We started looking at some red dot tips and tricks last year, and this seems like a good time to follow up on that a bit. One of the things I was gratified to see happen at work is the acceptance (mostly) of occluded dot drills. Previously these were only taught as a form of problem-solving for when your gun falls in the mud or something. Now, we are using it more fully as a training aid for improving target focus. A simple non-commercial snap-on cover for our optics allows students to shoot occluded without the hassle of tape, though there are easy commercial solutions out there as well. Some people think all shooting from the beginning should be occluded. Others think the whole idea is wacky. I tend to fall on the non-wacky side, but as with most training techniques, you have to know a little more than what the ad man tells you.?
*Please see the comments section at the bottom for clarification
In the case of shooting occluded, when you know what you are doing, there aren’t really any downsides that I have found. I do a lot of my shooting with the dot occluded. On the other hand, when you first teach people to use an RDS pistol, though many will be able to shoot occluded from the beginning, some percentage will not. This gets back to what we talked about recently, where if you have enough of a sample size, you will see issues that others will not.
In this case, several vision issues can complicate RDS shooting. There is also plain old “dis-coordination” as one of my old teammates used to say. He meant of course, that some people simply can’t walk and chew gum. There are surely other issues that I am not qualified to address as well, but we can stop with these two for now. Vision and coordination, if you will. Dis-coordination will cover both issues for our purposes here.
When dealing with a dis-coordinated student, leaving the occlusive cover on and forcing them to use it, is not the way to go. Take the cover off, and let them get more visual references that will help them find the dot and position their gun correctly. This is where the long-preferred technique of reverse engineering the draw comes in handy. Once they can do that, then put the cover back on and continue as planned. I have accomplished this incredible feat of instruction (sarcasm included for free here) in as little as 5 minutes, but if it takes longer, it is time well spent.
An old trick from shooting red dots on rifles is to lower the intensity of the dot when zeroing. Many newer shooters have not learned this yet, so I think it is worth repeating. When group shooting, I tend to lower my intensity as well. Some RDS manage this better than others. Sometimes the difference between one setting and the next can be too great, so you have to try it with your dots and see how it works for you.
Speaking of shooting groups and zeroing, now that everyone is using a red dot there is no excuse for poor grouping ability. If you want to be a better shooter, at any speed, you need to be able to shoot small groups on demand. If you can’t hold 6″ at 25 yards, you are not serious about shooting, even at a fairly basic level. Most professional gun-toters can’t do this. It doesn’t mean you can’t defend yourself, it just means that you need to work on your basic marksmanship. A medium level of skill would be more in the sub 5″ range. If you are looking to master the gun, somewhere around 2″ is your goal. All of the above assumes 5 shot groups at 25 yards, shooting offhand. When you improve your group shooting at 25 yards, you will also be more accurate at speed at closer ranges. If you do not improve your ability to shoot tighter groups, you will run into a wall where your marksmanship simply holds you back.
In our next installment on red dot shooting, we will look at the one-handed use of the pistol, a topic near and dear to me.
if I understand your shooting technique described here, we use to describe it as”point shooting”, (without the use of the sights), sometimes referred to instinctive shooting. I’ve never really practiced that. worked with a man decades ago that he had that natural ability, I saw him time after time shoot bottles bouncing in the water, floating downstream in a river at 50′ at hit them from the hip and never miss, the few time I tried that I wouldn’t hit within 15′
as always enjoy the read
I failed to explain properly, as there is no part of this that is point shooting. Occluded dot shooting forces you to watch the target rather than the dot. If you do, you will see the dot superimposed over the target. If you try to watch the dot, you will see no dot at all. I will add a note to the post, sorry for the confusion!
was more likely me on the understanding, but your additional comments here bring your lesson into focus, I got my first red dots on handguns when I turned 50 as the eyes had aged to the level I wasn’t able to cut playing cards with iron sights consistently, that was the first thing that I learned, you shift your focus to the target rather than the sights, red dots are your friend as you get older !
Definitely my fault, I’m going to make another post explaining a bit better.
We are teaching the occluded dot technique as well. However, I agree with you that it should be introduced to students who already have some range time with red dots and not everyone can see(superimpose) the occluded dot on target.
I do think it can be introduced very early on, but some instructors can’t see past whatever tool they just learned to use, lol. I’m sure you see that as regularly as I do.
Great information and discussion – thank you!
Thanks!