The Annoyed Man wrote:To me, the problem of accuracy with a laser sight is that it is very difficult to adjust the red dot to point of impact with any degree of accuracy - even though the units (at least, the good ones) are adjustable for windage and elevation - without something like a
Ransom Rest to hold the pistol in a locked down position while zeroing the dot.
Even with lots of practice and good muscle memory, my arms and hands move around just the tiniest bit when I'm lining up the iron sights, and consequently, the sight picture moves around also. Pretty much anybody who is honest about it will admit the same. So when you're sighting the gun with the irons and trying to get the red dot to line up so that you know your red dot is zeroed at a known distance and "cowitnessing" with your iron sights, that dot is
also moving around against the only unmoving
fixed object - your target.
What that means is that you cannot be
absolutely certain that the laser dot on the paper is where the bullet is actually going to go, unless you have the means of locking the gun down in a rest of some kind at the range so that your adjustment shots are absolutely repeatable until you have the bullets impacting as close to on top of the red dot as the inherent accuracy of that particular pistol will permit.
Now, maybe I'm obsessing, and the truth is that, within 7 yards, if the dot is on the center of mass, the bullet is going to hit somewhere in the center of mass. Like that video demonstrated with the guy on his back on the ground, putting the red dot on the bad guy standing over him is good enough.
But what if your target bad guy is partially behind cover and only partially exposed? Will you still have the confidence that your bullet is going to go where the red dot is? What if the target bad guy is partially hidden behind your wife whom he's holding hostage? Will you still have confidence that you can hit him using the red dot, if you haven't taken the time and effort to actually verify by means of a Ransom Rest? What if you've gotten lazy at the range and acquired the habit of relying on the laser for accuracy instead of your iron sights, and your battery goes down in an actual shooting scenario?
The analogous thing for me is my EOTech sight on my AR carbine. I love me some EOTech, and I use it at the range. BUT... I also practice with the irons, and I know that, at the known ranges of 25 yards and 250 yards, my iron sights will put the bullet in the same place as the EOTech's red dot will, within the accuracy limitations inherent in that particular rifle. And I can be certain of this because I have
verified it from the bench.
If you're going to rely on a laser sight, you should do the same.
AM,
Once again hoping to not outwear my so far pleasant welcome to this forum, I am jumping into the briar patch.
If a shooter keeps his eye, or eyes, open when his trigger pressure fires the gun, he will see exactly where the red dot was when it fired. This is not easy for most people. It is contrary to an overwhelming natural reaction of your body.
It doen't
matter where the red dot was. That is, it need not be in the (x) ring. It can, at the time, be in the upper right hand corner of the target. Even then he will know precisely how the POI differs from the POA, and an appropriate adjustment can be made to the laser for windage and/or elevation.
After many untold years of shooting and instruction I have satisfied myself, I stress "myself," that the inability of a shooter to keep that eye open is probably the worst and, at the same time, the most common deficiency preventing repetitive expert marksmanship. If that eye is not open the shooter has not the slightest clue were the red dot actually was when the handgun fired. He may think he did, but I can guarantee you that he did not. This is, in my opinion, true both as to lasers and iron sights.
Next in order I, in my personal opinion, rank trigger control. Yet, if one jerks the trigger and jerks the red dot off its intended POA, if his eye is open when the weapon fires he will still see where the red dot was at the time.
I think that one of the great utilities of the laser is its ability to help one with his trigger control. When your target and your sight picture are at the same distance from your eye, which of course can only focus at any one distance at any one time, one can see what happens to the dot when his increasing pressure on the trigger fires the handgun. (Focusing at that distance with iron sights is of course a fundamental no-no).
Once you detect a pattern in what happens to the laser sight picture you are well on your way to making corrections, be it to the application of trigger pressure, the direction of your trigger pressure (straight back, to the side, up or down), grip, stance, or whatever.
I would submit that you do not need a Ransom or any other type of rest to get your laser adjusted correctly. In my case I make a first cut at home on the wall, which at much less cost than wasting ammo, gets my red dot to coincide with a perfect iron sight picture. Then when I get to the range I fine-tune the alignment, which, of course, will only be necessary if my iron sights are off. If adjustable the iron sights should have been adjusted for the appropriate range before starting with laser adjustment.
As I fine-tune the laser adjustment at the range, if it proves to be necessary, I usually set my hands on the bench, to eliminate at least most of the wobble inherent in most shooters. Of course I do not have to see the iron sights to find-tune the laser.
This may sound complicated, but it is really not. I have four CT-affixed handguns, all of which I rotate as my CCW. I would estimate that 90% of my laser adjustments were made on the kitchen wall when the Better Half was away at the grocery store.
Bottom line: if one keeps the eye(s) open and exercises good trigger control, laser adjustment is a snap. If one does not, he possibly will never get the laser adjusted.
