Not So Heavy Metal – 3.6″ M&P Compact
While Smith’s Military & Police family has been around for a very long time, the semi-autos are only twenty years old. I began carrying them in 2010. Permanent use of that line began in 2012 for me. During the last few years, S&W has continued to develop and release metal frame versions of the M&P. After reviewing and purchasing a metal frame model that Ed Brown worked up, I eagerly awaited a compact version. This [...]
Vortex’s Defender CCW — Concealed Carry Optic
You do not have to have an optic on your pistol—not even on your carry guns, whether concealed or duty. However, I do. I have optics on many of the pistols I shoot regularly. One, because they complement my vision. Second, because I want commonality. I prefer that my defensive [...]
Visual Attention And HiViz’s Fast Dot H3 Sights
For most of the time that man has used projectile weapons, we have looked at what we wanted to hit. We kept our visual attention on that spot and then endeavored to deliver the projectile to that spot. There was a combination of how our body works (kinesthetics) and where [...]
Blocking Your Dot — Occluded Optics
Two advantages of pistol-mounted optics (PMO) are the ability to keep both eyes open throughout the shooting process and the ability to focus on what you are trying to hit (threat, target focus). Those can also be two of the components that require extra work when transitioning from iron sights [...]
Set It & Forget It
Where do I set the dot? Is it like lights? Can it be too bright? Can you, or should you, tailor the dot's setting to the current lighting conditions? What about the situation? That dot is all the way up. Even at this distance, it is difficult to see [...]
Zeroing Your Dot
We recently received an email from a reader who has also listened to the GUNS Magazine podcast and the episodes over there about pistol-mounted optics. He pointed out that while we have covered several dot-specific topics, zeroing has not yet been addressed in those conversations. What These Aren't The [...]
In The Heat Of The Night
Night vision is cool. No doubt about it. It is just a few weeks past the 40th anniversary of my first use of night vision. That was in basic training, and the night vision scope on an M16A1 rifle was about as long as the barrel. The quality of the [...]
Big Window, Nice Reticles – Holosun’s 507 Comp Pistol Optic
Announced this year at SHOT, Holosun’s 507 Comp – for competition – optic made its way into mailboxes and retail stores back in May. With some time behind it, here are my thoughts so far. One of the “secrets” to shooting a pistol-mounted optic is shifting your visual attention and [...]
Accessorizing Your Acro With TangoDown
It's been at least eighteen years since I learned about Tango Down. I met its proprietor – Jeff Cahill – a few years later. I was hosting a Pat Rogers / EAG carbine class for my department. He had developed a unique target design with another company I was working [...]
C&H Precision’s Pistol Optics
C & H Precision is a good size player in the pistol-mounted optics world. Ok, hold on, before the editor (me) gets a letter about red dot sights versus pistol-mounted optics, I did not make the term up to be cool or different. As two of the largest law enforcement [...]
Keeping Your Lights and Dots Clean
Weapon-mounted lights and pistol optics both get dirty. Within a range session or three, it is not difficult for a layer of burnt-on crap to begin solidifying on the downrange lens. That crud causes two problems. With a weapon-mounted light, it robs you of lumen and candela that should be [...]