone" — say a 6-foot radius circle around you — you will initially hard focus on the threat, oftentime on the gun if one has been presented. I swear I saw the grooves and lands inside the barrel of a Glock 17 that was once pointed in anger at my head. Your training will help you break that hard focus to see the target, addition threats, etc.

On a draw, I need to be able to hit that target at any point from the time the gun breaks the holster up to and including the moment I have a "sight picture." That's one of the reasons I like lasers. If I am going to look at the threat, I would prefer the target have a convenient red dot on him/her showing me where the bullet will go. Ideally, I want to go to full extension/hard sight picture...few things in the Real World are ideal.

As the gun extends toward the target, I "pick up" the front sight of the gun as it comes into my visual frame. By the time my arms are fully extended, I have a hard sight picture. With my eyesight I pick up the XS front sight very quickly.

By full extension I have already made the "shoot" decision and am in fact prepping the trigger, which will break on full extension. I fire until the threat is emded.

At the point the threat ends, I slightly lower my hands to scan for additional threats. I need to get my big fat hands and the big black gun out of my line of sight, not the big front sight.

I have run the standard fixed-time drills at GUNSITE — 3, 5, 7, 15, 20, 25 yards — with XS Sights, and my scores were the same as with a Novak-sighted 1911. That tells me the balance of speed and precision remains the same with the larger XS front. As the old African hunters proved, an express-type sight is faster for the eye to pick up under the stress of, say, a charging buffalo 5 yards away, and the deep-V seems to me to work. In fact, I have a deep-V and gold bead front on my favorite woods revolvers for that reason.

Here's the important part, and I think Rob will agree with me on this — YOUR MILEAGE WILL VARY! You have to know what works for YOU, and all either Rob or I (or anyone else) can do is provide you with an outline to learn your own limitations and what works best.

Michael
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Michael Bane, Majordomo @ MichaelBane.TV

ericire12

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Re: "Pincus likes it!"
« Reply #13 on: November 05, 2009, 11:02:50 AM »
Another long ass post.... Badger, apologize to him too!
Everything I needed to learn in life I learned from Country Music.

tombogan03884

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Re: "Pincus likes it!"
« Reply #14 on: November 05, 2009, 11:12:16 AM »
Thought provoking info from both Rob and MB.

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Re: "Pincus likes it!"
« Reply #15 on: Today at 07:01:53 PM »

shooter32

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Re: "Pincus likes it!"
« Reply #15 on: November 05, 2009, 12:16:38 PM »
Thought provoking info from both Rob and MB.

+1

Went to the eye doc last week and I offically have "old guy eyes" :-\   >:(
A government big enough to give you everything you want is a government big enough to take from you everything you have. ~ Gerald Ford - August 12, 1974

Walter45Auto

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Re: "Pincus likes it!"
« Reply #16 on: November 05, 2009, 12:55:59 PM »
You gotta love hearing form the experts don't you? ;D One thing I like about lasers on a defensive gun that I use for Home defense, being one of those nearsighted enough that without glasses (Worn them Since 4th grade) I can't read the T-shirt I'm wearing, is that In the middle of the night if I don't have time to grab my glasses, I won't be able to see the sights, but I can see that BIG red dot against the BG, the wall,  or the trash can my German Shepherd turned over for chicken bones.

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ericire12

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Re: "Pincus likes it!"
« Reply #17 on: November 05, 2009, 01:03:43 PM »
+1

Went to the eye doc last week and I offically have "old guy eyes" :-\   >:(

Turn that frown upside down... Maybe you didnt hear the Dr correctly... He didnt say you have old eyes. He said you now have a justifiable reason to go laser shopping :)
Everything I needed to learn in life I learned from Country Music.

Badgersmilk

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Re: "Pincus likes it!"
« Reply #18 on: November 05, 2009, 01:32:07 PM »
Another long ass post.... Badger, apologize to him too!

Apologize for what?  "You have to know what works for YOU"...  XS's work for me.  ;)

My issue is that I wear contacts durring the day, glasses in the evening (in case I fall asleep reading or something), and am so near sighted without one of the two on it could be either my mother in law, or the abominable snow man walking through my house at night and I wouldn't be able to tell the differance!!!  (I'm pulling the trigger either way  ;D)

Timothy

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Re: "Pincus likes it!"
« Reply #19 on: November 05, 2009, 01:35:10 PM »
"Bumbles Bounce"    ;D

MIL's just complain!

Ya can definately tell the difference!

 

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