While Glocks is known for never-fail functionality, they need to excel at pinpoint accuracy.
Adding a red-dot optic to your Glock can significantly affect how well you shoot. Here’s why you should consider making the switch. The benefits are substantial. Including:
Improved Accuracy
Glock pistols have earned a reputation for functionality in conditions no other gun can survive, but that reliability comes with a cost. Specifically, loose tolerances cause small variations in pinpoint accuracy, even for a good shooter.
While this is not a huge problem on the range, it can be a significant impediment to rapid follow-up shooting and transitioning between targets in a gunfight. A red dot mount can eliminate this issue, allowing you to get on target more quickly and accurately.
However, a red dot does not replace the need for solid pistol training fundamentals. Simply mounting a red dot will not give you the skills to hit torso-sized targets at close range or deal with the chaos of a real-world defensive engagement. You must still practice your handgun handling techniques and refine your sight alignment. Practice makes perfect. But don’t forget that the most important skill to master is awareness, recognizing your threat, and reacting accordingly.
Reduced Error
While the benefits of using an optic for competition and defensive applications are obvious, they also make it easier to shoot back-to-back strings or quickly transition between targets. However, there are a few key considerations when utilizing an optic with any pistol.
First, getting a smooth draw and consistent firearm presentation takes practice. A good quality red dot can help you achieve that, but it’s important to remember that it still requires the same pistol handling skills that you would have used without a red dot.
Second, a lot of people need to realize that the Glock trigger is not the best for using a red dot. It’s not terrible, but it is inconsistent and will require extra work to keep it in tune with your optic. For these reasons, most people use a lighter trigger after installing a red dot. This improves the consistency of both the draw and the aiming process.
Increased Accuracy
If you’re serious about competition shooting, you will want to upgrade your Glock with competition sights. The improved sight picture from these competition glock sights will help you improve your speed and accuracy.
Accuracy measures how close your results are to a target value. While precision aims to reduce scatter, accuracy describes how correct the values are compared to a target or goal.
The new pressed-style front sight lets you quickly line up and visualize your target with the bright fluorescent diamonds, while the tritium rear sight is bright enough to be seen in low-light conditions. Combining these features gives you the fastest and most precise sight picture possible.
While the Glock 19 is an excellent pistol with outstanding reliability, it does have some loose tolerances that allow for slight variation in accuracy. While this doesn’t make the pistol inaccurate, it will have a slightly lower hit percentage at longer distances than other pistols. Adding a red dot can help you increase your accuracy at these distances but can’t offset the need for good pistol handling skills.
Reduced Stress
Glocks are very popular pistols and for a good reason. They are incredibly reliable and function in conditions no other pistol can survive. But this reliability comes with a price: loose tolerances mean small variations in accuracy, especially at longer distances.
During stressful shooting situations, our biology prioritizes threat focus over focusing on the front sight, which means the target and the rear sight will be blurry to the shooter. This makes it harder to hit the target consistently.
Adding an optical sight eliminates this problem by removing the need to focus on the rearview and target. This allows the shooter to concentrate on their trigger pull, which reduces stress and increases accuracy during high-stress situations.